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A Guide to European Coins 800 BC: 1900 AD
A Guide to European Coins 800 BC: 1900 AD
A Guide to European Coins 800 BC: 1900 AD
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A Guide to European Coins 800 BC: 1900 AD

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The purpose of this book is to not only provide a brief history of European coins but also to assist with identification. As an avid reader of the metal detecting press, time and again I see imported coins regularly dismissed as tokens. Whatever your interest in coins it is worthwhile getting to know about coins within and outside your own country or collecting interest. People all over the world collect coins and many are rare and valuable. The most valuable British coin, a metal detecting found Double-Florin of Edward III, is worth over a million US dollars! You wouldn’t want to throw that in a draw or pass up the opportunity of purchasing one for a bargain price at a sale.

Coins originally were worth their weight in the metal they were made from and were generally accepted anywhere that coins were used, regardless of their origin. Only the few educated and elite among the population might know they were from foreign lands.
The number of different coins issued in Europe between 800 BC and 1900 is vast and it is impossible to include anywhere near all of them in a handy reference guide such as this. Catalogues of Roman coins alone take up five hefty volumes for instance. The aim here is to provide brief descriptions of issues and plenty of illustrations covering the main types.
Once you have some idea of the origin of the coin, it should then be a relatively easy matter to thumb through the book and relate the coin to an issue and, if needed, a more accurate identification will be found online or in printed catalogues probably available through your local library. You will find a bibliography and sources list at the end of the book, which should guide you to further information.

If you are ready to improve your knowledge of European coins, scroll over to the buy button.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 24, 2020
ISBN9781005173623
A Guide to European Coins 800 BC: 1900 AD
Author

David Villanueva

David Villanueva (1951- ) was born in Birmingham, England, where he grew up. In the early 1970s his mother bought him a copy of Ted Fletcher’s book A Fortune Under Your Feet, which, together with David’s great interest in history inspired him to buy a metal detector and take up treasure hunting as a hobby. Family stories about the origins and history behind David’s Spanish surname also spawned the hobby of genealogy. A career move brought David to Whitstable in Kent, England, and it was here that David’s love of history research developed into great success both in metal detecting and family history research. A little later David felt the urge to put pen to paper and started writing articles for the two British metal detecting magazines - Treasure Hunting and The Searcher – which have published more than two dozens of David’s articles between them. Success in writing articles soon led to David’s first book: The Successful Treasure Hunter’s Essential Dowsing Manual: How to Easily Develop Your Latent Skills to Find Treasure in Abundance, published in both digital format and paperback. To date, David has written over a dozen books in the metal detecting, treasure hunting and family history genres.

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    Book preview

    A Guide to European Coins 800 BC - David Villanueva

    A Guide to European Coins

    800 BC – 1900 AD

    David Villanueva

    Smashwords Edition

    All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Copyright 2020 David Villanueva

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

    CONTENTS

    Acknowledgments

    1 INTRODUCTION

    2 THE EARLIEST COINS

    3 THE IRON AGE

    4 ROME

    5 THE GOTHIC KINGDOM

    6 FRANCE

    7 SWITZERLAND

    8 ITALY

    9 SPAIN

    10 PORTUGAL

    11 NETHERLANDS

    12 BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

    13 THE GERMAN EMPIRE

    14 SCANDINAVIA AND RUSSIA

    15 AUSTRIA

    16 ENGLAND AND GREAT BRITAIN

    17 COINS OF ENGLISH DEPENDENCIES

    18 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES

    BOOKS AVAILABLE FROM THE SAME AUTHOR

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Acknowledgements

    Several images are reused in this book, with grateful thanks, under various Creative Commons Licences. To view copies of these licences, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

    Thanks also to all who have so generously made their work freely available online at Wikipedia.org and elsewhere.

    1 INTRODUCTION

    The purpose of this book is to not only provide a brief history of European coins but also to assist with identification. As an avid reader of the metal detecting press, time and again I see imported coins regularly dismissed as tokens. Whatever your interest in coins it is worthwhile getting to know about coins within and outside your own country or collecting interest. People all over the world collect coins and many are rare and valuable. The most valuable British coin, a metal detecting found Double-Florin of Edward III, is worth over a million US dollars! You wouldn’t want to throw that in a draw or pass up the opportunity of purchasing one for a bargain price at a sale.

