elverno

Wow, that could have been struck yesterday! The planchet flaw is unfortunate but not really that bad in my opinion. Not many objects survive 188 years in that condition.

1812 2 Kopeks, Russia 29mm - Details - pretty common. These are usually beat up worse than this so I picked it up cheap.

1805 1 Skilling, Sweden. 35mm - Details The undercoin is probably a 1764 2 ore.

1809 5 Lire, Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. 36mm - Details I really like big silver.

1815 1 Kreutzer, Baden-Durlach. Details Slowly but surely filling in the thousands of types and years represented by European mint issues from 1789-1815.

I read a contemporary diary describing how a man made a rope harness to help hold the weight. It had the added benefit of making it tough to pick his pocket!

1801 1 Heller, Saxony. 17.5mm - Details A nice little addition.

Found this searching Google Books: Numismatic Chronicle

Supposedly Mel Brooks is also interested in Napoleonic history. The joke about the horses was based on Blucher's tendency to have his horses shot out from under him, sometimes two or three in a single battle. So, from a horse's perspective "Blucher!" evokes horror... A guy I knew in Los Angeles who had worked with Brooks told me that story. Even if it isn't true it's a pretty good story.

"Does the initial stand for the bust artist or the medal engraver?" Could be either. But in this case it's almost certainly a British artist or engraver. I'm surprised it's not listed in British Historical Medals since it almost certainly was produced during Blucher's trip to London in summer 1814. I would have guessed Mossop as the artist because of the style except a) He almost always signed MOSSOP F. and Forrer doesn't list a Blucher piece for him.

Unlisted in British Historical Medals. Almost certainly 1814-1815 and I'd guess RRR+ Could trend upward of $100 or more in value.

1804 Le couronnement, France 25mm - Details Actually produced by the German firm of Lauer and has the originally announced coronation date. It was delayed a week or so because the Pope was delayed crossing the Alps in winter. Quite common and collected only because it was part of a lot. Ended up costing $2 though.

1797 2 Penny, Great Britain 41mm - Details This was pretty cheap, about $25 so I finally acquired one of the heaviest circulating coins of all time. Someone decided to chop up Britannia's legs. You have to wonder sometimes...

Very nice Morgans.

1793 1 Pfennig, Frankfurt. 21mm - Details A pretty common coin so the reverse condition means that this will act as a filler until I find a better one.

1791 Louis XVI, France. 20mm - Details - Hennin 278 variant Reich produced remarkably beautiful medals in his time. I can only speculate that this variant was the work of an apprentice. It was rolled.

1795 20 Soldi, Sardinia. 26.5mm - Details A decent example of one of those coins where the design seemed to wear off just from someone looking at it.

c. 1815 Alexander the Great, German States 21mm - slightly elongated I date this to approximately 1815 because of the "fad" that made Alexander I of Russia into the savior of Europe. There was actually little evidence that qualified him for the role, though he believed it implicitly. The Lauer on the reverse worked until the 1850s though so it's certainly possible to date as late as that. I don't own the Mitchiner volume that covers Nuremburg so perhaps more precise dating could be found there. Because I can't definitely date it to the period I don't tend to put pieces like this up on my website. If I ever move it from a gut feeling to something backed with some evidence then it'll show up there. Of course that criteria hasn't stopped me in the past but I make no pretense at being consistent.

Yeah, can't escape my original impulse to become a history teacher I guess.

Offhand I'm not certain though several pieces from 1792 feature Louis XVI and trees or gardens. 1791 George III advertising token, Great Britain. Details These were produced for dozens of firms in incredible quantities. So far as I know they could be produced to this very day. I've seen pieces advertising pens from the 1940s and it is common to find 20 or so at a time sold in lots on eBay. I have a couple of reasons to believe this might be contemporary, one is the hole. This would indicate that it was worn for a time and there's hardly any point in that past about 1820. The second reason is the bust. The obverse on this piece is near identical with dozens of others produced by Kettle during the Regency period but it doesn't appear to have been struck from an aging die. I got this in a very nice lot of, frankly, crappy looking jetons all dating from the same period. There are at least three variants I haven't seen before in the lot so I was very happy to pick the group up cheaply.

1792 Louis XVI, France. 19.5mm - Details - Hennin 386 variant When Hennin compiled his work in the 1820s he wrote that for most medals of the period that variants existed. He further stated that he would only identify the ones that were clearly identifiable and would not bother with most jetons. This jeton is one of those latter cases. Hennin 386 has all the major elements you see above; obverse Louis XVI facing right with the standard legend and the reverse a tree,the suns rays shining on it the legend PRIRO MORIRO. So this is either a knockoff of H. 386 by one of Reich's rivals or, he assigned the work of making a copy to the "B" team (apprentice engravers). If this latter is the case the person who did the work on the reverse was definitely superior.

Stunning example! I lust...

1803 Penny token (Staffordshire, Stafford), Great Britain. 35mm - Details - D&H 5 A slight upgrade from my previous version of this token.

1791 3 Pfennig, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Details Nothing special but it is a bit of an upgrade from a previous one.

Wonderful 50 franc.