ID help please - Spanish(?) coin - 1400s(?)

dcamp78

Do any of you folks recognize this coin? (the penny is for size reference)

Obverse:


Reverse:


Thanks,

lordmarcovan

Hm. I'm stumped, but it looks vaguely familiar.

Definitely medieval. I would put it earlier than the 1400s, possibly. 12th or 13th century.

I can't see enough of the design in the pics to make a more educated guess, but maybe somebody else will know.

coachleonard

i agree with lordmacrovan-- tricky! Definitely medieval western europe , though that's not much help. English silver pennies of 1272-1485 had that long cross and "pellet" reverse, but other nations copied that design as well. The obverse looks to me like a long-haired monarch facing right(?) That would rule out the coin being English.

coinpictures

Given its size, I would speculate one of the German states? They had a lot of silver minors that small. Or possibly French?

I'm grasping at straws here, because it's way before the time periods I collect. I agree with LordM that it looks earlier than 1400s.

lordmarcovan

I don't think it's German. French would be high on my list of suspected origins.

Blackhawk

My guess is Sardinia or where the heck that it was that the crusaders went after they got the boot from Jerusalem.

lordmarcovan

Thank you.

I knew that looked like a coin I had. It was a Crusader piece.

Hm. I just dug up an old picture. Not as close a resemblance as I thought, but the style of lettering kind of does lend credence to the idea that Dave's coin is probably from the 12th century or thereabouts, rather than the 15th. Even if it isn't a Crusader piece. I like the Crusader theory, though- I think we're gettin' warmer.

This was mine. Bought it from Civitas a while back. It was stolen last spring when my antique mall booth got hit.





<< <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. >>

Sapyx

I was hunting around for something that matched all the criteria: long cross, two annulets (rings) and two "something elses" in the quarters of the cross, with fairly chunky lettering. I wasn't having much luck.

Then I swung back to the original hypothesis of "Spanish"... and found this. It looks very much the same style:

Kingdom of Aragon (eastern Spain), dinero of King James II (1291-1329).

Found it on this site. Apparently, similar designs were used there for about a hundred years, circa 1220-1330.

lordmarcovan

Hey, good work. So Dave's "Spanish" guess might've been right all along!

I think you just got a lot closer.

I wish I could see the obverse of his coin better. I can't make out a dang thing in the pics. Except the small cross at 12:00. (Which, I see, is also a feature of the Aragon dinero you just found, albeit in a slightly different style.)

dcamp78

Hey guys,
Thanks for all of the help. I think Sapyx hit it on the head.
I'm gonna have to see if I can get more of the gunk off of it...