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Mary,
also known as Maria, was the daughter of Louis the Great, King of
Hungary and Poland and Elizabeth of Bosnia. Born in
1371, she was promised in marriage to Sigismund of Luxembourg when she
was less than a year old. Louis died when she was about
eleven years old. Her parents arranged for her to be the “King” of
Hungary, with Elizabeth acting as her regent. The idea of a
female king was unpopular with the Hungarian nobles and there was open
rebellion. The nobles invited Mary’s distant cousin Charles III of
Naples, to take the throne. To strengthen Mary’s political
position, Elizabeth then arranged for her to be engaged Louis, the
brother of Charles VI of France. In 1385 Charles III of
Naples invaded Hungary from the south to claim his throne, and
Sigismund invaded from the north to claim his bride.
Sigismund arrived in the capital of Buda and was married to Mary in
October 1385, however he was not proclaimed king or given royal
titles. He quickly departed Buda, then mortgaged a large
portion of the country. Charles of Naples arrived in Buda in
December 1385. Mary, fearing for her life, resigned the
throne and Charles was crowned King of Hungary. In February
1386 Elizabeth had Charles murdered. Mary was again
proclaimed King with Elizabeth still in control. In July 1386
Mary and Elizabeth were captured by supporters of Ladislaus, the son of
the murdered Charles III. Mary’s close confidants, who were
traveling with them, were beheaded and their heads thrown into the
royal carriage holding Mary and Elizabeth. Mary and Elizabeth
were held in captivity where Elizabeth was strangled in Mary’s
presence. The nobility had Sigismund crowned King of Hungary on March
31, 1387. One of Sigismund’s supporters, with the help of the
Venetian fleet, freed Mary. Mary was reunited with her
husband and though co-ruler, had little influence on
government. In May 1395 Mary, although pregnant, ventured out
alone on a hunt. Her horse fell and landed on top of her,
which induced labor. She gave birth prematurely to a
son. Not having any assistance, Mary and her son died
alone. This attractive silver Denar of Mary issued between
1383 and 1385. One side of the 13mm silver coin features a
crown; the other side has a patriarchal cross. It is an
historic coin from a woman whose life sounds like something from the
"Game of Thrones".
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.
Albrecht
von Brandenburg, coming from the powerful ruling Prussian family, was
appointed the archbishop of Magdeburg and administrator of the Diocese
of Halberstadt in 1513, at the young age of 23. The following
year he also became the Archbishop of Mainz. That position
carried considerable power temporal power as Archbishop of Mainz was
one of the seven Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, making him only
second in rank to the Emperor. His appointment to these
positions was contrary to Church law as he was not yet reached the
canonical age of 27 and one person could not hold more than single
diocese. However Albrecht was granted dispensations from Pope Leo X
after he made a large contribution to the Pope to help pay for the
rebuilding of St. Peter’s in Rome. Albrecht had borrowed that
money from Jakob Fugger. In order to repay Fugger, he was
granted permission by Pope Leo to sell indulgences, as long as half
proceeds went to the Pope. All this was too much for a German
monk named Martin Luther who driven to write his famous 95 Theses,
which he posted on the doors of the Wittenburg Church, thus starting
the Protestant Reformation. This silver Groschen of Albrecht
was minted by the Duchy of Prussia, which at that time was a vassal
state of the Kingdom of Poland. One side depicts Albrecht
along with the date and legends. The other side features and
Eagle with an “S” on its chest, signifying Sigismund I, King of Poland,
along with Albrecht’s abbreviated name and titles. The 23mm
silver coin is dated between 1532 and 1545.
EARLY DATED SILVER COIN OF
POLAND-LITHUANIA
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.
The
Archbishopric of Trier was one of the most powerful in
Germany. The position held special privileges as it was one
of only seven electors who chose the Holy Roman Emperor and
controlled the territory between France and the Rhine. This silver 3
Albus coin of Trier is called a Petermenger. One side of the
coin depicts St. Peter in the clouds holding a key.
