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

Great pair!

@keith, thanks for the link.

I see the bust on the obverse sometimes referred to as the castellan/ mayor of the city, but I also wonder if it could be Sebaldus, who was the patron of the city and a draw for pilgrimages to Nuremberg by the time this coin was struck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebal...ron%20saint.

He is shown in later art wearing a hat, and the cross would make sense, but I can't explain the sword.

I'm going to stick with Carolingians again--this Denier comes from the Comte de Poitiers and was minted in the mid- to late-10th Century. I personally think that the "MET / ALO" reverse is iconic and suspect that this won't be the only one posted to this thread.

An interesting immobilization, Spence!

I have got a couple more Carolingians to post, but they will have to wait. Instead I would like to share this somewhat later French denier, which illustrates how immobilizations can make attribution tricky.

Denier, County of Mâcon, 1137-1239?, Mâcon. Billon, 1.01 g, 18 mm.



Obverse: PIIIPVS RX (Philipus Rex / King Philip). Cruciform with pellets.
Reverse: MATISCON (Mâcon). S within pellets.

Coins from the County of Mâcon are usually listed under French royals, under the headline "outside the royal domain". This denier is listed under French king Philip I, who ruled 1060-1108. It is, however (but with far from certainty), believed to be a posthumous immobilization from the period 1137-1239 (the time between the death of king Louis VI and the annexation of the the county to France).

The cruciform is copied from those used by Philip I on his royal deniers, and is a degenerate immobilization of the monogram used on the deniers by Charles "the Bald" - compare with my previous denier. What the "S" on the reverse means is not known; one theory is that it is copied from earlier Burgundian deniers known for their good quality (which this denier does not live up to).

That latest Denier @era is a great example of how the punch for the letter C was used twice to create a letter S on the die.

Here is a severely clipped German Denar that is from mid-10th Century Cologne. The S / COLONIA /A is another device that I expect for us to see multiple times on this thread.

Really nice one @keith, with tons of detail!

Here is another Denier from France (Normandy) that dates the second half of the 10th Century. It too has a pretty cool letterform for the S.

Great additions!

very nice adds here!