Ursus

It's wonderful to hear that you are responding well to your new treatment, @Severus Alexander! I wish you all the very best for 2023. Also, your list is quite lovely. It won't come as a surprise that I particularly like the Charlemagne denier...

Happy New Year to all of you! Roman Republic, As (uncial standard), 169–158 BC, moneyer: C. Cluvius Saxula, Rome mint. Obv: head of Janus, I above. Rev: prow right, C·SAX (ligated) above, ROMA below. 35 mm, 25.98 g. Ref: RRC 173/1. Roman Republic, moneyer: M. Furius L. f. Philus, AR denarius, 119 BC, Rome mint. Obv: M. FOVRI. L. F; head of Janus. Rev: ROMA; Roma standing l., holding sceptre, crowns trophy with carnyx and two shields; in exergue, PHL I. 19mm, 3.81g. Ref: RRC 281/1.

Splendid group! The Claudius denarius is a true dream coin, and the Galba portrait is exceptionally nice.

Wow! I cannot quite pick a favorite – all of these are fantastic.

Yes, but it is a portrait medal with an excellent early modern portrait. The engraver might be unknown, but the artistry speaks for itself. A beautiful piece. This is my favorite coin/medal on your list. I'd translate the legends a bit differently, though (Obv: "Remain silent and stay at home"; Rev: "Do your chores with diligence"). Rather cringeworthy from a modern perspective, especially if you consider that this was meant as good advice for women... Great list overall!

I feel you! Moving is simply stressful, especially when combined with starting a new job... Still, this is a nice list of coins! I particularly like the two Bohemian denars as well as the Slavonian coin with the cute little marten on the obverse.

Terrific selection! I particularly like the Tarsos stater as well as the Ptolemy I tetradrachm, and the Antinous tessera is of great historical interest. It is obvious that you had a good collecting year.

That is what I call beautiful toning! A very nice example. Here is a late medieval shilling from the Hanseatic city of Lübeck in northern Germany. Note the old collection number "63" written on the reverse. I doubt many collectors would mark their coins that way today: Lübeck, City, AR shilling, after the recesses of 1468. Obv: +.MONETA.NOVA.LVBICENSIS; double eagle. Rev: +.CRVX.FVGAT.OMNE.MALVM, long cross with civic arm in quatrefoil in center. 25mm, 2.33g. Ref: Behrens 62, Jesse 522.

Thanks for the link to the digital version of Droysen's Handatlas – I didn't know this work was available online. This is indeed very helpful! To keep it numismatic, here are some of my coins from the small princely states shown on the map you posted. All are later than your medieval coins. The first is a Kleve 4 heller piece minted in 1605 – this is a rather scarce coin: The second is a 1609 groschen from the duchy of Ravensberg: A 1618 groschen from the county of Lippe And finally a half batzen from Waldeck, minted in 1595:

