FRIEDRICH THE IRONTOOTH OF
BRANDENBURG
This
silver Bracteate Hohlpfennig was issued by
Friedrich II (Frederick II) who was the
Prince-Elector of the
Margravate of Brandenburg from
1440 to 1470. It is believed that he was nicknamed "The Irontooth" or
"The
Iron" due to his great strength and power. Friedrich
strengthened Brandenburg forming the basis of what was to become
Prussia and the German Empire. The rights of the towns and
nobility were curtailed and he regained Neumark (East Brandenburg) from
the Teutonic Knights. The citizens of Berlin revolted when he
attempted to build a palace on Colin island in the Spree
river. Friedrich prevailed, built the castle that became the
Stadtschloss (Berlin Palace), and the rights of the city were greatly
curtailed. The Stadtschloss was torn down by East Germany in the 1950's
and is now being rebuilt. The silver Bracteate Hohlpfennig is
an extremely thin and single sided coin wtih a raised rim.
The
design is
embossed from the reverse. This coin is approximately 16mm in
diameter and features an eagle with outstretched wings.
Because the coins are so thin and fragile, few survive today.
Leopold
I was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1658 to 1705. He had a
rather
pronounced lower lip, possibly brought on by his father’s marriage to
his cousin. He was described as a cultivated man of extreme
ugliness, hence the name "The Hogmouth". As Emperor of the
Holy
Roman Empire (which was neither Holy, Roman, nor an Empire) he ruled a
vast territory including Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, as well as parts of
Germany. He claimed the throne of Spain, leading to The War of Spanish
The Succession. Leopold fought a number of wars against the
Turks
and France. The engravers made no attempt to hide his
ugliness on
the coins, hence his protruding Hapsburg jaw is plainly visible on the
coin. His coins tend to have a slight curvature that was
caused
by the minting process which used "roller dies" rather than the coin
being struck flat. We offer a silver 15 Kreuzer coins of
Leopold
from Hungary featuring the Madonna and Child on the reverse and a
wonderfully ugly portrait of Leopold on the
obverse. The
coin is date between 1660 and 1696 and are approximately 30mm in
diameter.
Queen
Christina of Sweden was one of the most educated, wittiest, unorthodox
and unconventional women of the 17th century. She succeeded
her father on the throne of Sweden in 1632 when she was only six years
old. She took a deep interest in philosophy, religion, art,
mathematics and science. She was fond of books,
paintings and had a collection of over 33,000 coins and medals. She
frequently dressed as a man. She knew at least nine languages - and
could out-cuss a soldier. She was headstrong and often in conflict with
her own Chancellor. In 1638 the first Swedish settlement in
the New World was established and named after her: Fort Christina,
which is now Wilmington, Delaware. She founded Sweden's first
newspaper. Her efforts helped bring about the Peace of Westphalia,
ending the Thirty Years' War. She had an intimate relationship with her
handmaiden and in 1649 she announced that she decided not to
marry. In 1654 she abdicated her throne and left Sweden in
order to convert to Catholicism. She was warmly
received by Pope Alexander VII and for a time was given her own wing
inside the Vatican. Though often running short of money, she
was a major patron of the theater and the arts. She gave much
occasion for gossip as she did not follow the norms for women of that
era and freely socialized with men. She used her position to
protect the Jews of Rome. Missing politics, she attempted to
regain the throne of Sweden and gain the thrones of Naples and Poland,
all without success. She died in 1689, and is one of only
three women buried within St. Peter's Basilica. This Solidus of Queen
Christina was issued for Riga between 1634 and 1654. Riga,
now the capital of Latvia, was under Swedish control from 1621 to 1721.
It was given considerable autonomy, including the right to
issue its own coins. The copper or silver-washed Solidus of
Riga have Queen Christina's royal monogram on one side and the arms of
Riga on the other. The crudely made coins are 15mm in
diameter, typically are struck somewhat off center without a date.
Until
the 1600's most nations did not put dates on coins. These silver
1/2 Grossus (Groschen) coins of Sigismund II Augustus from the 1500's
are some of the earliest affordable coins bearing an AD date.
Sigismund was both the King of Poland and Grand Duke of
Lithuania. In 1569 he formally united the two countries with
the Treaty of Lublin to form the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth. His coins reflect this dual
nationality. One side features his titles as Grand Duke of
Lithuania, and Vytas, the White Knight, which is the national symbol of
Lithuania. Below Vytas is the date. The other side
features the Polish Eagle and his titles as King of Poland.
The 19mm silver coins date from 1547 to 1572. In 1572
Sigsmund died childless, despite having three wives (two of which were
first cousins) and carrying on affairs with "two of the most beautiful
of his countrywomen". He was the last of the powerful
Jagiellonian dynasty controlled much of central Europe for almost 200
years.OLD POLISH SILVER COIN OF
SIGISMUND III
This
silver 3 Polker
coins of Poland issued by king Sigismund III Vasa is dated
between about 1620 to 1628. Sigismund became king of Poland and
Lithuania in 1587. He was also king of Sweden from 1592 until
he was deposed in 1599. His efforts to unite Poland and
Sweden caused sixty years of war between the two. He invaded
Russia in 1605, taking advantage of their Time of Troubles.
Despite occupying Moscow and proclaiming himself to be Czar, he was
unable to control the country. His war in Russia continued until a
peace treaty was finally signed in 1618. It was during the
later part of his reign that the 30 Years War started. The war was one
of the most destructive conflicts in human history.
One side of the coin has the crowned arms of united Poland and
Lithuania. The other side features the number 24 within an
orb, indicating the coin was worth 1/24th of a Thaler. On either side
of the cross and orb are the last two digits of the date.
