I just picked up this today for $48. It is a Richard the Lionheart obol, one of few coins with Richards name on it. I also thought it was neat as it’s from the Anglo Gallic Kingdom. Feel free to post any related coins below!
That was a good deal, congrats. Nice looking coin too. Richard I "Lionheart" (1189 - 1199 A.D. Anglo-Gallic, Aquitaine Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine 1172-1185 A.D., King of England 1189-1199 A.D. AR denier O: + / RICA / RDVS / ω. R: +AQVITANIE. Cross pattée. Bordeaux mint. 19mm .83g Elias 4; Poey D'Avant 2768.
An obol? Nice. Those are usually more rare than the Deniers. I don’t have one from Aquitaine yet, but do have an issue from Poitou: French Feudal - Poitou Richard I, r. 1168-1185 AR Denier, 17mm x 1 grams Obv.: +RICARDUS REX, cross patée, annulet in third quarter Rev.: PIC / TAVIE / NSIS, written in three parallel lines Ref.: AGC 343A (1/a), Duplessy 926, Roberts 3887, SCBC 8008, De Wit 394 Note: My First Medieval Coin as a point of specificity, there is no such thing as the Anglo-Gallic kingdom. It’s a convenient method of describing the King of England’s issues for the lands he owned in France.
Describe it however you like! Technically it is a feudal issue of Aquitaine, yes. So it is a coin issued by the Duke of Aquitaine, who happens to also be the a king of England, but also Duke of the French Duchy of Aquitaine.
Ok thanks, that clears things up. I was confused when researching exactly where it was meant for circulation.
For whatever reason, the Aquitaine issues of Richard seem harder to locate than the Poitou. I'm still looking for a decent one. Here is my Poitou:
Congrats on the awesome pick up @Nathan F An obol of Richard for $48 is a great deal. Anglo-Gallic coins are a really great area to collect. They offer very famous figures from history and a ton of variety and denominations. Here is one of my more recent acquisitions of Richard.
yorkcoins had a couple from the Steve Ford Collection (one of the authors of the latest book on Anglo-Gallic coins). I intended on buying one, but dragged my feet and they are all sold now. Kicking myself over that.
I agree Fitz, and really regret not getting some of those Anglo-Gallic coins from the Steve Ford collect, at least the one I could afford. Also, I miss York Coins being an active dealer in medieval coins. It seems like a couple of years have passed since that was the case. The selection was fantastic back in the day, some of my favorite coins came from them.
I was wondering how active they were actually - I haven’t visited their site often because most of their stock was out of my price range. But when I went there recently it seemed most of their listings were marked as ‘sold’
Pretty cool coin Nathan. Nice addition to the collection. Given the historical nature of the coin I'm sure you are pretty pleased.
You could call the domains that Henry II and Richard owned as the "Angevin Empire." Here is Henry: And here is Richard, with parts of other coins attached to it:
I would argue against Angevin Empire as well, as the Angevins’ lands were not subject to the same law or even the same monarch (again, king of England in England, but Anjou, Normandy, Aquitaine, etc subject to the King of France). Again, it’s a convenient moniker, but not an accurate one.
It's at least better than the weird but very popular "Anglo-Gallic" designation and it serves the purpose of adding the possessions of the Plantagenetes into a single nomenclature (if you actually need doing that). It's also more accurate as it states the ruling family and it's easier to follow historically. Sure it's a modern composit, but many things in our historical taxonomy are just that: modern conventions. Some more fit to purpose than others.
Here is my France, Poitou, Richard I (1189-1199) AR Denier +RICARDVS REX" around a cross PIC/TAVIE/NSIS 0.78 g. Roberts 3886