I didn’t purchase many coins in 2022. My wife and I bought a flat in a 19th century townhouse last November, and the place needed a lot of work. In fact, we spent a great part of the year renovating the place until we were able to move in in October. Turns out such projects cost a lot of elbow grease and money – both funds and spare time for my hobbies were thus limited. My top ten bargain purchases, a recent post showing some additional “snacks,” and this list therefore cover about everything that I added to the collection over the course of the last twelve months. Still, I was able to fill some important gaps and find some pieces that I very much like. Here are my top ten coins in chronological order: 1. Though Magna Graecia is not my main collecting focus, I had wanted an example of this type for a while. The history of Neapolis, the most Greek place in ancient Italy, is fascinating. Also, I like the reverse showing the river god Achelous Sebethos. Neapolitan didrachms often come on tight flans, and my example is no exception. I went for it since it still shows all the parts of the design that I consider important. The nymph’s face, the man-headed bull’s head, Nike, and the abbreviated magistrate’s name are all there: Campania, Neapolis, AR didrachm, c. 300–275 BC. Obv: diademed head of nymph r., hair in band; X to left. Rev: man-headed bull standing r., head facing, crowned by Nike flying r. above; EYΞ below. 19mm, 7.19g. Ref: Sambon 477; HN Italy 577. 2. Heavy Ptolemaic bronze coins feel pleasingly chunky in hand. Minting larger denominations in bronze is somewhat exceptional in the Hellenistic world, and illustrates the particular dynamics of the closed currency system of Ptolemaic Egypt. Since the enormous bronze octobols are currently out of my price range, I settled for the second heaviest type, this AE drachm minted for Ptolemy II: Ptolemy II Philadelphos, Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt, AE drachm (?), 285­­–246 BC, struck c. 255–261 BC, Alexandreia mint. Obv.: Diademed head of Zeus-Ammon r. Rev.: Two eagles standing l. on thunderbolt; Λ between legs of l. eagle. 40mm, 73.6g. Ref: Lorber I.2 B247; Svoronos 479; SNG Copenhagen 149. 3. This is my only Roman Republican purchase of the year. I like the depiction of the satyr Marsyas on the reverse, which is likely based on a now lost statue in the Forum also shown on the plutei of Trajan (see this post by @Roman Collector as well as this article). There is discussion in scholarship whether the iconographic program of this coin is simply a hint to the moneyer’s family, the Marcia, or an expression of Marian politics. It has been suggested (see here) that this issue was produced to pay for the Marian war effort against Sulla during the First Civil War: Roman Republic, moneyer: L. Censor, AR denarius, 82 (or 83 BC) BC, Rome mint. Obv: Laureate head of Apollo r. Rev: L CENSOR; Marsyas, bald-headed, walking l., with r. arm raised and holding wine-skin over l. shoulder; behind, column bearing statue of Victory. 17.5mm, 4.04g. RRC 363/1d. 4. This coin of Helena is, at first glance, not special. It nonetheless made my top ten list because of its excellent preservation, for being from the Trier mint, which I am particularly interested in, and for Helena’s strange attire. On my coin, she wears what looks like an imperial mantle. Originally, this type of dress was part of the triumphal regalia and consisted of the toga picta worn over the tunica palmata. In the 3rd century, though, it seems to have become part of the consular regalia. The imperial mantle is seen rather rarely on coins of Helena and is iconographically odd. Helena, Roman Empire, AE3, 327–328 AD, Trier mint. Obv: FL HELENA AVGVSTA; bust of Helena, wearing necklace and mantle, r. Rev: SECVRITAS REIBUBLICE; Securitas, draped, standing l., raising robe with r. hand and lowering branch with l. hand, in exergue, PTRE. 19mm, 2.88g. Ref: RIC VII Treveri 508. 5. Medieval bracteates are my main collecting field, and the rest of this list consists, as you will have guessed, of bracteates. The first of these is this coin minted for margrave Otto II. of Brandenburg. I like it for its detailed depiction of medieval armor as well as its feudal symbolism. For more info, see my write-up on CT: Margraviate of Brandenburg, under Otto II. “the Generous,” 1184–1205 AD, AR bracteate, Stendal mint (?). Obv: OTO MARI; margrave standing facing, wearing a mail hauberk with coif, greaves, and a conical helmet with nasal bar, holding sword and banner; at feet r., heater shield. Rev: incuse design (bracteate). 