Bonshaw

Just the one, and a common one (one is already in this thread), but I love it

This whole post is amazing. It is going to take me awhile to digest it, and I'm going off on multiple tangents like the 'monnaie noire'. It is going to be a fun week.

Happy weekend! It is time for the next coin from my father's collection, #3/83. While organizing my father's library yesterday, I discovered a binder that he had his coins in at some time. In that binder, there is a small notecard associated with each coin on which he wrote a bit about the historical context (I think he wrote these notecards about 40 years ago). I'm excited to include photos of these notecards with the coins starting today. Today's coin is a Denier from the Principality of Achaia, William of Villehardouin, 1245-1278. Coin: 3/83 Ruler: William of Villehardouin, 1245-1278. Type: AR Denier (It is listed as such, but I think this is Billon?) Location: Principality of Achaia Weight: 0.897 g Width: 19 mm Height: 18 mm Thickness (flan): 0.5 mm Purchase date: April 15, 1970 Vendor: Alex G. Malloy, New York Purchase price: $8.00 Here is the envelope that it came in from Alex Malloy Here is the receipt from Alex Malloy: This week, I also found that my father kept a number of Alex Malloy catalogs, and this coin is in one of them. Here is the photo of the cover of the catalog: And the relevant page with this coin listing. This coin is entry 79, near the bottom The catalog had a photo of this coin, #79 at the lower left: Finally, here is the historical context from my father's notecard: The crumbling of the Byzantine empire is a lot richer and more complex than I understood. I'm very much looking forward to following up learning about this time, and the Principality of Achaia, this week. Any historical insights would be very welcome, or insights about this coin! Is it really AR, or is it BI? Thanks for being part of my discovery process. This group is making it much more exciting and informative.

Today!

Where is the bottom half now? The Smithsonian article doesn't say and doesn't include a photograph of the bottom.

This prompted me to look in the library I inherited from my dad - I found these Alex Malloy catalogs: Medieval Coins I - XIII (13 volumes spanning 1970-1975) Alex Malloy XXXI May-June 1973 Catalogue XXXVIII September 1975 Medieval Coins Auction Sale IV March 14, 1975 Medieval Coins Auction Sale VII March 13, 1976 Should be fun reading. If you want me to look anything up, let me know.

I am appreciating this inheritance more and more, and the wonderful people on this board are greatly enhancing my ability to appreciate it. Thank you all. Thanks also for pointing me at mnimosino. In addition to the richness of the Greek orthodox tradition, I see its etymology is from Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, and mother of the muses! I wonder if there is a coin with Mnemosyne?

Fantastic, that is what S1962 stands for on the coin envelope. I just searched through my father's library and found the 1974 first edition of Sear. And it has S1962 as promised. His library has about 1,100 volumes of history but not that many on numismatics. I also found these possibly relevant books, though, in addition to Sear 1974: Sydenham, "Historical References to Coins of the Roman Empire" Oikonomides, "Byzantine Lead Seals" Ratto, "Monnaies Byzantines" Seaby, "Greek Coins and their Values" William Craig, "Coins of the World". and a bunch of catalogs. I myself purchased Mitchiner, "Ancient and Classical World" some time ago. Wildwinds looks great! Thanks for the pointers.

Thank you - this is a lot of interesting background, and I like how the faces are clear on your coin! I love the poisoned arrow detail, and I'm looking forward to reading more about Manuel's reign this week.

Your patina, centering, and condition are fantastic. Here is my dad's copy of this coin. It is generally in worse shape, but some of the details really pop. I wonder if anyone knowledgeable would let me know if the green here is normal patination, or bronze disease that needs to be arrested?

Thanks for the info about this being the first Manuel billon issue. I glanced through and noticed a denier, William of Villehardouin, Principality of Achaia, 1245-1278. Shall I do that next week?

