Ah I know you all have been eagerly waiting in suspense to see the bigger of the coin purchase from yesterday. First I would like to take a snippet and paraphrase from a book I was reading online. Setton's History of the Crusades. The large castle coins of Bohemond VII, whose design, the castle and the cross, is so traditional to crusader coinage and is so symbolic of crusading life, its among the finest of all the coins ever struck by the Franks in Syria and Palestine. They are also the last. Part of their beauty today lies in the fact that they mostly survive in fine condition they were not circulated long before Tripoli surrendered to the Mamluk onslaught. Granted not the perfect coin but the perfect coin for me. CRUSADER STATES County of Tripoli. Bohemond VII 1275-1287. AR Gros 4.26 grams x 25 mm + SEPTIMVS:BOEMVNDVS: COMES around cross within 12 polyfoil design. Reverse.+CIVITAS: TRIPOLIS: SYRIE around castle with turrets within 12 polyfoil design Ref:Sch.IV.21 Note: Large, old toning.
Wow! It's very appealing. I know nothing about this era of numismatics but it's a nice-looking coin in the context of the general type.
Wow => another complete winner, Noob ... ahhh, the 13th century AD (I don't have many coins from that rare bird) ARMENIA, Cilician Armenia. Royal. Levon I. AR Tram (Coronation issue) 1198-1219 AD Diameter: 22 mm Weight: 2.75 grams Obverse: Levon seated facing on throne decorated with lions, holding cross and lis-tipped scepter Reverse: Two lions rampant back-to-back, each with head reverted; between, cross pattée set on spear Seljuqs of Rum, Kaykhusraw II Silver Dirham Konya Mint 1241-1242 A.D. (AH639) Diameter: 23 mm Weight: 2.9 grams Obverse: Sun and Lion Reverse: ?? no idea ??
Fantastic coin! Along the lines of history repeating itself, I have a modern Syrian coin to share, minted during the period that the League of Nations put Syria under the mandate of...you guessed it: the French.