24mm, 0.85g. Ref: Bahrfeldt 70; Slg. Bonhoff 802; Berger 1676; Slg. Löbbecke 442; Leschhorn 3508. 6. This bracteate was struck for Udalschalk of Eschenlohe, bishop of Augsburg and staunch ally of Frederick Barbarossa. Note how much detail work went into the depiction of his episcopal regalia (mitre, crosier, book, dalmatic). You can find some more information on this iconography and the moneyer here. Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg, under Udalschalk von Eschenlohe, AR bracteate, ca. 1184–1202. Obv: bishop seated facing on arc, wearing mitre, holding crosier and book. Rev: incuse design (bracteate). 24mm, 0.87g. Ref: Berger 2631; Slg. Bonhoff 1893; Steinhilber 56. 7. Frederick II is one of the most fascinating figures of the medieval period, and I had wanted a coin minted for him for a long time. This bracteate from the royal mint at Ulm checked all my boxes. You can read a bit more about it here. Ulm, royal mint, under Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, 1215–1250 AD. Obv. crowned bust of king facing, branch to l., tower to r. Rev: incuse design (bracteate). 23mm, 0.33g. Ref: Berger 2598–9; Cahn 168 (for Lindau); Slg. Wüthrich 303; Slg. Bonhoff 1863. 8. Medieval coins from the Breisgau region in southwestern Germany have special appeal to me since this is where I live. Many local issues from this area defy a safe attribution, and the coin below is no exception. Hoard finds allow to date it to around 1250. Its weight, style and fabric connect it, for example, to the “dragon penny” (Lindwurmpfennig) that I use as my avatar. Based mainly on this evidence, Friedrich Wielandt proposes to tentatively attribute this type to the margraves of Baden-Hachberg, who according to document sources minted bracteate pennies in the region in the mid-13th century. Probably, they used the mint at Freiburg im Breisgau, which they shared with the counts of Freiburg. Breisgau (maybe Freiburg?), Margraves of Baden-Hachberg (?), AR bracteate penny (“vierzipfliger Pfennig”), first half to mid-13th century. Obv: lion walking l., annulet above. 19mm, 0.44g. Ref: Wielandt (Breisgau) 27c. 9. Schaffhausen, situated on the Rhine river close to lake Constance, was made an imperial city by Frederick II in 1264. Around that time or some decades earlier, the civic authorities appear to have started leasing the local mint, which was owned by the Benedictine abbey Allerheiligen. The design of my coin is a pun on the name of the city, which was interpreted as “Schaf-Hausen” (‘sheep house’) in the Middle Ages and even translated into Latin as Ovidomensis. Schaffhausen’s arms still show a ram to this day. I like the goofy look of the sheep on my coin: Schaffhausen, City, AR bracteate penny (“vierzipfliger Pfennig”), mid-13th century. Obv: sheep walking r., star above. Rev: incuse design (bracteate). 17mm, 0.34g. Ref. Berger 2463; Wielandt (Breisgau) 52; HMZ 1-427. 10. The last coin on this list constitutes a small numismatic riddle. A hoard containing several hundred of these bracteates was found in the Münster valley in the southern Black Forest in 1893. The other coins in the hoard allow to date the type to about 1330 to 1360, but the unusual design showing an elephant does not indicate who minted them. The find spot of the hoard points to the counts of Staufen, who owned silver mines in the Münster valley. Furthermore, a medieval woven tapestry made in the Freiburg monastery Adelhausen shows a strikingly similar elephant, which apparently copies from the same model image as the bracteate, as well as the arms of three noble families from the region with connections to Staufen. Friedrich Wielandt thus considered the counts of Staufen as a possible minting authority, but also speculated that a Habsburg mint in Neuenburg or Todtnau might have produced these small pachyderms. More recent scholarship appears to mostly gravitate towards the Staufen attribution, albeit with a big caveat. This type is relatively scarce. This year, a total of five examples that I am aware of came up for sale, three of these in a condition that I considered desirable. I missed bidding on the first one, was outbid on the second coin by @shanxi, but the third became mine. I did a small write-up on it here. Breisgau, Counts of Staufen (?), AR bracteate penny (“vierzipfliger Pfennig”), c. 1330–1360. Obv.: elephant l., palanquin on back. Rev.: incuse design (bracteate). 17mm, 0.28g. Berger 2438; Wielandt (Breisgau) 50; Slg. Wüthrich 55–56; Slg. Bonhoff 1786. Please post your comment or coins and pick your favorites!

