Posted 08/14/2014 4:30 pm
Not ready to give up on the medieval coin yet by any means, but here's my thoughts so far.
The first pic shows a long cross, dividing the legend into four quarters. The shorter bar above and parallel to the horizontal arm of the cross appears to be the top edge of a shield. Many medieval coins have a long cross with a central shield, but it is atop the center of the cross. Only two kinds of arms will leave the center of the cross visible. The arms on the shield may be naturally divided to four quarters. The coins of Tudor England have this design, but this results in the arms of the cross being very narrow, and the ends of the Tudor coinage long cross are different. The other possibility is a coat of arms that already features a cross that carries to the edges of the shield. One large group of medieval coins carries this design: those of the Teutonic Order.
The opposite side of most of these coins, though, has a similar design, but with the arms of the Grand Master of the Order, which has the same cross on a field, but with a central inescutcheon shield with an eagle. I just don't see that here. Also, the one very obvious letter in the legend of the first pic is an E at the beginning of the fourth quarter, which is not consistent with the typical legend of MONE TAD'N ORVM PRVC. Another observation; at about 5:00 and 7:30 in the second pic there appear to be small circles between letters of the legend. I believe these are annulet stops, which can be seen in the legends of Teutonic Order coins.
The first pic shows a long cross, dividing the legend into four quarters. The shorter bar above and parallel to the horizontal arm of the cross appears to be the top edge of a shield. Many medieval coins have a long cross with a central shield, but it is atop the center of the cross. Only two kinds of arms will leave the center of the cross visible. The arms on the shield may be naturally divided to four quarters. The coins of Tudor England have this design, but this results in the arms of the cross being very narrow, and the ends of the Tudor coinage long cross are different. The other possibility is a coat of arms that already features a cross that carries to the edges of the shield. One large group of medieval coins carries this design: those of the Teutonic Order.
The opposite side of most of these coins, though, has a similar design, but with the arms of the Grand Master of the Order, which has the same cross on a field, but with a central inescutcheon shield with an eagle. I just don't see that here. Also, the one very obvious letter in the legend of the first pic is an E at the beginning of the fourth quarter, which is not consistent with the typical legend of MONE TAD'N ORVM PRVC. Another observation; at about 5:00 and 7:30 in the second pic there appear to be small circles between letters of the legend. I believe these are annulet stops, which can be seen in the legends of Teutonic Order coins.
Edited by philadelphian
08/14/2014 4:48 pm
08/14/2014 4:48 pm
