Hello from Athens, Greece! I am new to CCF and I would like to share with you some coins that came this week to my collection. Generally, I collect modern Greek coins and medieval coins that were in use on Greek territories until 1453, (because previous that date it is illegal to own any coin without special permits and other bureaucratic things according to our "wise" Greek laws...). As I love history, I have fallen into this era of coinage and I have to say that I like it even more than our modern Greek coins! My main interest is my home-island Crete and other Greek island chains. The problem is that I am not sure if I make a topic on the right segment as their dates are a little bit later than 1600. (some other coins that I will post are before 1600, so I am a little bit confused).
The new additions are 2 coins:
The
1st one is a
1 Soldo for use in
Peloponnese, Greece dated around (
1688-1691), with remarkable condition at around
Extra Fine+, personal opinion and the
2nd one is also a
1 Soldo for use in
Ionian island, Greece dated around (
1710-1797) the condition of it around
F+. For those who doesn't know a lot about these coins I will clarify some things. They were minted by the Venetian Republic (or know as "La Serenissima") as they had occupied Peloponnese for a short period of time and Ionian islands until Napoleon came and took it. The use of these coins must be continued throught the years and between all regions under Venetian rule. The
denomination 1 Soldo is extremely more rare than the 2 Soldi (or known as gazzetta) and I have to say that the 1 Soldi of Ionian islands is the 2nd that I have ever encounter from 16 years old till now that I am 22! I am really proud that I add it in my collection!
About the coins you can read in the first one "
ARMATA ET MOREA", means for those who were employed on the military corps and the region of Morea (or known as Moria,
greek: "ΜΟΡΙΑΣ" synonym of Peloponnese) and on the other side you can read
"S·MARC·VEN" (which means San Marcus Venetus, Saint Marcus of Venice) along with the denomination I.
About the second one you can see "
CORF·ZANT·CEF·" a rare variety of this coins as the majority of it comes with CORF·CEF·ZANTE. It means Corfu, Zante and Cefalonia (
greek: "ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑ, ΖΑΚΥΝΘΟΣ, ΚΕΦΑΛΟΝΙΑ") the most known islands of the Ionian chain islets. On the other side we have the same as the first coin. I would like to mention that I am under constant research about these coins as I want to make a paper with all the varieties existed. Tough work but I have time
.
Also, I would like your opinion about my thought with grading these coins. As they are hammered and close to Byzantien empire coinage, I think that a "ancient coin grading system" focusing on strike and surface is more suitable that the typical modern coins grading. What do think about it?
I am sorry for the big text, hope you like the coins. I really like a lot the amount of people that CCF have and I am sure that I will learn a lot of things!
Warm greetings from cloudy Athens
,
Giannis
Posted 04/24/2021 10:19 am
