How Far Back Can We Go? Fourth Edition! Ended At 1461 Waiting On 1460 C. E. (A. H. 864)

The Lion in the legend of a Brabant coin is back (see previous page for a similar 1502 piece posted by tdziemia). After a bit of digging the conclusion is that this lion is not the mintmark of the city of Antwerp (always talk to the hand) but the coat of arms of the duchy of Brabant.

The symbols on the reverse of this type of coin are noteworthy ; suspended is "le bijou de la Toison d'or" (the jewel of the golden fleece) which was the highest order of the nobility of Burgundy and The Netherlands. The order was founded in 1430 by Philippe Le Bon (Philip the Good), count of Flanders and duke of Burgundy. The idea was aristocratic: an order to serve christianity and the wellbeing of mankind. After the Burgundy/Flanders period, the order continued under the reign of the Habsburg line. Below is a portrait of Emperor Charles V (museum Bourg-en-Bresse), hair of Phillippe Le Beau. The jewel pictures a sheep suspended on a golden chain. Very symbolic: the wealth of Flanders in those days was explained by booming economy of cloth industry. Great quantities of wool (from England) were processed, dyed and woven into cloth in many cities of Flanders and Brabant to be exported to the rest of the world. The splendor of the medieval cities of Bruges, Ghent, Ypres, Veurne, Zoutleeuw, was created to a large extent by this wool/cloth industry.



The sheep symbol is not so clear on the coin of today - one should compare to the 1502 piece posted by tdziemia. This powerful symbol will be present on most coins from the Burgundy and Spanish/Habsburg period of the Netherlands as can be verified in the different examples posted in the previous months in this thread. The "Toison d'Argent" is a perhaps practical joke from the days it was used as money as the jewel of the golden fleece is pictured on a piece of silver

The second symbol on the reverse is the pair of "briquets" (fire striker or flint) used in those days to light a fire. The briquet was the personal emblem of the same Philip the Good. Again this symbol will be present on many coins of the Burgundy and Spanish periods in The Netherlands. The "briquet" is a silver piece with two lions under one flint, produced in Flanders between 1473 and 1492, so some examples may be posted in this thread during the next weeks.
Another examples is the Burgundy Daalder (I posted some examples) produced under the reign of Philip II.

Here is my Zincgroschen from the German Duchy of Saxony-Ernestine dated (14)98 AD. It is attributed as Levinson I-391a.

I'm workin' on it!

Here is a Half Schilling from the German Imperial City of Nördlingen dated 1497 AD. I have it attributed as Levinson I 368.

I see that there are a lot of early dated coins in the upcoming Kunker auction, including a 1444 from Schonforst. Most are a bit pricey.

While undated, this Cavallo from the Italian City State of Aquila was only issued in 1495 AD. It is attributed as Biaggi 128.

Well I can get us into the weekend, but will need some help again on Sunday.

Here is a Schilling from the German Duchy of Pommerania (Damm mint) dated 1494 AD. It is attributed as Levinson I 320, but has a slight (and somewhat typical) variation in the inscription. As I've stated a couple times before, researching this coin was what ked me to CCF.

1492 was the end for the first two editions, but the third edition finally broke through when a 1491 was provided by Joseph7420.

http://goccf.com/t/195589&whichpage=237#2472998

I have a coin supposedly from the Delhi Sultanate that is clearly dated AH 896. According to one converter, this corresponds to Nov 14 1490 to Nov 4 1491, so the year of greatest overlap would be 1491.

Hopefully, there won't be a "cloud" over this coin, since the Delhi Sultanate was still around in 1491.