Anaximander

I am late to this party and have no magic bullet for you, @Coinmaster, Anton, but I have references old and new to the silver half bracteate that you rightly compare to your mystery coin... Kristin Bendixen published Denmark's Money for the National Museum of Denmark (Copenhagen, 1967, translated by Helen Fogh), an introductory work, where she looks for inspirations behind Denmark's oldest coins from about 825 to about 1000. The Byzantine influence on the silver half bracteate (possibly of Harald Bluetooth or Olaf Skatkonge) is a fair suggestion. So is the runic element, per @Hrefn, and the Anglo-Saxon influence, too. I have a copy of "This book from Jens Christian Moesgaard," namely King Harald's Cross Coinage: Christian Coins for the Merchants of Haitabu and the King's Soldiers (National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, 2015). 287 pp., 30 plates. The half bracteate "cross coin" is ubiquitous among the hoards documented there, gold coin nil. These cross coins are described as "the late derivatives of Charlemagne's Dorestad coinage struck at Haithabu during the 10th century." The scholarship of early Danish coinage between 1967 and 2015 does not appear to have encompassed gold coins such as the one you're studying.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I hope to flatter you, @Hrefn with my version of your lovely coins, as best as I can manage. Here's a virtual tray of some 13th century coins in my collection, borrowing your format. 1. France. Capetians, Louis IX (St. Louis). 1226-1270 AD. AR Gros Tournois (3.92ᵍᵐ 25.4ᵐᵐ 11ʰ) of Touraine. c. 1266-1270. Short cross pattée. ✠BH̅DICTV̅⁝ SIT⁝ HOᙏЄ̅⁝ DN̅I⁝ ȠRῙ⁝ DЄI⁝ IℏV.XPῙ / ✠LVDOVICVS˙ REX. / Châtel Tournois with cross at top ✠TVRONV.S⸰ CIVIS; floral border of twelve lis. VF. CNG EA358 #477. Van Hengel L15 var. (.XPI and variant V in TVRONV.S⸰ CIVIS); Duplessy Royales I #190; Ciani 181; Lafaurie 198; Roberts 2451. This coin inspired me to get the RNS Special Publication 31 (1997) The Gros Tournois, though I haven't been able to collect many of that impressive denomination. 2. Crusaders. Tripoli, Bohemund VI. 1251‑1275 AD. AR Gros (4.24 gm, 25.3mm, 9h). Short cross within octafoil tressure of arcs & angles. ✠BOЄMVNDVS ⁝ COMЄS (pelleted N). / Eight-pointed star within tressure of arcs, pellet stops. ✠ C𐊑V𐊑TAS ⁝ TR𐊑POL𐊑. gVF. CNG 51 #1803 (part of). Metcalf Crusades (1983 ed. #356), (1995 ed. #490); Malloy Crusader (MPS-CCS, Tripoli) #22; Schlumberger pl.4 #19. cf. Triton XXV #1108. This coin came in the same lot as the next. When you pause to think of the poor strikes that characterize crusader coinage, this issue is remarkable. 3. Crusaders. Tripoli, Bohemund VII. 1275‑1287 AD. AR Gros (4.21 gm, 26.1mm, 2h). Short cross pattée in tressure of twelve arcs. ✠SЄPTIMVS⁝ BOЄMVNDVS⁝ COMЄS (pelleted S). / Triple-towered crenelated gateway in tressure of twelve arcs. ✠CIVITAS⁝ TRIPOLIS⁝ S⋎RIЄ (pelleted S). gVF. CNG 51 #1803 (part of). Metcalf Crusades (1983 ed. #358), (1995 ed. #497); Malloy Preston Seltman CCS (Tripoli) #26; Schlumberger pl.4 #21. 4. Sicily. Frederick IV "The Simple" of Aragon. 1355-1377 AD. AR Peirreale (3.27 gm, 25.8mm, 10h) of Messina. Eagle, wings outspread. ✠FRIDЄRICUS⁝ DЄI⁝ GRA⁝ RЄX⁝ SICILIЄ⁝ / Crowned crest, G to left, ᙏ to right, in tressure, with pellets in angles. ✠AC⁝ ATHЄȠAR⁝ Z⁝ ȠEOPATRIE⁝ DUX⁝ EF. Bt. Gables Coin, 1999. MEC 14 (Italy III) #790; Spahr Monete Siciliane (Aragonesi) #51; MIR Sicilia 195; Crusafont 327. No, this is NOT a gigliato of Robert d'Anjou; it is, however, the closest approximation I could cite in my collection. The Aragonese rulers of Sicily gained the mantle of Kingdom of Sicily (whether one Sicily or two), after the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, when popular revolt threw off the yoke of the Angevins. Charles I of Anjou was King of Sicily from 1266 to 1285, taking Naples in 1266-1268. Charles I, grandfather to Robert, King of Naples (1309-1343), was described as "the most feared and valient ruler of his time, and the greatest member of the French royal house since Charlemagne" (Villani). Cited in MEC 14 Italy (III). 5. Crusaders. Cyprus, Peter I. 1359-1369 AD. AR Gros Grand (4.49 gm, 25.5mm, 5h) Nicosia mint. King enthroned facing, holding sword and globus cruciger; coat-of-arms to right. ✠PIЄRЄ PAR LA GRACЄ D' DIЄ' ROI. / Voided short cross of Jerusalem, ☩, crosslets in qtrs. ✠D IЄRUʒALЄᙏ Є DЄ ChIPRЄ. VF. Agora Auctions Sale 57 #243. Metcalf Crusades (1983 ed. #581), (1995 ed. #772-773); MPS-CCS (Cyprus) #77; Schlumberger pl.6 #27. cf. Saulcy pl.11 #11 (obv. legend). Big flan crack. One thing all these coins have in common is their impressive size and weight. The 13th & 14th C. may have more than their share of troubles, but they sure could hammer out some great coins.

