Early Dated Coins of Europe by Levinson - POST some coins!

Bob13 · January 13, 2018 11:02PM

I came across this book in another thread and it looks interesting, but there are only a few preview pages available on Amazon.

Can anyone offer a review or recommendation? Thanks in advance.

Tibor · January 18, 2018 11:44PM

This book concerns European coins dated before 1501 A.D.
Well organized by regions. Bob spent several years researching
his book. The current edition is 10+ years old. If Medieval coinage
is an area of the hobby that you enjoy, I highly recommend its
purchase. WARNING Many of the listed coins are extremely
rare, less than 6 known. The great majority of those coins are in
museums. The rest come along infrequently. The listing may say
25+ known but even these coins only come along infrequently.
I have been collecting them for over 15 years. At the Denver
ANA I spent 2 hours discussing these coins with Bob. He freely
shares his knowledge on the topic. If you have any questions
on this topic please do not hesitate to PM me.

Bob13 · January 19, 2018 9:48PM

@Tibor - Many thanks for the information!

giorgio11 · January 20, 2018 6:01AM

@Tibor good job! Hope to see you again in Knoxville in a couple of weeks .. ?

Kind regards,

George

Tibor · January 20, 2018 8:35AM

I hope to be there. Depends upon my employer.

CIVITAS · January 22, 2018 5:00PM

Great book. Buy from Charlie Davis for less than the Amazon price though (unless you're getting Kindle version).

https://vcoins.com/en/stores/charles_davis/44/product/levinson_the_early_dated_coins_of_europe_12341500/888125/Default.aspx

Bob13 · March 22, 2018 11:08AM

Ok - thanks for all the replies and input. Another question - how about any of the books by Peter Spufford? He wrote "Money and its Use in Medieval Europe" and "Power and Profit: The Merchant in Medieval Europe."

Mostly looking for a good general read about the money in the middle ages more than a reference book.

Thanks in advance.
Bob

CIVITAS · April 5, 2018 10:27AM

I'm not familiar with either book, so I can't comment.

Bob13 · December 8, 2018 11:22AM

Follow up to this thread - I did purchase a copy of this book. What a labor of love! I can't believe that one person was able to put this all together.

Even if the coins are EXTREMELY rare, the book has really interesting information, great pictures. Glad I purchased it, and plan to probably try and pursue some of the more modest coins in it.

I also found this website to be helpful. It was new to me so if interested link here:
http://www.medievalcoinage.com/earlydated/

scubafuel · December 8, 2018 9:56PM

Sooo, who's got an early dated coin to post??

SaorAlba · December 9, 2018 7:25AM

CNG has had early dated coins as a theme in an auction a few years ago. Dated coins from before 1500 are rare, but not necessarily that valuable as there is a fairly limited collector interest in them unfortunately. I remember some of the coins going for prices in the low hundreds.

Easily affordable early dated coins start in the early 16th century with Hungarian denars and Polish grosz coins.

Bob13 · December 9, 2018 10:11AM

I have some undated medieval coins, like the one below. As an aside I am getting interested in saints on coins.

But my first dated coin is this recent purchase -a batzen (quarter sized) coin from Salzburg.

And as mentioned above the polish groschen coins can be cheap... this one was ~$100.

It would be great to see some early dated coins - particularly any with Roman numerals or other early arabic numbers that look a bit different than modern numbers. Thanks in advance!

Zohar · December 10, 2018 1:36AM

Bob13 - great stuff!

WorldTypeSet · December 10, 2018 6:16AM

Sooo, who's got an early dated coin to post??

I have nothing before 1501, so nothing covered by the book. But, here's some from the 1500s.

1539 Prussia Groschen

1544 Hungary Denar

1550 Besancon 1/2 Carolus

Weiss · December 10, 2018 11:56AM

My earliest dated piece. Sometimes "darkside" is in the eye of the beholder:

Tibor · December 11, 2018 3:48AM

1374 Aachen

I have others if the forum is interested.
Todd from blucc took the pics. An excellent job.

Bob13 · December 11, 2018 3:02PM

@Tibor Fire away I say. Great coin! Aachen is on my want list.

CIVITAS · December 11, 2018 4:33PM

I purchased these three coins directly from Bob Levinson:

GERMANY Saxony Duchy and Elector Spitzgroschen EF -- #ME77335
AR Spitzgroschen 22mm. 1.43g. Zwickau Mint. 1478

Arms.
E:W:A:D:G:DVCS:SX:TV:L:HA:HS

Landsberger arms in trefoil.
GROSSVS:NOVVS:MARCH:HS A8

Levinson I-163

EF. Ex Robert A. Levinson collection. Includes ticket.

GERMANY Saxony Elector Ernst and Duke Albrecht 1482-1485 Half Schwertgroschen EF -- #ME77336
AR Half Schwertgroschen 26mm. 1.99g. Zwickau/Schneeberg Mint. 1482

Elector's arms in trefoil.
E:A:D:G:DVCS:SAX:TV:LA:MAR:HS

Landsberg-Meissen arms in trefoil.
GROSSVS:NOVVS:DVCVM:SAXONI82

Levinson I-185

EF. Ex Robert A. Levinson collection. Includes ticket.

LOWLANDS Duchy Brabant Philip 'the Fair,' Duke of Burgundy 1492-1506 Double Patard EF -- #ME77368
AR Double Patard 29mm. 2.93g. Antwerp Mint. 1500

Crowned arms of Austria-Burgundy before polylobe.
PHSDEIGRAARCHIDAVSTEDVXBVRG*BRA

Ornate triple-straneded short cross flouree; mintmark in center.
OMNISSPIRITVSLAVDETDOMINIANNO*1500

Levinson II-153b

EF. Good metal. Some golden toning in devices. Ex Robert A. Levinson collection. Includes ticket.

Tibor · December 11, 2018 5:46PM

@CIVITAS Those are really nice. Bob is the best.
Very friendly and always willing to share his knowledge
and expertise.

Tibor · December 11, 2018 5:53PM

One of my favorites

These don't come along very often

This and the 1402 are in NGC plastic

Bob13 · January 21, 2019 2:59PM

I am revisiting this thread. When looking for books on this topic, I came across Peter Spufford "Power and Profit: The Merchant in Medieval Europe." With some money from the holidays, I purchased this book from Amazon and have really enjoyed it! It is by no means a light read, but it thoroughly covers the topic. It is also richly illustrated on almost every page.

Talks about why trade expanded in the middle ages (roads, canals, financial associations, etc); how different regions became known for certain resources; and has a bit about money, too!

One thing I learned is that the money of the day did not reflect the power of a ruler, wise decision making, etc - it simply was a function of where the bullion was found!

Here are some images if anyone else is interested:
Early mines - note that each person was their own mine, and worked individually.

Early mint worker:

It is better to be lucky then good. Anyone have a good Prague Groschen?

A review of the book from the Guardian is here if interested. I plan to purchase his earlier work now, too.

scubafuel · January 21, 2019 8:26PM

I've actually been down in that mine in Kutna Hora as a tourist. VERY claustrophobic! But I never realized the connection to numismatics until now.

Tibor · January 21, 2019 11:24PM

This is the earliest dated gold coin. Thank you Todd.

Tibor · January 21, 2019 11:39PM

To my knowledge this is earliest dated coin from Europe. The date is in Roman
numerals on the left image MCCIIII. In Spain at the time they were still using a
calendar system introduced by Augustus Caesar in 38 BC. So the coin was struck
in 1166 AD using the calendar system that we use today.

HoledandCreative · January 22, 2019 10:53PM

Wow!!

Early Dated Coins of Europe by Levinson - POST some coins!

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