Letters & Coins.... B

B - Recognition letter of the Brussels mint (Belgium) on Dutch coins and for Bern (Switzerland).
For Rouen, on French coins (1852-1857), on German coins from Hanover (1866-1873). And for Bologna (Italy) (1861-1946) and for Breslau, Prussia, (1750-1820).

BB - Recognition letters for the Strasbourg mint.

Bacchus - Greek god of the wine, also known in Greece as Dionysos, on old roman coins with a whine cup, and a panther (cougar) on the coins of emperor Gallienus (253-268) only the cougar is shown, together with the text LIBERO P. CONS. AVG. only a few emperors chose the sign of Bacchus.

Bagattino - Northern Italian denier, and token, first from the 13th on to the 16th century.

Baht - currency of Thailand 1 bath = 100 satang.

Baisa - currency of the Sultanate states of Oman and Muscat.

Bajoire - a token with two faces to each other, as picture on a coin this is often shown by the coins of Ferdinand and Isabella from Spain.

Balboa - currency of Panama, named after the explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa (+/- 1475-1519)

Balancier - French name for the screw press.

Balance half merk - silver coin from Scotland issued during the time of James VI.
The reverse shows a sword and a balance.

Barre - Jean Jacques (1793-1855) die cutter for the coins of Louis Philippe and Lodewijk Napoleon. Also the engraver for the French notes of the Bank the France.

Batz - silver coin from Switzerland with the value of 1/3th taler or 4 Kreutzer.

Bawbee - a Scottish coin made of bullion, a very low silver coin, later replaced with copper. The value was 6 Scottish pennies or a half English penny.

Becker - Carl Wilhelm (1772-1830) a very well known coin falser, he reproduced antique coins in large sums, the coins look even too perfect and are very hard to define from the original. His working period was from 1815-1825, many of his dies are shown in the Berlin Coin and token cabinet.

Begeer - Dutch coin a medal cutter.

Beiersgulden - gold gulden with Johannes the Baptist on its front, issued bij Jan van Beieren (1420-1425) ruler of a part of Holland.

Belga - currency counting unit used in Belgium, 1 belga = 5 francs, used from 1926 until 1946.

Bezemstuiver - also known as stuiver, a very popular coin in the Netherlands first issue was in 1619 till late 18th century.

Bifrons - this is the name for coin where 2 faces are on one side, for example the god Janus, on roman coins.

Bigatus - silver coin of the Roman Empire with on the reverse a biga = kart with 2 horses, and the goddess of victory. The coins are minted from 217 until 64 BC.

Biljoen - Bullion - very low silver.

Binio - a double Aureus from the Roman Empire, minted under Caracalla (198-217)

Bu - Japanese gold and silver coins minted in the period of 1573-1860.

Br or Bfr. - Belgium Franks, Belgium currency before the euro came in 2002.

Blacksmiths - Forgeries of English copper coins of King George III, made in Canada, they got the name after a blacksmith who started to make them for own profit.

Blanc - name for silver coins from the 14th to 16th century with a high silver value.

Blondeau - Pierre, French coin novice that was one of the inventors of the screw press.

Boeket tokens - Bouquet Sou - tokens from the bank of Montreal and Banque du Peuple, called so because the flowers on the front side.

Bogash - copper coin from the republic of Yemen, 40 Bogash is 1 Ryal.

Bolivar - currency of Venezuela, 1 Bolivar = 100 centimos, the name Bolivar comes from the south American freedom fighter Simon Bolivar (1783-1830).

Bonk - Emergency currency in the Dutch East Indies made from 1796 until 1818, made from Japanese copper bars with two dies on both sides, one side the year, and the other side the value.

Bonnet Piece - golden coin of Scotland, equal to a ducat, first issued in 1539, and it was the first Scottish coin known with a date on it.

Borotinki - small Polish coins of bad quality, made in 1649-1660, named after the Polish mint master Titus Livius Borotinki.

Burgundies guilder - see Andries gulden.

Braamse - a one side hammered coin of the province of Overijsel (the Netherlands), 64 braamse is one stuiver.

Bracteaat - 17th century name for very thin silver medieval tokens.

Brasher Dubloon - very rare American coin from 1787, made by Ephraïm Brasher.

Braspenning - silver coin of 2 and later 2 ½ groot (great) first time issued by Jan zonder Vrees (Jan without Fear) 1404-1419 in Vlaanderen at 1409.

Broat - golden English coin from 1656, minted under Cromwell during the Commonwealth (1649-1660) with the weight of 9,1 grams 900/1000 fine.

Bronze - metal of copper and tin.

Brûle - known name for small bullion coins from the Prince-bishopric of Luik, Belgium.

Bun - popular name for the bronze pennies of queen Victoria of England made from 1860 till 1894.

Budju - small silver coin from Algeria, from the 19th century first in 1808-1830, they had a value of 24 kopper mazunas.

Butut - smallest currency unit of Gambia, struck sinds 1971, there are coins known of 1, 5 and 10 butut.