Thank you for pointing that out, @Nap. That's the GOOD html version of M&G (with maps!) and not the HathiTrust PDF version. I was inspired to prepare one of my Tables of Contents (TOCs). I use them, printed, as bookmarks in my hardcopy text.

The result of the study, if I'm not mistaken, is that we now have an answer to a longstanding question on where the silver originated that was behind an explosion of silver penny -and presumably denier- production in Western Europe before 750 B.C. It is ironic that we come up with more questions than answers! Like @Rand, I'm comfortable with the finding that Byzantine silver was used in the production of silver pennies; there's a notion that such silver was previously hoarded in Europe and, with the right motivation, there followed a melting of that silver hoard and minting of coinage. The article in Antiquities and others that report on that Oxford-Cambridge-Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam study is worthwhile reading. I'll toss this out for further review: (1) Listen to the podcast featuring one of the co-authors, Cambridge professor Rory Naismith (discussed here by @Broucheion). (2) To get into the broader perspective, it is tempting to pick up Naismith's new book, Making Money in the Early Middle Ages (available at Amazon), mentioned in the podcast. To be clear, the topic of Byzantine silver does come up in the podcast (and seemingly in the book), but the discussion here by @John Conduitt, @Rand, @Hrefn , @ela126, @JeandAcre and @DLTcoins does more justice to the topic than the podcast, where the term "isotope" isn't mentioned. The podcast did dwell a bit heavy on clipping, false money, and the potential loss of "appendages" by offending moneyers (shudder!).

A latecomer to this post, I'll head back to the original topic: the Carolingian monograms in the 10th & 11th centuries were from the later kings and emperors. Which kings and emperors, you ask? Why, just a handful: Charles the Simple, Louis IV and V, and Lothaire. Some of the many immobilized types of Charles the Bald would surface in this period, too. The Robertines fall outside the Carolingian genealogical tree, and Oddo is 9th century, and Robert (his brother), may or may not have issued coins. The Robertine king Raoul did issue some interesting monogram coins; I'll share mine below. First among my coins, and my latest purchase, was sold as Charles the Bald, but is most likely an issue under Charles the Simple, as described by Simon Coupland when selling his exemple. This type features a Karolus monogram and -rather unusually- a badly blundered Christiana religio legend. (X✠RI˙Λ˙ IIΛ REIIϽIO). Coupland attributes it to a mint at Langres. Similar examples: Gariel ("Charles") pl.45 #69 (XRIΛIIΛ IICIO)-70 (XPIΛIIΛ PIIICIO); Prou 1067 (XPIΛИΛ REIICIO)-1068 (XRIΛIIΛ IICIO); Roberts SCMF (Chas. the Bald or Simple) #1287 [S] (XRIΛIIΛ IICIO). Second is a posthumous denier of Raoul, featuring a Rudolfus monogram. Not a monogram one sees often. It's a weak strike, and another blundered legend, omitting the REX. Last is an immobilized type of Charles the Bald, possibly from the reign of Louis IV, featuring a Karolus monogram.

