Florins ~ Such Fun!

[Guest richbedforduk]

So I have now moved on to the florins. I thought bigger coins, less wear, I'll fly through these. NO. I started with a shuddering stop.

The first problem, albeit a minor problem, is the WW initial. I have been looking in the truncation area. Is that the right area? Is there a WW to see?

The second problem is the ruddy dates. Not only do they use roman numerals, but they use gothic text which I really struggle to read. What a pain! I think that this date reads mdccclv. Which would 1855. Have I got that right?

Thanks again.

[Nick]

So I have now moved on to the florins. I thought bigger coins, less wear, I'll fly through these. NO. I started with a shuddering stop.

The first problem, albeit a minor problem, is the WW initial. I have been looking in the truncation area. Is that the right area? Is there a WW to see?

The second problem is the ruddy dates. Not only do they use roman numerals, but they use gothic text which I really struggle to read. What a pain! I think that this date reads mdccclv. Which would 1855. Have I got that right?

Thanks again.

On the 'godless' 1849 florin, the WW is between the truncation and the date. On your picture, you can just about see the very top of the WW which has all but been obliterated by the line inside the beads. As luck would have it, the obliterated WW is the scarcer variety.

Your other example is indeed 1855.

[SionGilbey]

Yurp, that's an 1855

If you don't know them off the top of your head http://www.novaroma.org/via_romana/numbers.html is one of my bookmarks as it has a quick converter.

For comparison:

[Nick]

I thought bigger coins, less wear.

Sadly no. Bigger coins, more surface area to get damaged. More momentum to damage others.

[argentumandcoins]

What's the world coming to? Does nobody learn Latin in school anymore?

[azda]

What's the world coming to? Does nobody learn Latin in school anymore?

Nemo me impune lacessit

[Peckris]

What's the world coming to? Does nobody learn Latin in school anymore?

Illegitimi non carborundum

[Red Riley]

What's the world coming to? Does nobody learn Latin in school anymore?

Brute aderat forte

Caesar adsum jam

Brute sic in omnibus

Caesar sic intram.

Will that do?

I was fortunate in that my old Dad taught me Roman numerals when I was about six (why, I have no idea) and I've remembered them ever since.

Edited March 21, 2011 by Red Riley

[argentumandcoins]

I am a good Catholic boy and we were taught it as a core subject. I could never understand why as mass had stopped being said in Latin many years before. I then got interested in coins and realised that our head teacher must have been a numismatist!!

[azda]

Vidi Verdi Vici

[Red Riley]

Vidi Verdi Vici

Which translated means, 'I saw, green, I conquered'

Back to school Dave...

[Rob]

Vidi Verdi Vici

Which translated means, 'I saw, green, I conquered'

Back to school Dave...

That's entirely appropriate in a numismatic context. Post the results.

[Cerbera100]

Vidi Verdi Vici

You mean Vini Vidi Vici... or as a school-acquaintance once incorrectly quoted in a talk to a room full of 14 year old boys Vidi Vici Vini - much laughing ensued!

[SionGilbey]

Vidi Verdi Vici

Don't get your verdi on my farthings! >

[Guest richbedforduk]

I was glad when Wogan came off the Radio 2 Breakfast Show. I've never trusted someone who tells jokes in Latin. Very passe.

[ski]

I was about six

===== I was about VI

[Peckris]

Vidi Verdi Vici

Which translated means, 'I saw, green, I conquered'

Back to school Dave...

Or alternatively, it means "I saw, I wrote Aïda, I conquered" ...

[Guest richbedforduk]

The Latin professor's class was conjugating verbs and it got to be Julius's turn. He had not been paying close attention. He turned to the student beside him and asked, "What's the verb?"

She replied, "Damn if I know."

So our hero sat up and conjugated:

Damifino, damifinas, damifinat.

Damifinamus, damifinatis, damifinant.

[Peckris]

The Latin professor's class was conjugating verbs and it got to be Julius's turn. He had not been paying close attention. He turned to the student beside him and asked, "What's the verb?"

She replied, "Damn if I know."

So our hero sat up and conjugated:

Damifino, damifinas, damifinat.

Damifinamus, damifinatis, damifinant.

But I thought it was an irregular verb like fero, ferre, tuli, latum? Damifino, Ihaven'taclue, Don'taskme, Whydon'tyouGoogle

[Geoff T]

The Latin professor's class was conjugating verbs and it got to be Julius's turn. He had not been paying close attention. He turned to the student beside him and asked, "What's the verb?"

She replied, "Damn if I know."

So our hero sat up and conjugated:

Damifino, damifinas, damifinat.

Damifinamus, damifinatis, damifinant.

My Latin teacher, who doubled as a certified sadist, had a novel way of reminding those who forgot the difference between the active and the passive voice. He'd borrow a gym shoe from the lad with the largest feet in the class and ask the forgetful one to bend over. "Mr M***** slippers X - active", followed by a whack. Another whack and "X is slippered by Mr M***** - passive". That was one of his milder tortures. The amazing thing is that we all took it as read that teachers were allowed to do things like that. It sounds like Dotheboys Hall in the 19th century, but it was actually a grammar school in the 1960s. O tempora, o mores!

But I thought it was an irregular verb like fero, ferre, tuli, latum? Damifino, Ihaven'taclue, Don'taskme, Whydon'tyouGoogle