    Coins originally were worth their weight in the metal they were made from and were generally accepted anywhere that coins were used, regardless of their origin. Only the few educated and elite among the population might know they were from foreign lands.

    The number of different coins issued in Europe between 800 BC and 1900 is vast and it is impossible to list anywhere near all of them in a handy reference guide such as this. Catalogues of Roman coins alone take up five hefty volumes for instance. The aim here is to provide brief descriptions of issues and plenty of illustrations covering the main types. When attempting to identify a coin here are a few hints to help pin it down:

    *What metal is it made from? Usual coin metals are gold, silver and copper-alloy.

    *Does it have a date? The earliest clearly dated coin was Danish dated 1234 in Roman numerals, MCCXXXIIII. Coins weren’t dated regularly until the Sixteenth century. Jettons and gaming tokens were seldom dated.

    *Is there a legend? Western Europe generally used Latin on coin legends. The name of the ruler and place are usually included. Inscriptions in e.g. Greek, Cyrillic or Asian characters can identify a country or region.

    *Is it cast, hammered or milled? Ancient coins are generally fairly thick being either cast or struck on cast blanks. After around 500 the coining metal was beaten into thin sheets and blanks were cut out to produce hammered coins which was the main means of coin production until the Sixteenth century when screw presses took over to produce a thicker and more even coin. Hammered coin production ceased in England in 1662 but continued in some European countries until the late Eighteenth century.

    *Is the denomination stated? The Pound, Shilling and Pence system was used in Britain and parts of Europe from the Eighth century, however it seems the exception rather than the rule not to have the denomination on the coin until the Sixteenth century. Clearly if the stated denomination is not a fraction or multiple of Pound, Shilling or Penny then it belongs to a country which used that denomination.

    Once you have some idea of the origin of the coin, it should then be a relatively easy matter to thumb through the book and relate the coin to an issue and, if needed, a more accurate identification will be found online or in printed catalogues probably available through your local library. You will find a bibliography and sources list at the end of the book, which should guide you to further information.

    Numismatics, the study of coins, has its own terminology, so for the beginner or non-collector here is a glossary of some common terms.

    NUMISMATIC TERMS

    AD Anno Domini: in the year of the Lord. Used in the Western calendar to qualify the years since the supposed birth of Jesus Christ. It is now politically correct to use the term CE for Common Era.

    AE Symbol for copper-alloy – brass, bronze, copper, etc.

    Alliance coinage Coins minted by two or more independent governments together.

    Alloy Homogeneous mixture of two or more metals. Common coin alloys include cupro-nickel (copper and nickel), brass (copper and zinc) and bronze (copper and tin).

    Anepigraphic Without an inscription or legend.

    Angel A medieval gold coin

    Angles The areas between the arms of a cross or crosswise device.

    Anglo-Gallic Coins struck in medieval France by English rulers of French territories.

    Annealing Process of heating and cooling metal in order to relieve stresses. Often applied to coin blanks to reduce brittleness before striking.

    Annulets Small rings used as decoration or punctuation in legends.

    AR Argentum = silver

    Arc Division of a Tressure

    Attribution Identifier of a coin such as date, mint, denomination, or variety.

    AU or AV Aurum = gold

    Autonomous The right to coin money without external licence

    Banker's Mark A small countermark, most often found on ancient and medieval coins, applied to a coin by a bank or a trader indicating that they consider the coin to be genuine and of legal weight.

    Base metal Non-precious metal or alloy containing no or little gold or silver. Common base metals used in coinage include nickel and copper.

    Bawbee A billon Scottish coin

    BC Before Christ. Used in the Western calendar to qualify the years before the supposed birth of Jesus Christ. Note that this system counts backwards so a higher number is earlier than a lower number.

    BCE Before Common Era. Politically correct term for BC.

    Beading Raised dot border around the rim of a coin.

    Billon Low-grade alloy of silver with over 50% of base metal, usually copper.

    Bi-metallic A coin with one type of metal in the centre with an outer ring of a different metal. Rare before the Twentieth century.

    Blank Prepared metal disk for stamping coin design on. Also a planchet or flan.

    Blundered Jumbled lettering.