Here's my first Galba -I have one other, but it lacks that "expressive portrait," to borrow @GERMANICVS term. This has a lot of wear, if not a belt sander finish, coming early in my Roman collecting efforts. I've heard said (probably by Mike Markowitz) that the portrait is everything for Roman coins. Yes, an overstatement and oversimplification, but it has a ring of truth.

The attribution 1435 is to James Roberts, Silver Coins of Medieval France, #1435 = Gariel plate XXXV #248. These both have a normal-facing L in the KAROLVS monogram, so yours is a variant. Another attribution: M&G 805 (on page 204), who cites Prou 278-281 and Gariel 248.

I've quite the overstrike on my follis of Tancred as regent, with the undertype particularly visible on the reverse. Crusaders. Antioch, Tancred, Regent. 1101‑1112. AE Follis (3.48 gm, 22.3mm, 12h) during Bohemund I's captivity. 2ⁿᵈ type. Facing bust, wearing turban and holding sword. Cross from undertype to right. [+KЄ BΘ TΩ TANKPI] or similar (Lord, Help Your Servant Tancred). / Cross pommetée, fleuronée at base, with I̅C̅ X̄C / [NI KA] (Jesus Christ Conquers) in quarters, but undertype on r., on 6h axis. aVF. Undertype reads [KE]BOI ʘHT[OΔVO] ΛOC[OVT] [TA]NK[PI]. ex-Numismatik Naumann 104 #1055. MPS CCS 4a; Metcalf 63-70; Schlumberger pl.2 #7; Wäckerlin 85-87. Overstruck on a 1ˢᵗ type follis, CCS 3a. Recoinages were common enough among the Anglo-Saxons, the rationale for which appears many-fold, including wear-and-tear, clipping, propaganda (I'm the boss, not him), but also to changing standards of fineness or denomination. In this case, there's no silver to debase, no revaluation, and no change in authority. Puzzling! @Valentinian was kind enough to research my coin on acsearch.info for this prior sale. To his point, there is so much undertype on the reverse, it's hard to know which to orient on! I've oriented on the second, while the dealer focused on the first. This was also my first post at numisforum, on April 18, 2024, on the amazingly long Post your latest ancient thread, with @CPK as the OP.

Thanks for sharing, @Broucheion. I'm thrilled at the prospect of a podcast with Rory Naismith. Never thought to see that day! I have several of his works, MEC & SCBI. So I've queued up Episode 240 of the Medieval Podcast by Danièl Cybulskie. I used to listen to the podcast History of England, by David Crowther. It was wondrous getting history while commuting on mass transit. Oh, the joy of a smartphone! It is the only podcast I ever listened to, and it's been donkey's years since I listened to one.

Apologies, but I'm already losing the thread. Wait. Is there one, here? Shall I begin with the end (alpha et omega)? My notes and flips are replete with symbols and archaic letters, so why not go there. My exemplar of Herbert I, also Duplessy 397, has the Λ (the α) and Ʊ (an inverted Ω), but not Თ (the odd-shaped M). So, point goes to @JeandAcre. However, I can evidence the monogram! Spelling it out it is beyond me, but here you have it: And on to Normandy, William the Bastard, and some bastardized coinage... Hard to believe that there is lettering in there, with just an N (for Normannia) jumping out. Crude is right.

Richard, Duke of Normandy, is quite the historical figure, as a note to a CNG sale tells us; and that's without going into the particulars of this coin, the reverse of which could be attributable to Archbishop Hugh (brother of the duke) or to the Carolingian king Lothaire (as suggested by Alan DeShazo, in the Celator articles that @JeandAcre was kind enough to link). Here's my example of your Depeyrot 883 (a new reference for my coin! 👍@JeandAcre & @Hrefn), aka Duplessy Féodales I #18; Legros 209. Dumas Fécamp 4147-6041; Poey d'Avant Féodales I #110 (pl.III #17). Sometimes cited as joint issue with Archbishop Hugh, as my 2014 dealer tag shows.

