A NEWP for my Cow Collection

JCMhouston · April 23, 2015 2:41PM

Being in Texas, I guess we just have a thing for cows. I picked up a nice and scarce Swiss piece to add.

1811 Uri 4 Batzen, MS63, mintage of 3,510 and very scarce.

Besides having a lovely cow on it, Uri was a very famous canton of Switzerland. The earliest settlements in Uri date from around 1450 BC, but is first mentioned as a place name in a document dated 732 AD. The cow (ok, they prefer to call it a Bull) as the coat of arms is thought to relate to the old belief that the name was descended from the Old German word Aurochs, meaning wild ox. Uri was one of the original 3 founding members of The Eternal Alliance of the Forest Cantons (either 1291 or 1307 AD depending on who you listen too), which led directly to the founding of the Old Swiss Confederation. Uri was also home to the legendary William Tell, and took part in two of the greatest battles with the Holy Roman Empire. In 1315 at the Battle of Morgarten the confederacy defeated a Habsburg army, and at the Battle of Sempach in 1386 they again defeated an Austrian army and killed Duke Leopold III and a large number of Austrian nobles.

lordmarcovan · April 23, 2015 2:51PM

Wow. Neat design. (I originally made a rather apt typo and said "meat design". I must've been thinking about cheeseburgers or something.)

Nice color for a billon issue, too. Like zinc or iron coins, those tend to be kind of dark or unappealing much of the time. That one looks nice and bright. Maybe not a lot of what you'd traditionally call "luster", but you can tell from the pics it has a nice "glow" to it.

nicholasz219 · April 23, 2015 5:55PM

Very nice coin JCM! As LM said, it has a really attractive look to it. And it has a cow.

Us Illinois/Indiana people like our cows too.

Exbrit · April 23, 2015 9:48PM

Very nice -

7Jaguars · April 23, 2015 10:06PM

Nice coin as usual there Jeff. Never did like cows too much after being chased by a bull or two as a child - thank God for barbwire fences. Don't see it too much, but there were California bulls with very nasty long horns, and the Spanish used to square them off and fight grizzly bears in a ring.

lordmarcovan · April 23, 2015 10:25PM

<< <i>Nice coin as usual there Jeff. Never did like cows too much after being chased by a bull or two as a child - thank God for barbwire fences. Don't see it too much, but there were California bulls with very nasty long horns, and the Spanish used to square them off and fight grizzly bears in a ring. >>

I lived in East Africa as a child. Even the domesticated cattle had long, nasty horns. Then there were the Cape Buffalo. Those are like the Terminators of the bovine world.

brg5658 · April 23, 2015 11:04PM

Very cool...I also just added a "cow" coin (actually a bull; and a token not a coin) -- I'll start a new thread for it.

luckybucks · April 23, 2015 11:38PM

Awesome coin.

Zohar · April 23, 2015 11:53PM

Never see this type before - very nice Jeff.

A NEWP for my Cow Collection

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