    Bodle Seventeenth century Scottish copper coin

    Bracteate A flat, thin usually single sided coin issued from antiquity to the Sixteenth century.

    Brass Alloy of mainly copper with zinc.

    Bronze Alloy of mainly copper with tin.

    Bust Portrait showing head, neck and shoulders.

    Cast Coins made by pouring molten metal into a mold.

    CE Common Era. Politically correct term for AD. Used in the Western calendar to qualify the years since the supposed birth of Jesus Christ.

    Cinquefoil An ornament of five lobes arranged in a circle.

    Clipping Illicit removal of pieces of precious metal from the edge of a coin to profit from the clippings.

    Coin of account A value used in accounting but not originally a circulating coin. The Mark was used as such in many European countries, in medieval times; in England it was equivalent to 160 Pence.

    Collar Broad rim around coins used occasionally in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries.

    Copper A red base metal commonly used for earlier low value coins.

    Countermark An additional mark applied to a coin usually to change its value or for circulating in a different territory.

    Cross Crosslet An equal armed cross with cross terminals

    Cross Fourchee An equal armed cross with forked terminals

    Cross Fleury An equal armed cross with fleur-de-lis terminals.

    Cross Potent An equal armed cross with bar terminals

    Crown Originally an English gold coin of five Shillings struck by Henry VIII; then a large silver coin from the reign of Edward VI down to today.

    Cuirassed The effigy dressed in armour from neck to waist.

    Cut coins Usually Pennies cut into halves and quarters for small change.

    Debase Reduce the precious metal value of the coin by altering its purity, but without reducing its face value.

    Denomination Face value.

    Denticles Small tooth like projections inside the rim of coins.

    Symbol Emblem or pattern used in coin design.

    Dei Gratia By the grace of God, a common part of the legend on European coins.

    Die Hard metal piece reverse-engraved with the design for stamping the coin.

    Die axis The relationship between the face and reverse designs on milled coins indicated by two arrows in catalogues either ↑↑ where face and reverse are both upright or ↑↓ where reverse is upside down relative to the face. On hammered and earlier coins the axis was more or less random.

    Drachm Unit of weight of ancient Greek peoples equivalent to 60 grains or 3.89 grams. Also an ancient Greek coin.

    Ecclesiastical or Episcopal Coinage minted by the Church.

    Edge Rim of a coin which often may be reeded, lettered or otherwise decorated.

    Effigy The image of a person, usually on the face of a coin.

    Electrum Alloy of gold and silver used.

    Engraver Die-maker.

    Exergue A part of the coin design separated by a line in which typically the date or other information is placed.

    Face The principle or head side of a coin, also called the obverse.

    Face value The exchange value of a coin.

    Field Blank area of a coin without design or legend.

    Fineness The amount of precious metal in a coin. 1000 fine is pure precious metal.

    Flan Prepared metal disk for stamping coin design on. Also called a planchet or blank.

    Fleur-de-lis A stylized lily of three petals bound together at the base.

    Galley Halfpenny Venetian medieval Soldino coin that circulated in England as a Halfpenny.

    Gaming token A coin-like disk produced during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries for use in games as a substitute for money.

    Gold Yellow precious metal used for high value coins.

    Groat Four-penny piece usually.

    Hammered A usually thin coin struck by hand, using dies and a hammer.

    Incuse Design impressed below the surface (intaglio).

    Initial mark Small letter or symbol at the beginning of the legend usually indicating when the coin was struck.

    Inscription That written on a coin.

    Jetton A coin-like thin hammered disk produced across Europe from the Thirteenth to Eighteenth centuries for calculations on a lined (chequer) board.

    Laureated The head on the coin crowned with a laurel wreath.

    Legend Main inscription on a coin.

    Lettered edge Rim or edge of a coin with inscription.

    Low relief A coin with only a slightly raised design.

    Lozenge A diamond-shaped device also called a mascle.

    Mascle A diamond-shaped device also called a lozenge.

    Maundy money An annual gift made on Maundy Thursday of 1, 2, 3 & 4 Penny silver coins distributed by, or on behalf of, the monarch, originally to the poor.

    Milled coinage Coins struck by a machine press or mill.

    Milled edge Coin with grooves, reeding or knurling around the edge.

    Mint mark Small letter or

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