The other side has the arms of the Archbishop. The coin is
approximately 23mm in diameter. Johann Hugo von Orsbeck was
Archbishop Trier from 1675 until his death in 1711. He helped
chose Joseph I as the successor to
Leopold the Hogmouth
as Holy Roman
Emperor. He ruled during a difficult
period of time for Trier. France, under Louis XIV,
repeatedly invaded and occupied Trier. Johann Hugo issued
silver Petermengers from 1691 to 1695 with the date on the front, and
again from 1706 to 1709 with the date on the back.
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, and 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. It was made by smashing a small piece of silver wire
between a pair of dies. As might be expected, the
coins are
quite crude and struck partly off-center. The coin shows a
horseman with a lance on one side and legends on the other.
Following the death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584, Russia fell
into a period of chaos and civil war. In an effort to bring an end to
the fighting, 16 year old Michael Fydorovich Romanov was selected as
Czar
in 1613. Though many expected him to fail, the young Michael
slowly established his control over Russia. By the time of
his death in 1645 he had established the powerful Romanov dynasty,
which was to last over 300 years, until the Russian Revolution in
1917. This small, crude silver wire kopeck of Michael was
made by a strong-armed Russian pounding a small piece of silver wire
between two dies. One side pictures a horseman carrying a
spear. The other has Russian legends in the
Cyrillic alphabet.
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. ATTRACTIVE COINS
OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLICFAMOUS ITALIANS ON BEAUTIFUL BANKNOTES 
Portugal
took Malacca in 1511 and controlled it for the next 130 years, until it
was conquered by the Dutch East India Company. Today it is
part of Malaysia. The Malacca mint produced these tin
Dinheiro coins for use in the territory. John III (Joao III)
ruled Portugal from 1521 to 1557. He expanded Portugal’s colonization
of Brazil and Asia. He was called the “Grocer King” due to
his country’s rich profits from the spice trade. His tin
Dineiro features a Cross with the letters “ISMA” in the four quadrants,
which stood for Ioanes Senhor MalaccA, meaning struck for King John at
Malacca. The other side depicts an armillary sphere, which
was used in navigation. 
He
was succeeded by his young grandson, Sebastian I (Sebastio
I). Sebastian became king at age 3 in 1557.
Sebastian died in battle in a crusade against Morocco in 1578, before
marrying or producing any heirs. One side of his coin
features three arrows with the letters “BA”, which may mean “Bazaruco,
or bazaar money, indicating it was for local use. The other side has a
crude representation of an armillary sphere on the other.
Both coins are about 16mm to 18mm in diameter. They show
little wear, but are crudely struck. 
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.
TIN PITIS FROM THE
SULTANATE OF
PALEMBANG
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. 
This
copper 1
Duit was issued by the Dutch East India Company between 1726 and
1794. The company, known by its initials VOC (Vereenigde
Oost-Indische Compagnie, or United East India Company) began in 1602 to
trade spices. In the 1600's it was the first company to issue
stock and bonds to the general public. For many years it was hugely
profitable. It held quasi-governmental powers, including maintaining
its own army and navy, the ability to wage war, imprison and execute
convicts, negotiate treaties, issue its own coins, and establish
colonies. In 1609, Henry Hudson, while exploring for the company,
discovered New York harbor and the Hudson River, resulting in Dutch
settlements in the area. This copper Duit coin was minted by
the VOC for its colonies. It is sometimes referred to as the
"First New York Penny". The coins show the VOC monogram and
date on one side. The other side has the arms of the
provincial mint in the Netherlands where the coin was struck:
Holland, West Friesland, Zeeland or Utrecht. The
coins circulated in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), India,
Ceylon and Malacca. 
This
Brilliant Uncirculated bronze 1 Larin was struck for the Maldive
Islands in 1913 by the Birmingham Mint. The 13mm coin has
Arabic
legends on both sides. The coin is in its original Brilliant
Uncirculated condition. It is an amazingly inexpensive coin
considering
its age and condition. 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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