Tejas

Next comes a pendant that is more directly identifiable as Kievan Rus. Measurements: 12.97 gr, 5.5 cm This type of pendant is well known in Kievan Rus culture. It bears the tamga (princely sign) of the Rurik dynasty (the trizub) and may have been worn by the retainers of a Kievan Rus prince.

The battle axe pendants come in two basic types. Here is a second battle axe pendant of the second type. This type is much rarer than the first type. Measurements: 10.7 gr. 4 cm length, 5.2 cm height The blade is decorated with ornaments, which could well be Norse. Date: 9th-10th century The meaning or significance of these pendants is lost today. I read one theory according to which these pendants were worn by the members of a druzhina of a knyas, i.e. the retinue of Kievan Rus princes. I think this is certainly plausible.

Here is a battle axe pendant. The piece was found in Ukraine. It is not entirely clear if this pendant should be classified as Norse, or whether it is Slavic or Kievan Rus. I'm not aware that these battle axe pendants have been found in Scandinavia. In Russia and Ukraine they seem to be a common occurance. However, I read that the decorations and the type of the axe head has been described as Norse. Measurements: 18.3 gr, 5 cm long

Yes, Probus was kind to us collectors by producing wonderful portraits and some very unusual legends. Here is one from my collection with the rare DEO ET DOMINO title: Obv.: IMP DEO ET DOMINO PROBO AVG Rev.: CLEMENTIA TEMP BUST TYPE: A2 FIELD / EXERGUE MARKS: -/*/-//KA•Γ• WEIGHT 4.53g / AXIS: 6h RIC: 841 From the middle of the 3rd century AD onwards, the traditional form of the title was paid less and less attention in coinage, which eventually culminated in legends with the deus et dominus title. The introduction of the title (in vow form: DOMINO ET DEO) was an initiative of the procurator monetae in Serdica under Aurelianus, who later also honoured Probus and Carus with this title. The title was probably not created at the instigation of the imperial government, but was tolerated by it. See Alföldi, Andreas, Die monarchische Repräsentation im römischen Kaiserreiche, Darmstadt 1980, p. 210 ff.

Great coin! The legend is VICTORIAE GOTHIC(AE), though.

Here are two more coins from Danzig from my collection: The top coin is a Groschen (Gros) Obv.: DANZIGER KUPFER MUENZE (Copper coin of Danzig) Rev.: 1812 The second coin is a Schilling (Shilling) Obv. I DANZIG. SCHILLING, 1801 A The dot behind DANZIG indicates that the name of the city is in the Dativ case (like on the Groschen) und should be read as DANZIGER (of Danzig) The reverse shows the monogram of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm. Danzig was the capital of Western Prussia. The coin was minted for Danzig in Berlin.

At 2 euros this is a real bargain. The VICTOR GERMAN reverse commemorates the battle at Lake Benacus (Lake Garda), which Claudius won in November 268 against Germanic Alamanni and Juthungi, who had invaded and pillaged northern Italy. The victory earned Claudius the title Germanicus Maximus. The top coin below has the VICTOR GERMAN reverse. The VICTOR GERMAN reverse is much scarcer than the VICTORIAE GOTHIC reverse. I suppose the victory over the Goths at Naissus was much more significant. Indeed, this must have been more than one single battle, as the coin legend revers to victories over the Goths. Here are a few examples from my collection, but with rare bust types (2-4 below):

Just received this Sestertius of Decius off Ebay. I bought it for two reasons: 1. nice portrait and 2. very cheap (under 100 dollars). Clearly, the very small flan put off buyers, but I still thought the coin was worth having at this price. The reverse is DACIA FELIX (even if most of the legend is off flan)

Ah ok, lunatics, now I get the point with Commodus, Caligula and Nero being like the kids in the picture.

It is shocking to see that CNG thought that this was genuine.

The other aspect is attribution. Artifacts are regularly misattributed, often to attract interest from buyers and sometimes out of ignorance. For example, objects of Baltic, Finno-Ugric and Slavic origin are often labeled “Viking”. This is a problem, but I think it is far less serious than fakes. The other more serious problem are undisclosed “repairs” (and disclosed repairs). In eastern Europe they seem to like “repairing” artifact, often by using original and modern components. This is a terrible practice, especially when it isn’t disclosed. You mentioned Violity above. I think Violity has the problem of misattribution and especially of disclosed and perhaps undisclosed repairs. However, I find that Violity is quite good when it comes to fakes. Violity is not an auction house, but a bidding platform like Ebay. However, the objects are vetted in a sense that there are comments and an attached discussion forum.

This is a very good point @DonnaML. I was going to say something about the risk of buying forgeries too. Viking (and other) artifact are heavily forged to varying degrees of quality. You mentioned TimelineOriginals. I was hesitant to do so, but it is unfortunately true that their offerings frequently include good quality fakes (and sometimes poor quality fakes). I bought a Germanic fibula from them some years ago, of which they had provided only one picture. When I received the piece I realized immediately that it was a cast fake (of a very important East Germanic fibula from a princely grave). It took me many emails to convince them to take the piece back and reimburse the price. Until the end they insisted that the fibula was genuine and refused to acknowledge that the whole thing was a cast. They have amazing Viking/Norse objects in their current auction, which I believe to highly questionable. Not that I have seen the objects in person. They are in my opinion too good to be true. For example, their offering includes a Norse silver cross with the depiction of Christ. I have been in Stockholm two weeks ago and visited the Historical Museum, which has a piece that is practically identical. Other pieces are probably copied from the Hiddensee-hoard from Germany. Again, I cannot prove that these objects are forgeries, but would advise anybody interested in buying them to consult a real expert. Because of my experience with TimelineOriginals I don’t buy any artifacts from them (not that I’m a great collector to start with). My very few Viking/Norse artifacts are all low value (i.e. bronze, some silver and one gold) from a reliable source. I’m also not adding to this group, since I have no longer access to this source.

