shipcoin1.jpg
shipcoin2.jpg
Posted 03/02/2008 10:24 am
I'm afraid I have to be skeptical about the authenticity of this piece, without more information as to it's provenance.
I found this site in Danish which illustrates similar coins. The ship-side of yours seems to be type 11 on the sketch halfway down the page, while the deer-side seems to be number 9. Judging by the dashed lines on the sketches, I assume they've never seen an intact, perfectly round one, so I'd assume they're extremely scarce.
I believe they're supposed to be bracteates, too - meaning that they're very thin, with nothing on the back except a mirror-image incuse version of what's on the front. In other words, you've got the designs of two different coins back-to-back on yours. I can't be sure of that, because I can't read Danish.
Given that, I'd have to suspect yours is a modern fantasy of some kind - perhaps sold as a souvenir at a "Viking history" museum. I know the Jorvik museum in York sells reproduction coins made from copies of dies found there.
I found this site in Danish which illustrates similar coins. The ship-side of yours seems to be type 11 on the sketch halfway down the page, while the deer-side seems to be number 9. Judging by the dashed lines on the sketches, I assume they've never seen an intact, perfectly round one, so I'd assume they're extremely scarce.
I believe they're supposed to be bracteates, too - meaning that they're very thin, with nothing on the back except a mirror-image incuse version of what's on the front. In other words, you've got the designs of two different coins back-to-back on yours. I can't be sure of that, because I can't read Danish.
Given that, I'd have to suspect yours is a modern fantasy of some kind - perhaps sold as a souvenir at a "Viking history" museum. I know the Jorvik museum in York sells reproduction coins made from copies of dies found there.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
