Did a little shopping on the CIVITAS website! :-D

lordmarcovan

I promised Josh a "courtesy purchase" for helping with my ancients recently. I only hope I haven't been too courteous for my budget!

I've always had a thing for early dated coinage. Too bad Civitas was sold out of the cheap Hungarian silver denars. (They had the lowest price I remember seeing, ever. Not too surprising they're all gone.) Previously my oldest dated coin was a 1518 denar, but I just beat that with a 1509, here. And got three other pieces dated in the 1500's.

Hope it's OK I posted 'em here.

One question, Josh- the coins described as "AR" obviously will vary in silver fineness, but are any of them billon? Or would you put "billon" in the description if that were the case? And at what point does "base silver" become "billon"? Not that I care what fineness these coins are- I just wanna describe 'em correctly myself.

---

<< <i>Ancient Afghanistan: Kwarzemshahs 1200-1220 A.D. AE Jitals -- #BU10030

Each of these crude early bronze coins depicts an Islamic script on the obverse. The reverse shows a horse and rider.

Each coin is about 13-15mm in diameter and has a nice green or brown patina.
>>


(I bought one. Cheap- why not? Less than five bucks. And they have 175 left!)

---

<< <i>AUSTRIA Matthaus Lang von Wellenburg Salzburg Bishopric 1519-1540 -- #ME10412
AR 1/2 Batzen 22mm. 1.80g. Struck 1532

Nimbate bust of St. Rupert, l.; holding crozier.
.S.RVDBERTVS.EPVS.

Four part shield; 1532 above.
MATHEVS.CARD.AREVS.SALZ

Saurma 890/382

VF. Toned. Reverse lightly double struck. >>

---

<< <i>AUSTRIAN / GERMAN STATES Ferdinand I of Spain, HRE Carinthia (Kärnten) 1521-1564 -- #ME10463
AR 1/2 Batzen 22mm. 1.84g. Dated 1522

Arms, date above.
*FERDINAND'. D. G. PRIN HISPA

Crowned arms; pomegranates flanking.
*ARCHIDVX. AVSTRIE. ET CAR

Markl 1482/1486; Saurma 773/319

VF. Attractively toned. >>

---

<< <i>CRUSADERS Bohemund III Principality of Antioch 1149-1163 -- #ME7436
AR Denier 18mm. 1.03g. Helmet Denier, Class E

Helmeted head left (with cross) in mail coat; crescent before, star after.
+BOANVHDVS

Cross pattée; crescent in 2nd quadrant.
+ANTI:.OCHIA

Metcalf LE 400; CCS 67b

Good Fine. Toned, slight ghosting on obverse. >>

---

<< <i>FRANCE Henri II Royal Issues 1547-1559 -- #ME9262
AR Douzain aux Croissants 24mm. 1.70g. B- Rouen mint Dated 1551

Crowned arms; crowned crescents flanking.
HENRICVS 2 DEI GRA FRANCOR REX

Floreate cross pattern quartered with H and crowns.
+SIT NOMEN: BENEDICTVM

Ciani 1305; Roberts 3183

Fine. Light cleaning marks. >>

---

<< <i> POLAND Sigismund I (Zygmunt I Stary) 1506-1548 -- #ME8109
AR Half Groschen (Polgroz Koronny) 18mm. 0.90g. Dated 1509

Crowned eagle displayed, head left.
+MONETA: SIGISMVNDI

Crown.
+REGIS POLONE: 1509

Kopicki 410; Gumowski 480; Saurma 5298

Fine. Toned. Mild porosity. >>

---

<< <i>Ancient China, Unattributed AE 1 Cash from circa 900-100 A.D. Northern Song Dynasty. -- #BU5490

Very little duplication.

Some may require a little cleaning. >>


Already had three or four from CanadianCoinGuy, but picked up three from Civitas 'cause they were too cheap to pass up. (I should say are too cheap to pass up, at a buck-ninety-five... as of this post there are still 80 left!) The patina is really cool on the ones I got from CCG, and it looks as though the Civitas coins are no different.

