Post Your Old Times Deniers And Pennies (600-1700 C. E.)

Looking at the copious numbers of those Valence deniers that come up at auctions or on MA-shops, I am wondering why a bishop had such a gigantic mint?.

I was also confused about Saint Apollinaris named on the Valence coin, and learned that it was a different Saint Apollinaris than the one of Ravenna Italy (to whom a famous church there was dedicated).

The figure on the Arezzo coin is San Donato, patron saint of that city. We have a chain of pizzerias in Ohio called Donato's. I wonder if he's also the patron saint of pizza makers?

I am in Sicily again with another denaro of Frederick II, Messina mint, dated to 1242


Obverse: F ROM IP SEMP A (letter A in center; Frederick ever exalted E,peror of the Rmans...)
Reverse: IERL ET SICIL R (... King of Jerusalem and Sicily).

As mentioned upthread in my note to spence, Grierson and Travaini in MEC 14 changed some of the previous mint attributions in Spahr (the previous authoritative reference for Sicily written in 1976) based on analyses of their frequency in hoards found in various places in southern Italy.

@tdz, I'm not sure about St. Donato and pizzas, but I do note that their official brand promise seems pretty saintly:






Here is a Pfenning dating to between 1202 and 1256 AD from the Austrian Duchy of Carinthia. It was minted at St Veit on behalf of Bernhard II. These Pfennige seem to have been minted in large numbers and with many designs so we should see more of them on this thread soon.

Beautiful! Stars and a crescent moon, did Frederick have an interest in astronomy?


Very nice lion on that one! Looking forward to see more of them!


I think the Valence deniers had a good reputation and were used over a much larger area than Valence itself, so there was a demand for a large output. I found one source saying they were among the deniers used by Crusaders, so that would have created an extra demand, from time to time. That same source called the figure a "stylized angel", I also found descriptions like "winged creature", so I am not so sure any longer about that being an eagle. (Yeah, I did some research yesterday. )

Btw, looking closely at the crosses of those MA-Shops deniers, I think the term "Pacman cross" may be appropriate for some . . .

And it is appreciated.

Nice one Spence - and Lots of valuable information about these coins is just great.

Very nice, Spence.

Either a nice rendering of armor on such a tiny coin, or quite a sixpack that guy has .
My last from Frederick II of Sicily, Brindisi mint, around 1248. At this point the silver content is down to 0.065, what would be called billon noir (black billon) in France or the Low Countries. Nice letterform for the R in the legends, with the front leg curled upward:



Obverse: FR (center) + ROM INPERATOR (Frederick, Roman Emperor...)
Reverse: IERSL ET SICIL R (King of Jerusalem and Sicily)