Yes, I would like to stress that CGB is a respectable auction house. If the coins are fakes, it is an untypical lapsus.

The three coins below are currently offered in an auction by a respectable auction house. However, to me these coins don't look right. The coins are rare nummi of Ricimer, Anthemius and Odovacar. I think the style of these coins is odd and it even looks as if the same person has cut the dies for all three and in particular the last two coins. What do people think?

Here is another Norse pendant from my little collection. This one is a Thor's hammer amulet in gold. I also have pictures showing it in its find contex when the hammer was very dark to almost black. I think it may have been in a cremation. The amulet was also found in Ukraine. The Vikings/Varangians had very little access to gold and gold pendants like this one are very rare. The hammer (Mjölnir) is the attribute of the god Thor, but given the Marvel movies, this is probably common knowledge these days.

Great coins shown here. I love those portraits.Here my favorite portraits from my collection: The first one is the youngest-looking portrait of Decius that I have ever seen. The emperor seems to be clean shaven with a slight sideburn and moustache, which is usually the look of emperors under 20 years. The second portrait type is a rather scarce I think. The third one is common, but I like the fine style. And the last portrait seems to show Decius as an old man:

These are very good points. I was also under the impression that prices are trending higher, but I realize my biased perception. I think the advent of metal detectors and the opening up of eastern Europe may have a lot to do with the increased supply and the downward trend in prices. Hence, it would be a supply-driven phenomenon, which is not so worrying as it was demand driven, i.e. fewer and fewer collectors buying coins. The supply is naturally limited and will at some point dry up. However, it is also possible that demand falls as well when baby boomers retire and eventually die.

That is true of course. However, the city of Danzig and the Teutonic Order had a very complicated relationship. In 1308 the Markgrave of Brandenburg laid claim to Danzig causing the city to call on the Teutonic knights to defend the city against the Brandenburg troops. The Teutonic Order successfully defended the city, but soon the order and the towns people argued about the costs of this military aid. As a result the Teutonic Order of Knights took control of Danzig. With its large castle, the Marienburg (one of the largest castles of the middle ages) close to Danzig, the grandmaster could easily control affairs of the city. At this time, nationalism or ethnic considerations played little or no role and the citizens of Danzig preferred the suzerainty of the Polish king, who was based far away in Cracow and much less likely to meddle in Danzig’s affairs. The Teutonic Order struck coins at Danzig, which show a little D above the Order’s coat of arms.

Danzig was not founded by Poland or Poles. The earliest setters in the region of modern Danzig were Scandinavian traders, baltic Prussians and slawic Kashubians. In 969 the settlement joined the realm of the slawic-polabian prince Miezko. Around that time the missionary Adalbert visited Danzig and baptized "numerous baltic Prussians". From around 1200 German settlers and merchants reached the region and settled in large numbers in Danzig. From around 1300 to 1945 the population of the city was predominately German. In the middel ages, Danzig was not one single town, but a group of settlements, consiting of the Teutonic Order's castle Danzig with its settlement, the Hakelwerk founded by Germans according to Magdeburg law, the Rechtstadt consisting of the Speicherinsel and Alte Vorstadt. These settlements were ruled by the German Hansa, the Danziger Altstadt, where the German craftsmen lived and the Danziger Neustadt, which the Teutonic Order had founded after the uprising of the Rechtstadt in 1343. According to the language census of 1923 the population was 366.730 in total of which 348.493 (95%) were Germans. So yes, Danzig was a German city for most of its existance. It was a German speaking city (look at the coins above for evidence) with German laws and German traditions notwithstanding that it had a small Polish minority and lived under Polish suzerainty for some time. That is a tricky discussion, which we cannot have here. Lets just say that the management of these tensions were not made easier when Poland - which had been frustrated when all the German regions it had claimed after WWI voted for staying with Germany - tried to use the Danzig corridor to cut off a whole German province (East Prussia) from the German mainland.

I love Germanic and Norse art. I know its kind of off topic, but I was wondering if there is anybody here who shares my interest in Norse pendants/amulets: Below is a biting beast pendant from my "collection". It was found in Ukraine and probably dates to the 9th-10th century. Such pendants will have been worn by Vikings (or better Varangians) from Scandinavia who lived and travelled along the Russian rivers to Constantinople.

That is a very beautiful piece. I really like medals as works of art. They give engravers a chance to show off their skills.

I think a turban is not confusing, but highly unlikely. It may be some double striking which gives the impression that Tancred is wearing some kind of headdress. I guess we need to look at more depictions of Tancred on coins and otherwise.

Danzig is a very tragic place. Detaching this city with its predominantly German population, its German history and traditions from the German state was likely the single biggest mistake of the Versailles Treaty. It was one important catalysts for the rise of the Nazis and it made war between Germany and Poland nearly inevitable.

Very nice. This is a so called Schieß-Guldiner of Erfurt in Thuringia Obs.: ✱MON·REIPVBLICAE·CIVITATIS·ERFFORDI - wie vorr. Rev.: AVF·IEDES·SCHIS: / EN·MEIN·R·DIS·IAR / ZV VORN·I00.60-40 / GEBEN·WAR·✱· / Z9 AVG:&.5.SEPT Above: F - G ( for Florian Gruber)

Very cool. I have been to Danzig a couple of times. One part of my family had a house on the Langgasse, which was the high street and just a few meters from the Neptun fountain in the picture above.