Coin Talk

Yet that modest five minutes invariably triggers hours of pure, unadulterated research pleasure or more, sometimes years! My first Republican Denarius led to decades of collecting, reading, museum visits and a dive into a political history I had not previously appreciated existed.

That is the great paradox of coin collecting and now token collecting. With regal coinage, the state has already sanitised the narrative: monarch, mint, moneyer and heraldry. Tokens, however,...

Here's a close-up of the reverse of a newly acquired coin of mine. Can anyone correctly identify it?

This is one of the gems I picked up recently from AMCC 2. I do not have very many medieval coins but I always enjoy the posts from our medieval specialists. This was a fun coin to research and I owe @seth77 a big thanks for helping me better understand the way these are cataloged and providing me some suggestions for further reading.


Crusader Antioch
Bohemond III (Minority 1149-1163, Majority 1163-1201)
AR Denier, Antioch mint, struck ca. 1163-1188
Wt.: 1.06 g
Dia.: 17 mm
Obv.: +BOAHVHDVS; Helmeted head left marked with cross pattee, coif mail composed of crescents, five pointed star right, crescent left.
Rev.: +ANTIOCNIA; cross pattee, with crescent pointing downward in second angle.
Ref.: Malloy 65/Class A to B cf. Metcalf
Ex AMCC 2, Lot 289 (Nov. 9, 2019)

Some Notes on the Coins of Antioch
Antioch was captured by the crusaders in AD 1098 under the leadership of...

About four of five years after after starting my experience with ancient coins, my collecting interest became fixated on large bronzes - imperial sestertii - and that and only that has been my interest ever since - not silver, not gold not anything but large bronzes and more particularly sestertii. Lots of reasons - the beauty of the coins, especially the gem like quality of the metal, the fact that it is possible to find bargains since bronzes are so difficult to photograph, as well as the feel of the coins, in any event despite many feeble attempts in other directions this is and has been since about 2003 my one and only focus - a 23 year infatuation that only another collector can understand.

Imperial sestertii were stuck in a metal called orichalcum - ὀρείχαλκος - containing tin, copper, traces of lead, it is a brass alloy meant to look like gold. The coins that are of interest were struck from Augustus to Gallienus/Postumus, with one small coin struck by...

Gold, government authority, and monetary change in early modern Japan

A recent addition to my collection is this Japanese Koban. Minted in the 1837-1858 range, these are impressive large gold pieces. This has been a type long on my want list. This type is generally much more attainable to the average collector than the earlier pieces.



Origins and Form
The koban (小判, “small oval”) was an oval gold coin used chiefly during Japan’s Edo period (1603–1867). Its immediate background lay in the large ōban gold pieces produced in the late sixteenth century. Unlike those high-value pieces, which often served as ceremonial gifts or instruments of elite exchange, the smaller koban was intended for broader monetary use. The first major issue, the Keichō koban, appeared under Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1601 as part of an effort to create a more unified national currency.

A koban was valued by count rather than weighed during...

Here's a coin I recently picked up, with a fascinating history steeped in the British colonial adventurism of the 18th and 19th centuries.



The Raj of Sarawak was a kingdom in northwestern Borneo established in 1841 under the personal rule of British soldier and adventurer James Brooke, after he had assisted Brunei Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II in suppressing a revolt in the area.

New video and coin.



Roman Republic: Q. Minucius Thermus M.f., AR Denarius, Rome mint, 103 BC, Sear 197, Crawford 319/1; RSC Minucia 19 (3.77 g, 19 mm)

Obverse: Helmeted head of Mars, the god of war, left, wearing helmet ornamented with plume and annulet

Reverse: Two warriors in combat, each armed with sword in right hand and shield in left; the one on the left protects a fallen comrade; the other wears horned helmet; Q•TERM•MF (ligate) in exergue

Hi Everyone, I have some bad news to report. @GDJMSP (Doug) passed away in June.

Peter received word from his family a few days ago. Doug was the head Cointalk Moderator and Administrator since just about the very beginning of CoinTalk. He was a steadfast presence on CoinTalk, especially in the heady days circa 2014 when the moderating part of his time here was near a full time job. Although it has calmed down on CoinTalk for the past few years, Doug spend usually at least an hour every morning here for decades, approving new users, moderating, and generally just keeping everything running smoothly and the spammers and bad guys out. His behind-the-scenes work is the reason our forum is the best, most consistent, and user friendly coin forum on the internet. Although he stopped collecting (owning) coins himself, he never waivered in his commitment to Peter and CoinTalk, nor did he ever stop helping members who asked.

I was not expecting his passing....

I decided to create this thread for a number of reasons and in homage to The Cob Corner thread created by @robinjojo.

My reasons are simple, @CoinFox raised the subject of shipwreck coins in general. This is a large area that covers pre-Roman to recent history and with coins to suit every pocket. My first post is about a readily available coin I bought recently on Ebay for $32.00 that has provided me with a lot of fun and interest.

Although many of the coins featured in The Cob Corner would have originated from shipwrecks, I would be uncomfortable to post anything other than Cobs on the thread as I believe it would dilute or pollute an erudite thread that is evolving into a "must go to" thread for anyone, like me, starting to collect these interesting coins. I had ignored Cobs in a lifetime of collecting because I held too many negative preconceptions about the complexity of attributing them and how to buy real ones. I'm learning a lot...