---

AuldFartte

Rob ... you're as bad as my wife and daughter at the mall

Looks like you got some nice stuff !!!

Aethelred

These are great, make me wish I did stuff other than English:

lordmarcovan

I couldn't pass up ol' Saint Rupert, there. With him AND a date, in decent grade, I couldn't resist. As I recall, that was the most expensive of the batch, at 59 bucks or so. If I remember correctly.

And something about Crusader coins has always called out to me- just the aura of history there, I guess. This is my first.

JamminJ

That's a nice haul of stuff you're acquired there! Congrats, and thanks for sharing.
Are they keepers or for resale?

I saw the Salzburg coin a while back and was tempted but decided to wait for a higher grade one to come along (I may be waiting a long).

-JamminJ

Darkhorse

Love the pope giving the thumbs up.

Philip

This is an awesome bunch. Thanks for sharing, LordMinivan

I like the Karnten piece... not that it is an odd design or a high grade piece, but is what some people call "rare location"

cosmicdebris

Askari

Yes, Carinthia is rather long forgotten, except to us history buffs.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Are they keepers or for resale? >>



Both, I guess. The line gets blurry on stuff like this. They're for resale, but I bought 'em just 'cause I wanted to own 'em for a while. What I'll do is price 'em at maybe a 10% markup on the Civitas price (since I don't have any other reference on this stuff), and if they sell, OK. If not, fine. They will dress up my cases at the antique mall nicely. I needed a little medieval stuff as a counterpoint to the monotony of row after row of Liteside stuff like circ silver Washingtons and low-grade Liberty nickels. (Not that there's anything wrong with the Liteside coins mentioned, but once you've seen one, you've seen a thousand, if you knowhutimean. Even Morgan dollars can get monotonous.)

Philip

<< <i> Even Morgan dollars can get monotonous.) >>





I wonder what will happen if you say that over in the US coin forum.

lordmarcovan

Ssh.

But you know what I mean. Go to most coin shows and most of what you will see is Morgans and Saints. Both great coin types and very popular, but you see 'em all the time.

JamminJ

<< <i>

<< <i>Are they keepers or for resale? >>



Both, I guess. The line gets blurry on stuff like this. They're for resale, but I bought 'em just 'cause I wanted to own 'em for a while. >>





I do that too! I have a box which should be labeled "for sale ... but not quite yet". A few even get promoted to the "keeper" boxes.

-JamminJ

SYRACUSIAN

Coins have feelings too JamminJ, one day the ones facing the horror of a vulgar ebay sale will revolt and punish you.

SYRACUSIAN

I already see them organizing a Resistance ,by switching places from box to box while you're asleep. And if that doesn't scare a clean Excel sheet keeping guy like you, just wait for the rest of this slabbed thriller.

JamminJ

<< <i>I already see them organizing a Resistance ,by switching places from box to box while you're asleep. And if that doesn't scare a clean Excel sheet keeping guy like you, just wait for the rest of this slabbed thriller. >>



Be it known there was a promotion from "seller" to "keeper" just last week. Once in a while you have to let one rise and avoid the horrors of e-bay as to keep the others from becoming restive.

Behold! Ye French Indo China 50c in NGC MS66 (accurately graded, may I add)! Come forth and join the chosen few - the KEEPERS! And let this be a lesson to you, the remaining rabble, that one day with charm, high grade or outright rarity you too may be called forth! So it is written, so it is done.

Maybe I'll even post a picture of the chosen one later on tonight.

-JamminJ

Edited for spelling.

JamminJ

Behold the happy promotee:




-JamminJ

CIVITAS

<< <i>One question, Josh- the coins described as "AR" obviously will vary in silver fineness, but are any of them billon? Or would you put "billon" in the description if that were the case? And at what point does "base silver" become "billon"? Not that I care what fineness these coins are- I just wanna describe 'em correctly myself. >>



If the coin were billon, we normally would describe it as billon or abbreviate it "Bi" in the description.

http://www.civitasgalleries.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?keywords=billon

Billon is usually assumed to be a composition of less than 50% silver with the remainder being composed primarily of copper.