Happy weekend! It is time for the next coin from my father's collection, #2/83. I decided to do a quick survey and find the last coin that he purchased. I may have missed one (I haven't comprehensively catalogued), but this is the latest I found. It was purchased in 1979 at the San Jose Coin Club Show. At this point, everything that I know about this coin (and this emperor) are read straight off the envelope. Any information anyone has about this coin beyond this would be greatly appreciated. I'm enjoying the three-dimensional cupping of this trachy! Coin: 2/83 Emperor: Manuel I (1143-1180) Type: Aspron Trachy Mint: Constantinople Type: DOC 14.10 Other specs (I don't know what these are): S-1962, HCL 641, MNX (see envelope photo below). Weight: 4.11 g Width: 33.35 mm Height: 30.25 mm Depth (trachy cup): 6.2 mm Thickness (flan): <~ 1 mm Purchase date: Jan. 27, 1979 Purchase location: San Jose Coin Club Show Vendor: Jesse Patrick (of the Patrick Mint). Purchase price: $15.00 I'm starting with photos of the coin in hand to capture the trachy shape And here is the close-up view: Is that Christ on the obverse, and Manuel I on the reverse? Now the provenance information. I find it pretty interesting. First, the coin envelope (both sides, taken on a B&W scanner): The handwriting on the envelope is not my father's, I assume it is the seller's. Now, the receipt. This is interesting to me. With no receipt from the seller in this coin show cash transaction, my dad made his own in his distinctive handwriting. He recorded the seller as "Jess Patrick" and wrote the date and other information on the back of a flyer from the seller's table. Jess (I think it is actually Jesse) was the owner of the "Patrick Mint", which was having a "going out of business" sale on their tokens. Here is the note that my father wrote in his distinctive hand on one side of the flyer: And on the flip side of that paper is a "going out of business" sale flyer for the Patrick Mint token business: So apparently Jesse Patrick had a table both selling tokens from his personal mint, and this Byzantine coin (as well as, presumably, others). I looked up the Patrick Mint. It has a URL still today: http://www.patrickmint.com/ . Apparently it was founded in 1957 and struck silver rounds and fantasy coinage. It had a token business that did indeed stop production in 1979, which was probably a good business decision, because they are still selling their pre-1979 inventory of hundreds of tokens on this website. By writing the purchase information on the back of this (undated) flyer, my dad did time stamp it as a contemporaneous note (supporting the date he wrote). I'm eager to hear what anyone has to say about this coin! This week, I will be learning about Manuel I from my dad's library. Thanks everyone for joining me on this journey!

Your posted coin looked familiar. My great aunt gave me two coins years ago when she returned from Hong Kong. I just reached up, took them off my bookshelf, placed them by my drink. Both the same year and the same coin. Go lions.

That is correct. Some Roman, Greek and others are mixed in, but my father's real passion was Byzantine history, and plenty of those are coming.

Weight: 13.54 g Diameter: 25 mm I also edited the first post to include this information.

I fear that I may have set the bar high - this is one of the more attractive coins in the collection. My father focused more on the history behind them! But thank you!

Great idea - I have an accurate scale and a good set of calipers, so I'll add that when I get home tonight, as well as making it standard in future postings.

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone - I'll definitely keep this going, targeting a coin every weekend.

Great idea - here is the Alexandria Nero tetradrachm envelope: And receipt: The three other coins on this receipt will feature later in this thread, if the interest keeps up. Thanks for your help tracking down information.

Thank you so much!

A few years back I inherited my father's ancient / Byzantine coin collection. It consists of 83 coins. His passion was mainly Byzantine history, but he has some Roman and Greek coins mixed in. The coins came with an 1100 volume historical library. I've converted one of my kid's rooms into a library now that they are gone. The coins are mostly AE, with some AG; he avoided gold coins for fear of counterfeits. I am going to gradually work through his collection, documenting it, and learning history along the way, doing no more than one coin a week (and probably slower than that). I thought I would try starting a topic on this process and my discoveries along the way. If there is interest, I will keep adding coins to this topic, and if interest flags, I'll take it offline (but still keep going). I'm starting with this coin (#1/83). I believe it is Billon tetradrachm, Obv. bust of Nero right, Rx Eagle Standing Left. It was purchased from Dan Brown's Coin Shop, in Denver Colorado, on March 27, 1969 (my father kept receipts!) The obverse has a partial inscription NEPW KLAY KAIE (or something like that), I think that NEPW is Nero Nero looks a bit younger and fitter than on most of the coins I've seen on this board. Weight: 13.54 g Diameter: 25 mm If anyone knows mint or origin details, I'd be most interested! The coin is a lot more vibrant in hand; I apologize that I haven't mastered the dark art of numismatic photography.

I don't know if it is related, but there was a Saint Gangulphus, of Burgundy, known for honesty and sanctity (and for being a cuckold). Perhaps the honesty would make him relevant for a weight? Image source: Wikipedia. His feast day is May 11 in the Catholic tradition, which is the day he was killed by his wife's jealous lover.

Thank you for this pointer! I found everything I was looking for in Velde's article in White Gold.

Excellent, thanks for that reference, I actually have that volume but haven't read the sections on counter marks. I'll look through it this weekend. The marks on your coin are spectacular!

I am interested in understanding the nature of countermarks / banker's marks in some of the earliest electrum coins and protocoins. For reference, I include a photo of a countermarked Lydia lion (an early Weidauer XV trite). Does anyone have examples of early countermarked electrum coins and protocoins? I'm particularly interested in countermarks on Early typeless electrum protocoins (Ionia / Lydia) Striated electrum WALWET / KUKALIM inscribed electrum PHANES electrum But any early countermarked electrum is interesting - thanks for posting any that you know of (or have in your collection)!