Coins of Ancient and Medieval Armenia

PrivateCoinCollector

I am a huge collector of US Coins, but yesterday I was at the Long Beach Coin Show and happened to ask one gentleman if he had any coins from Armenia, as I am of Armenian decent. Imagine my surprise when he pulled about 20 or so coins from Medieval times. prior to today, I had little interest in ancients, having only a few in my collection as tokens of the genre. But today something happened and I want to learn know more about the coinage of my ancenstry.

So I would like to meet others who know about coins from Armenia, have coins from Armenia, (especially the ancients) and know good references about the history around these coins. Please contact me or respond to this thread of you can help me in any way.

BTW. I bought 10 of the coins and did not care what I paid for them.

DesertRat

I too have been smitten by the world/ancient coin bug. Now all I need is to be able to afford to buy some

laurentyvan

BTW. I bought 10 of the coins and did not care what I paid for them.

Bravo! Pleasure of ownership! I think this is a very underappreciated country.

By the way, I never found one to buy for my OFEC collection, as 99% of my purchases were from coin shops.

PrivateCoinCollector

<< <i>I never found one to buy for my OFEC collection >>



OFEC Collection? Please explain.

Millertime

OFEC = One From Each Country

Lynch

<< <i>So I would like to meet others who know about coins from Armenia, have coins from Armenia, (especially the ancients) and know good references about the history around these coins. Please contact me or respond to this thread of you can help me in any way. >>




PCC, I only have one Armenian coin (which I had half-forgotten that I own until I saw this thread).

According to my notes, it is a silver Tram (drachma) of Cilician Armenia which weighs ~2.9 grams and is of unknown purity but definitely high quality silver. According to my notes, the trams were equal in weight and size to the silver dirhams issued by Seljuks of Rum. They contained more silver than the Venetian grosso and at least 10 times the intrinsic value of the deniers of the Latin East.

Attached is a scan of my coin. It is unusual in that it is essentially in as struck condition (although unevenly struck). The legends are not in Latin, but in Armenian and since I cannot read Armenian (especially medieval Armenian), I cannot tell you what they say.

The coin is attributed to King Levon (Leo) I and is undated, but struck at some time in the period 1196-1225 AD. It shows the king seated and on the reverse, 2 lions back to back with a patriarchal cross between them.

Lynch

Wolff, R. L.; Hazard, H. W. (ed.) / The later Crusades, 1189-1311
(1969) XVIII: The Kingdom of Cilician Armenia, pp. 630-659

Lynch

Coins of Cilician Armenia

A more evenly struck example than mine.

PrivateCoinCollector

Thanks for the links and the info. Let me know if you ever want to part with that, or of you know of any other sources for these coins.

Lynch

<< <i>Thanks for the links and the info. Let me know if you ever want to part with that, or of you know of any other sources for these coins. >>



Thanks, but it is not for sale. It was obtained years ago from a dealer now retired and no longer in the business.

For a current source for these coins, there is this website, but I don't know this dealer and have never met or done business with him, so can make no comment.

From that link, there is this one which might (or might not) prove worthwhile. Again, Armenian coins are not my specialty and I have no idea whether the asking prices are fair or not. Caveat Emptor.