davidrj

i don't know any Shetlanders, but my Orcadian friends feel far more Scandinavian than Scottish

Henri de la Tour D'Auvergne, Duc de Bouillon Double Liard, 1614, Racourt mint

Now that's a very interesting discussion. What do you make of this catalogue footnote to the sale of an 1874H penny by DNW in 2006: FootnotePeriodically, the Heaton mint struck carefully finished ‘specimen’ coins of varying denominations as an example of what the company could produce; in some instances they were presented as gifts to dignitaries and government officials and in other cases were part of the travelling portfolio of a Heaton sales representative (cf. Gunstone, SNC December 1977, p.545; cf. Tansley Collection, DNW 67, lot 369). Truly genuine Heaton mint proofs of this period (cf. Adams lot 268 = SNC April 2005, 2467) are exceedingly rare; most of those so catalogued in the Freeman sale were in fact ‘specimens’ That's fascinating. Presumably though, such specimens had the H mintmark? None of the bronze minted 1860-3 by either Watt & Co or Heatons had a mintmark Also don't forget Heatons were producing coins for lots of countries, so the "specimens" could have been a cosmepolitan lot, not all these issues had mintmarks

I think the problem is how you define a country - should we have independence for the Kingdom of Strathclyde or Mercia? Many boundaries worldwide have been drawn by politicians without due regard to geography or peoples, most of the horrors in the last hundred years have been based on ideas of nationalism and ethnicity. Having spent time in Kosova in 2001, I'm all for systems that bind humanity together rather than defining differences

How come we in England get no vote anyway? splitting the Union is a major constitutional change

The Birmingham Mint were major suppliers of bronze and other blanks to the RM and other mints worldwide, far exceeding the number of coins they produced 1860-1970 The Birmingham Mint provided 1680 tons of 1p blanks 1968-71 and 460 tons 10p blanks

Record profits for PCGS Whatever we may think of them, slabbing makes shedloads of money for the slabbers

I think Boulton's ambition was to produce coins for the new French regime, they were however broke, hence the confiscation of bells from churches &c for coinage The only Britts involved in minting the bell metal coins were the Alcock brothers who in 1769 had set up a button factory in buildings leased by the nuns of the Priory of Beaulieu in Riorges. Mintmark a D surmounted by two dots

2nd one

"Déesse couronnant une ville, et traînée dans un char par deux licornes" I translate as a "Goddess crowning the City, while in a chariot pulled by two unicorns" I can understand the obverse reference to the Rebels, this is during the Wars of Religion, Paris would subsequently fall to the Hugenots; Henri III would die later retaking the City, But the significance of the unicorns defeats me Postage costs not to bad for me as bought 2 books at the same time

Trouble with the CGB site is so many nice coins in stock, you always end up buying something, couldn't resist this one for such a wacky design Jeton for the Municipal Administration of Paris 1583, brass 28mm

David Groom in his variety book mentions a 1919 penny with a raised dot where the H would be - is this returned die with the H poorly obliterated? Anyone seen or have a picture of this variety?

Did they? or did the RM provide Heatons & Kings Norton pre-punched dies? Sweeney's Numismatic History of the Birmingham Mint is silent on the subject. However pre-punched were issued by the RM for later colonial coins, this snippet is from "British Commonwealth Coins" by Remick Food for thought

Only here could we go off topic on a thread without one

y?

Definitely a 3/2 for me

Re early European copper, an answer from Tibor on the PCGS Forum In 2007 Robert Levinson published his book on this topic and it advanced the known knowledge of this area of numismatics by light years. When a non- collector asks a collector about their coins they involve "what's the date" and/or "what's it worth". Since I am not of Bill Gates wealth I collect moderately priced coins in this area. At this point in time I am unable to post pics. To answer davidrj questions at this point in time there are three different known copper coins with dates before 1500. They are as follows: 1481 Brabant Lev.II-58 R (21-50 known per Levinson) 1489 Flanders Lev.II-120 R !494 Liege Lev.II-134 R-2 (11-20 known per Levinson)

It's all very spooky, I've started buying hammered

Another copper arrived today France - Feudal Liard of Henri de la Tour D'Auvergne, 1614, Racourt mint, 25.1mm, 4.34g

Nice start to your "Liberty" collection Richard! As the Americans would say "Welcome to the darkside"

Yes, true for a European dated copper - I wonder what the earliest is? Does anyone here have a copy of the book on early dated coins? Lots of copper amongst the ancient stuff, the Moslem world & India, but copper seems to go out of fashion in Europe, gold & silver for those that mattered, and billon for the hoi poloi Earliest "European" I can find are the Hungarian coins of Bella III 1176-96 - nice coins very Byzantine and sadly undated - they are commonly dug up in decent condition apparently (must have different soil to us), I think I want one for my "penny" collection

Thanks, new info for me, I have 2 1897 but haven't yet checked them for die differences, I only noticed the "Spink" & MB after I'd scanned them for the post above, they've been sitting in my oddments box for years

Hopefully stuff ends up recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme

Works for me Link moderators have moved if from the general identification forum to the ancients forum

1577 for Royal issues i think. Earlier reigns have minors listed as both "Billon Blanc" and "Monnaies Noires" not got any of the latter so I'm unsure what the term means Earliest Feudal piece I could find is this one "L'église et le couvent de Saint-Bertin frappèrent une série de méreaux de 1524 à 1526 comprenant des méreaux de 12, 6, 3 et 2 deniers" SAINT-OMER - ÉGLISE ET COUVENT DE SAINT-BERTIN Méreau de 12 deniers