Jester's Challenge #188

1jester

Welcome to Jester's Challenge, an interactive history lesson.

Inspired by many others here on the Darkside forum, I'd like to present what I hope will turn into a great learning experience for all of us. Many members on this World and Ancient Coin Forum have done a formidable job of sharing with us many fascinating and historically important coins. Since looking at coins is also one of my greatest pleasures, I'd like to try to follow in that time-honored tradition and submit for your pleasure and entertainment some world coins I've come across in my short lifetime.

I will pick out a coin on a regular basis, and post it along with the challenge to you to name the coin, its provenance, denomination, metallic content, mintage, any distinguishing characteristics or noteworthy features, and its value. The more information, the better. I'd like as many people as possible to participate, regardless of how little knowledge you might have on the subject. I appreciate comments on every aspect of the coin, including its history, or its role in human history, or info on similar coins in its series, etc. I myself don't presume to know 1/1000 of what you collectively know, hence my challenge to all of you to share your knowledge with the rest of us. Hopefully this exercise will encourage thought, discussion, and most importantly, more friendship.

Thanks for your participation!!!

Here is the one hundred eighty-eighth selection:

JamminJ

This guy is a uniface half kreuzer from the German city of Hall.

The hand on the shield was the giveaway and the double headed eagle notes its status as a free city of the Holy Roman Empire. According to the Krause, the small siver coins were originally known as "hallers" with time changing the name to the more familiar "heller."

Awesome coin, Jester!

-JamminJ

tbirde56

Neat coin and great info!

1jester

Thanks guys! This little beauty comes from Spoon, as a gift. Thanks Spoon!

I didn't know that "Heller" stems from the root city Hall. But it makes sense. In German, if the stem word is Hall, for example, and to denote the possessive case, the vowel adds an umlaut (two little dots on top of the vowel, which is sometimes replaced by an "e" following the vowel, where the umlaut symbol is unavailable, such as in my case) and changes the sound from "hall" to "hell" in this case. So "haeller" denotes something from Hall.

The city is Schwaebisch Hall.

spoon

I recognize that one too I think the uniface design is pretty neat in this case.

That one might benefit from an olive soak as I sent it to you straight from the store.

1jester

It seems that the light covering of verdigris has been there a long time, and as such would not benefit much from an olive oil soak. I'm thinking of MS70, but I hesitate to do that.

Askari

In the 14th century, Swabia struck a crude little silver coin known as a "Hand Heller." The hand on Hall's arms is the "Hand of God."