Walking Back In Time From 1600 To Antiquity By Decades (V3.0)

This is probably a good time to post this coin, given it covers the 1480s and 1490s, although it doesn't take us back as the date range is too wide.

Henry VII Sovereign Type Penny, issued under Archbishop Thomas Rotherham

York. Silver, 15mm, 0.73g. Henry on single-pillar throne, holding scepter and globus cruciger, hEnRICx DIx GRAx REXx ANG'. Coat-of-arms over long cross fourchee, CIVI-TAS EBO-RACI, keys below shield (S 2236). The keys come from the Arms of the Diocese of York.

The dates 1485-1500 are based on Henry VII's accession and Archbishop Rotherham's death. These are the last pennies ever struck by an Archbishop of York.

Yes you don't see them often, although they're not rare. The Archbishops of Canterbury and Durham also issued coins under Henry VII. Before that there were also ecclesiastical mints in Bury St Edmunds, Chichester and Lichfield. With earlier issues you can only tell they're church issues by the mint, although mints switched between church and king depending on the monarch. The profits went to the church, not the king, although sometimes they gave him a cut.

Archbishops have been issuing coins in England for a very long time - the Saxon archbishops of York and Canterbury issued coins in their own names. They finally stopped when Henry VIII took over the church.

The email successfully arrived in the morning, and I might as well post the coin...



Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Alexander Jagiellonczyk
Polgrosz (halfgroat)
1495-1506 (or 1492-1506, sources vary)

Obverse: MON' ALEXANDRI, knight on horseback left
Reverse: MAGNI DVC' LITVANIE, single-headed eagle facing left
Numista 31088 = Numista 259333

Here is a coin from the 1480s that I haven't posted here yet: a 6 Kreuzer from the Austrian Duchy of Tyrol. It dates to between 1482 and 1489 AD and was minted at Hall. The obv inscription is SIGISMVND ACHIDVX AVSTRIE while the rev inscription is GROS COMMS TIROL. I bought it for the unusual letterforms on the reverse Ms, but I also note that it is a bit odd that the rev inscription is broken up by the cross, rather than being separated into natural pauses by the arms as so many other coins are.





If no one has any others to post, we can drop back to the decade of the 1470s starting tomorrow.

Good question @j1m. I'll have to check my Saurma and get back to you.

Nice one @tdz! Here is a Tanka from the Juanpur Sultantate of India. It is dated AH 877, which corresponds to 1472/3 AD. It has provenance back to Thomas Pollandt.

Ivan III is where I'm going for the 1470s. Even then, the dates are too broad to count.

Ivan III Denga, 1478-1505

Novgorod. Silver, 0.76g. Horseman with a sword, K below, 'Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich' around. Legend in four lines, 'Sovereign of All Rus' (GP 8122 I).

The date of the coin is based on Novgorod's absorption into Muscovy in 1478, although the city unconditionally surrendered to Ivan III in 1471.