Such an early and rare issue! I have one such, though you wouldn't know it from looking at it. Such a poor strike, if typical of the period. Capetians, Hughes Capet. 987–996 AD. AR Denier (0.99 gm, 20.6mm, 6h) of Beauvais. Struck 987-998 by Bishop Hervé (986-998). Cross pattée; pellet in 2ⁿᵈ and 3ʳᵈ quarters. HERVEVS HVGO REX (ligated HE and VE). / Carolus monogram, CΛR◇LVS. ✠BELVΛCVS CIVITΛS. nVF. CNG EA 413 #633. Duplessy Royales I #1; Boudeau 1891; Ciani 12-13; Lafaurie 6; Poey d'Avant Féodales III #6455 (pl.CL #17); Roberts 2251. Typical crude strike. First royal French coin. Ex-Norman Frank Col., purchased from Andy Singer. Rare.

My references tend to be dated and discussions on Carolingian coins rare. The Michigan coin dealer I favored (now defunct) made reference to Roberts SCMF, driving me mad until I obtained a copy. I will no doubt continue to use my old references, which include Dolley & Morrison, The Carolingian Coins in the British Museum (London, 1966); Medieval European Coinage I. (1986), that wide-spectrum edifice; and Simon Coupland's Carolingian Coinage and the Vikings (Great Britain, 2007), which is my most recent reference (if narrowest in scope). I sometimes reach back to Gariel (Strasbourg, 1884-1885). The time has come to welcome Depeyrot to my home.

In reading this post I find that I have so much to say that I don't know quite where to begin. It's a delight to read all that has been written here. So, tout-court, I love what the collection you're building @Hrefn. Also, when I photograph my Carolingian (and sundry medieval coinage), I orient the central device so that it appears aligned at 12 o'clock (12h). The legend falls as it may. This example from Charles le chauve is oriented in that manner on the reverse. Wish I could get my hands on Depeyrot (who keeps coming out with new editions, if I'm not mistaken). I refer mostly to Morrison & Grunthal (Carolingian Coinage), Prou (Les monnaies Carolingiennes) and Roberts (The Silver Coins of Medieval France). I'll swap a copy of Roberts for a Depeyrot, if anyone has a spare copy.

I'm not holding my breath for a MEC volume covering the Merovingians. MEC I (Cambridge, 1986) had some coverage of the Merovingians, with a dozen black and white plates covering some 300 coins. It's the most credible English-language publication I know. A French coin shop sells its version of Prou Merovingiennes (Paris, 1892): Prou, Maurice. PROU II: CATALOGUE DES MONNAIES FRANÇAISES DE LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE, LES MONNAIES MÉROVINGIENNES. Paris: Comptoir Général Financier, 2003 reprint. Thick 8vo, original pictorial boards. 630 pages; 1081 photos, 2914 coins, 36 plates. A relatively recent reprint of the enormously important and very rare original. Clain-Stefanelli 5769.* Grierson 119. € 59 @ cgb.fr. I'd be curious to know if anyone has Depeyrot, which seems to be the most up-to-date reference, but for whom the cost/benefit remains uncertain (even for us French-speakers).

That sale has a whopping 605 lots, and every one of them is EF or close thereto. All silver or gold. Simply. Amazing. The NAC catalog says the seller is anonymous, but maintains a website www.thedioscuricollection.com. Worth a look! The starting prices align with the condition. What I don't know is whether the hammer comes down at NAC at multiples of the estimate. I've never watched, much less bid, a NAC auction. Here's one rarity: Gordian I denarius, with a cringe-worthy starting price of CHF 4,000 = US$ 4,400.