Excellent list! I particularly like the Rome-on-Carthage overstrike, followed closely by the Faustus Cornelius Sulla denarius.

Nice! Your coin is Corpus Nummorum Austriacorum (CNA) 1, Cn4. It was minted for Bernhard of Carinthia (1202–1252) at the mint of Landstraß, today Kostanjevica na Krki in Slovenia. Here is the relevant catalogue entry and picture from CNA. Your example is the variant without the cross in the exergue on the reverse:

I have already posted a list of ten coins I bought for less than 25 USD here. My 2022 numismatic purchases were relatively few and low cost due to other expenses (home purchase and renovation). Below are most of the coins that neither made my bargain list nor my annual top ten, which I will post somewhen in the next days. All of these were bought on ebay: 24€: Postumus, Gallic Roman Empire, AR antoninian, 266–7 AD, Trier mint. Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG; bust of Postumus, radiate, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: SALVS AVG; Aesculapius stg. r., head l., with r. hand leaning on serpent-staff which rests on the ground; at feet, r., globe.. 21mm, 3.12g. Ref: Mairat 348. 24€: Claudius II Gothicus, Roman Empire, BI antoninian, 268–270 AD, Kyzikos mint. Obv: IMP CLAVDIVS P F AVG; bust of Claudius Gothicus, radiate, draped, r. Rev: VICTORIAE GOTHIC; trophy between two seated captives; in exergue, SPQR. 20mm, 2,58g. Ref: RIC V Claudius Gothicus 252. 25€: Kingdom of Bohemia, Vladislaus II of Hungary, AR groschen, 1471–1516 AD, Kuttenberg mint. +DEI GRATIA + REX BOEMIE; WLADISLAVS SECVNDVS; crown. Rev: *+* GROSSI + PRAGENSES; Bohemian lion prancing l. 26mm, 2.63g. Ref: Dornebauer 947; Saurma 407. 25€: Constans, Roman Empire, AE3, 348–350 AD, Trier mint. Obv: D N CONSTANS P F AVG; bust of Constans, rosette-diademed, draped, cuirassed, l., holding globe in r. hand. Rev: FEL•TEMP•REPARATIO; soldier, helmeted, draped, cuirassed, advancing r., head l., leading small bare-headed figure from a hut beneath a tree with r. hand and holding spear in l. hand; in exergue, *PLG•. 20mm, 3.66g. Ref: RIC VIII Lugdunum 88. 25€: Constans, Roman Empire, AE3, 348–350 AD, Trier mint. Obv: D N CONSTANS P F AVG; bust of Constans, pearl-diademed, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: FEL•TEMP•REPARATIO; phoenix, radiate, standing r. on rocky mound; in exergue, TRP•. 16mm, 2.33g. Ref: RIC VIII Treveri 228. 25.50€ Magnentius, Roman Empire, AE2, 352 AD, Trier mint. Obv: D N MAGNENTIVS P F AVG; bust of Magnentius, bareheaded, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: [SALVS DD N]N AVG ET CAES; ☧ flanked by A and ω; in exergue, TRS•. 25mm, 4.33g. Ref: RIC VIII Treveri 323. 25.50€: Septimius Severus, Roman Empire, AR denarius, 194–195 AD, “Emesa” mint (now attributed by the BM to a mint in Cappadocia). Obv: IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II; head of Septimius Severus, laureate, r. Rev: FORTVN REDVC; Fortuna (Pax?), draped, seated l,, holding branch in extended r, hand and cornucopiae in l. hand. 18mm, 2.08g. Ref: RIC IV Septimius Severus 386. 26€: Schweidnitz (Silesia), civic mint, AR hohlpfennig, 14th/15th c. Obv: boar’s head r. Rev: incuse design (bracteate). 14mm, 0.29g. Friedensburg 358; Saurma 212; Slg. Bonhoff 107–2. 31.50€: Decentius, Roman Empire, AE2, 351–353 AD, Arelate (Arles) mint. Obv: DN DECENTIUS CAES, draped and bareheaded bust of Decentius r., A behind. Rev: VICTORIAE DD NN AVG ET CAE; two Victories, winged, draped, facing each other, holding between them a wreath inscribed VOT/V/MVL/X; in field C above IS; in exergue, SAR. 24mm, 5.37g. Ref: RIC VIII Arelate 182.

The strike, as far as I understand, started early last week. I’m not certain whether it includes custom employees.

Yesterday, I finally opened my Secret Saturnalia parcel, which had arrived from the Netherlands, and inside I found a small medieval coins as well as a lovely letter explaining the choice of gift. My Saturn really put a lot of thought into chosing this coin – I truly appreciate it! The coin I got was minted for Wilbrand of Oldenburg, bishop of Paderborn and Utrecht. Wilbrand certainly is a fascinating historical figure, not the least because of his travels to the Holy Land in 1211/2, where he, together with Herrmann of Salza, did reconnaissance in preparation of the Fifth Crusade. Wilbrand described the journey in his Itinerarium sancte terre, a text that I, unbeknownst to my Saturn, know quite well from other contexts. Suffice it to say that I very much like having a coin struck by Wilbrand. Thanks so much, Saturn! Low Countries, Diocese Utrecht, under Wilbrand of Oldenburg, 1227-1233 AD. Obv: bishop facing with mitre, holding crosier and book; legend (WIL - BRAND) off flan. Rev: cross with three pellets at the end of each limb, one small pellet in each angle near the centre; legend (TRAIECTVM) mostly off flan.10mm, 0.42g. Ref: van der Chijs 8.1–2. My own gift is still on its way due to a strike of postal workers in the UK. Hopefully, it will arrive before the 23rd!

Good seeing you here!

Interesting coin. May I ask you what occasion they were minted for? The reverse with its motto ("He protects in order to serve the one") and the image reminds me of contemporary emblem books.