Sigismund did not feel it necessary to include the first two digits. For hundreds of years much of Russian commerce was based on these tiny silver coins called wire money. The coins were struck by taking a piece of silver wire, cutting it to the proper weight, then smashing it between a pair of dies by a strong-armed Russian. As might be expected, the coins are quite crude and are usually struck partly off-center. The coin shows a horseman, on one side and legends on the other. We are pleased to offer you this selection of Russian Wire Money which covers a vast sweep of Russian History.
Ivan
IV, generally known as Ivan the Terrible, was crowned Grand Prince of
Moscow in 1533 at age three. In 1547 he declared himself Czar
of
all Russia, a title derived from the ancient Roman term Caesar. In many
ways his reign was to foreshadow that of Stalin's. He set
about
centralizing the Russian government and
consolidating his power. He engaged in a reign of terror
against
anyone he thought might oppose him, torturing and executing many
thousands of his subjects, including his own son. Entire cities were
destroyed and regions were left depopulated. Thus he earned
his
title "The Terrible". Though he expanded the Russian Empire
eastward into Siberia, his attempts to expand into the Baltic met with
disastrous defeats. The military, weakened by Ivan's purges,
was
defeated by Sweden and Poland. He apparently had quite an
appetite for women, having gone through seven wives and keeping some 50
concubines. Having destroyed the and having killed his most
promising heir, Russia fell into "The Time of Troubles" after his death
in 1584. The only type of coin issued by Ivan is the silver wire
kopeck. The coin shows a
horseman with a lance on one side and legends on the other.
Peter the Great ruled Russia from 1689 to 1725.
He was a great reformer, modernizing Russia and expanding its Navy,
frontiers and prestige. One of his reforms was to abolish the
wire coinage in favor of machine struck coins that were used in much of
Europe. Thus he brought an end to this long series of crude
silver coins. 
The
Imperial Coat-of-Arms of Austria is featured on the obverse 1851
Austrian 1 Kruezer. It was the first time the denomination
had been struck since 1816, and was one of the first coins of Emperor
Franz-Joseph I, Franz-Joseph reigned for almost 68 years,
until his death in 1916. During his reign Austria lost its
possessions in Italy in the Italian Wars of Independence in 1859 and
1866. Its defeat in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 lead to
the unification of Germany under Prussia. After this rocky
beginning of his reign, a forty-eight year period of peace
then
prevailed in Austria until the start of World War I in 1914.
The reverse of the 23mm copper coin features the denomination and
date. 
The
Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on March 17, 1861. Victor
Emmanuel II, the king of Sardinia was declared King. Prior to
that time Italy was a collection of independent nations. The
first coins of unified Italy were issued later that year, including the
copper 1 and 2 Centesimi. King Victor Emmanuel is portrayed
on the obverse. The denomination and date within a wreath are
on the reverse. The 1 Centesimo is 15mm and the 2 Centesimi
is 20.2mm. Both coins were struck in Milan and have the “M”
mintmark at the bottom of the reverse. Amazingly both coins
are in Uncirculated condition and still retain most of their original
mint luster! It is an historic set in top condition. 
SILVER COINS OF THE KINGDOM OF ITALY:ATTRACTIVE COINS
OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLICFAMOUS ITALIANS ON BEAUTIFUL BANKNOTES ITALY EURO COIN SET
The Spanish Civil war broke out in 1936 between the Republic, which was
supported by the Soviet Union and the Nationalists under Francisco
Franco supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The
brutal war was a prelude to World War II. The 1938
copper 25 Centimos was the last coin issued by the Spanish
Republic. It was struck in Madrid while the city was under
siege by Nationalist forces. The obverse of the 23mm coin depicts
broken chains over books labeled "CIENCIA" (science) and "ARTE"
(art). The reverse features the value between an olive branch
and an oak sprig around the center hole. The coin tends to be
weakly struck. The coins were withdrawn after the
Nationalists
won the war in 1939.
The
Demak Sultanate was founded about 1475 by Sultan Pangeran al Patah,
also known as Raden Patah. He was of Javanese nobility and his mother
may have been a Chinese princess who had been exiled from China.
His Sultanate was the first Muslim state in Java.
He quickly expanded his Sultanate to include most of the
northern coast of Java and southern Sumatra. This was
an important step in bringing Islam to what is now Indonesia.
The Sultan ruled until his death in 1518. The Sultanate
lasted about another 30 years, until it collapsed in a dynastic
feud. The Sultanate prospered through trade in spices, rice
and its control over Javanese trading ports. This
Pitis of Sultan Pangeran al Patah is one of the few
affordable coins of the Demak Sultanate. The uniface tin coin
is approximately 19mm to 20mm in diameter and grades Very Fine.
Palembang
is one of the oldest cities in Indonesia. It is located on
the Musi river on the island of Sumatra. The Sultanate of
Palembang was established in the early 17th century by Javanese nobles
fleeing from dynastic intrigues after the collapse of the Sultanate of Demak. It soon
became the
one of the greatest agricultural and trade centers in the Malay
area. It controlled much of the lucrative spice trade – until
it was taken over by the Dutch in 1821. This uniface tin 1 Pitis was
issued by Sultan Muhammad Bahauddin. It is dated AH1203,
which is 1789AD. AFGHANISTAN COINS OLD COINS OF ANNAMCOINS OF
INDIA and PAKISTAN COINS OF THE
MIDDLE EAST 2400 YEARS OF CHINESE COINS and
CURRENCYCOINS
OF DEAD NATIONS<--
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