Wonders (and myths) never cease. Here are several explanations that I found: 1. Apollo gave Seleucus a ring with an anchor engraved on it. 2. Seleucus tripped over an anchor while walking through a desert with Alexander III. See: http://www.seleukidempire.org/seleukidanchors.htm 3. Seleucus I had a birthmark on his thigh in the form of an anchor. This birthmark was considered a sign of his divine descent and was passed down to his descendants. See https://www.thecollector.com/seleucus-i-nicator/

I'd wager it was a broken nose, just as with living people. To paraphrase a Japanese saying... "A nose that sticks out gets hammered down." We're rather used to having the high points subject to wear, this looks more like a fair amount of circulation damage plus a pummeling. I bet he lost that fight! By the way, I was looking at acsearch.info for this solidus of Leo I (search term leo solidus RIC X 605) and was shocked to see the last two sales from Roma Numismatics with 37 Leo solidii, Auction 39 with 13 coins (all with no reserve) and E-Auction 118 with a whopping 24 coins. Looking further back, they sold 184 of them since December 2020! When it rains (gold), it pours. I've never purchased from them, or even looked at their catalogs, so I don't know how out-of-ordinary this is for them. I will say this: there are a lot of broken noses here. Check out lot 2040! 🫢

I genuflect before the mighty @Ryro, the OP, whose Argead genealogy, coins, and witticisms launched a thousand ships (or at least a few posts). Still, we will make space for Aëropos II (398-394 BC, regent and regicide of Orestes, son of Archelaus) in this account. Arguably, we would do the same for Pausanias (394/393) if any of his coins were in my shoebox marked MACEDON. There is always room in my virtual tray to fill the many gaps in my collection of the Argead royal line. So many denominations: tetradrachm, tetrobol, pentadrachm, dichalkon, didrachm, and drachm.

Here’s a 100 year-old provenance of a nomos from Metapontion in Lucania: Ars Classica-Naville V (1923) sale of Duplicates of the British Museum. It was Steve Moulding @rNumis who posted a match he made in December 2021 to one of my coins on his site, rNumis. Not only could I confirm the match to my nomos of Metapontion, but I found his site has links to the actual catalog with text and plates. It seemed miraculous. I’ve since received a couple of surprise provenance notifications, and I’ve returned the favor a couple of times too, including a plate coin.

Greek Gold? Rare as hens teeth! Here's mine. An AI haiku: Golden age revived, Philip’s coins gleam with history, Alexander’s rise.

One of the Wall Street banks was Bankers Trust, at 14 Wall St., in New York City (the city where I was born and went to university). Its uppermost stories were designed with the mausoleum of Halicarnassus in mind. Building images courtesy of Wikipedia (public domain in the USA) and Google Maps. Here is my tetradrachm of Maussolos.

I will call and raise (tosses a coin of Philip III, struck by Perdikkas, onto the table, and pockets a gold stater of Philip II).

Rounding out the highlights of the Antigonid Royal House: Philip V, son of Demetrios II, and Perseus. Philip's alliance with Carthage -then at war with Rome- sparked the First Macedonian War (214-205 BC), in which Philip prevailed. His unending campaigns far and wide brought him enmity and opposition and eventual defeat in the Second Macedonian War (200-197 BC). The Macedonians then became vassals of the Romans, fighting their corner. Philip's sons Perseus and Demetrios became deadly rivals, leading to the execution of Demetrios for treason. Philip died just a year later, in 179 BC. Though Perseus was a nominal ally of Rome, his machinations as king brought invariable opposition -notably by Eumenes II of the Pergamon Kingdom- and led to the Third Macedonian War (171-168). Rome triumphed, and Perseus marched as a prisoner in the Roman triumph and perished at their hands.

In reading up on him at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato, Plato (Πλάτων, né Aristocles) was born in Athens or Aegina, lived c. 427-348 BC, and may have travelled to Italy, Sicily, Egypt and Cyrene. If you search the internet, you’ll find that Plato issued coins! Only, of course, it’s the other Plato (of Baktria, c. 166 BC, the one that lingers on my Want List). Here’s a stater of Aigina that may overlap with Plato’s lifetime. The use of the land tortoise rather than the traditional sea tortoise on the coinage could, some suggest, reflect Aigina’s conquest by the Athenians, just before the Peloponnesian war. It was sold to me with the date 404-340 B.C. Aigina. AR Stater (12.16 gm, 21.0mm). Land tortise with segmented shell of 13 plates. Indistinct countermark in center. / Skew pattern incuse square w/ five compartments (three squares and two triangles) divided by three thin bands. aVF. SNG Delepierre 1775 (same rev. die); BMC p.137 #146; Dewing 1683; HGC 6 #437; McClean II #6040-6044; Meadows Aegina Gp IIIb; Milbank pd.V pl.2 #12; SNG Cop 3 (Attica-Aegina) 516-517; SNG Munich 561-562.