I very much like both the token and the farthing! Also, your post ito me llustrates an important point: When searching for interesting coins on a budget, a solid knowledge of your collecting field is of great use. Not being well versed in British coinage, I, for example, was neither aware of he existence of these two interesting types nor would I know where to find them at a reasonable price. You^re right. And I want to draw special attention to the Mercury reverse on your fourth coin. Mercury is not shown on Roman imperial coins often, so this type is somewhat special if you, for example, want to assemble a set of different deities. Yes, Byzantine coins, too, are a budget-friendly area. Everytime I see your posts, I ask myself why I never got into collecting them. Certainly a fascinating field!

Nice! I particularla like #3, 6, and 8. You had a good collecting year!

Nice write-up and beautiful coins! A few comments, just to add even more confusion to your jigsaw: 1. More recent scholarship on the Speyer mint usually identifies the pseudo-Byzantine reverses showing Mary as copying not from Byzantine icons but from a gold histamenon struck for the empresses Zoe and Theodora in 1042. If that is correct, which I personally find likely, it means that all the respective types, including the coins you have shown (Dannenberg 838 and 829) were minted a bit later than previously assumed. Dannenberg 829 thus should be attributed to Henry III, who cites his father, and not to Conrad II. Below is the histamenon in question (DOC 3, no. 1) for comparison. It is not my coin – the image is from the Dumbarton Oaks collection: 2. The Speyer mint was technically an episcopal mint. Especially in the cases of Speyer, Worms, Strasbourg, and Mainz, the Salian kings habitually exercized the royal prerogative of using the mints of cities they visited to strike royal coinage. Bernd Kluge calls this a "system of royal participation in episcopal mints" (Kluge 1991, 59). Effectively, the Salians thus outsourced the production of royal coinage in their Franconian heartland to episcopal mints they held some sway over. To my knowledge, it isn't quite clear what degree of influence the actual owner of the Speyer mint, i.e. the bishop, had on the design and production of royal coins struck at his mint. During the reign of Henry III, the dies for the royal coins of Worms and Speyer appear to have been partly crafted by the same die cutter (cf. Kluge 1991, 51). That might imply that at least the dies for these coins were produced independently from the bishop. 3. Your coin minted for bishop Conrad I (Dannenberg 839) illustrates that this system of shared mints became less stabile after the death of Henry III. Although Henry IV was able to contninue minting at Mainz, Worms, and Speyer, the amount of episcopal issues became proportionally higher during his reign. The bishops seem to have in many cases found a way of withdrawing larger shares of their mints' production from royal control. 4. Dannenberg is an incredibly valuable resource and a milestone of German medieval numismatics. Some of his hypotheses, especially concerning the dating and attribution of some Salian and Ottonian key issues, have by now been proven wrong, though. The best comprehensive monograph on the topic in my eyes still is Bernd Kluge: Deutsche Münzgeschichte von der späten Karolingerzeit bis zum Ende der Salier (ca. 900 bis 1125), Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag 1991 (Romisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum. Monographien 29). 5. I second your recommendation of Stefan Weinfurter's "The Salian Century." It is a wonderfully written, deeply erudite but still gripping read. When Weinfurter passed in 2018, German academia truly lost one of its intellectual pillars.

The amount of expertise provided by @DLTcoins and @John Conduitt is truly impressive! All I can add is an example of Album 2149.2 for comparison: note the name "Arghun" placed where your coin has the knot: Ilkhanate, under Arghun with Ghazan as viceroy, AR dirham, 1291–1292 AD (690–691 AH), Astarabad mint. Obv: Uyghur protocol in three lines, two above hawk and one below: "[qaghanu]/ nereber/ deletkeguluksen(?)" ('of the Khaqan / in the name of / struck'); Arabic name of the ruler Arghun in central l. field; citing his heir Ghazan in r. field; hawk r., sunface rising behind. Rev: Shiite kalima in three lines in square: "la ilah illa allah / muhammad rasul allah / ali waliun allah", partial mint and date formula for Astarabad in margins. Ref: Album 2149.2. 17.5mm, 2.93g.

That is interesting. I had wondered about the reasons for Album's dating. May I ask whether you have a theory about when and by whom this type was struck?

They look fine to me. Also, genuine small Elymaian bronzes of this quality are usually traded for very little money. Producing such elaborate fakes likely wouldn't pay off for the forger...

Thanks for the compliments and kind words, everyone! It was meant to be blank – this type of Nuremberg pfennig was produced with only a single die. Nice selection of bargain coins. I really like the club fieldmark on the Ptolemaic AE!

Lovely – as a Severan collector, I especiall appreciate the Septimius Severus with the legionary standards reverse. The Pescennius Niger and eastern mint Severus Alexander are great, too.