Ian

This jeton was struck for the wardens of St Gervais, one of the oldest churches in Paris. Its history extends back to the fourth century and it is dedicated to St Gervais and St Protais. Jetons bearing this reverse had been issued under Louis XIV and dated 1715. This issue was struck circa 1750 under Louis XV and using the same reverse dies. Interestingly, this church also appears to have been the seat of the wine merchants guild who liked to be thought of as the `septieme corps des marchands' or the seventh merchant guild of Paris.

A silver jeton issued for the wardens of St Jaques de la Boucherie, ia church in the quartier de la Grande Boucherie, Paris. Jetons were struck originally under Louis XIV in 1703. This one was issued circa 1730 +/- but utilising the same reverse dies as those of the 1703 issue. Interestingly, there is a die crack evident in the strike which runs from the C in the reverse legend `Docetque' through to the 0 in the date in the exerge. St Jaques was also the patron saint of the Orfevres (goldsmith /jewellers guild of paris). This powerful guild also issued jetons bearing the same effigy of St Jaques, but without the date.

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nice aquisitions.

Two jetons issued for the Church Wardens and parish of St Germain L'Auxerrois (Paris). The first jeton has been in my collection for a year or two, the latter is a new arrival. The first was issued in 1734 (as dated) during the reign of Louis |XV. The second was issued around 1786 during the latter years of Louis XVI but using the same reverse die as the first. Both are generally seldom seen on the market. Lady luck has smiled upon me in both cases. A dark moment in history for the church was the sounding of its bell (named `Marie') on the evening of 23rd August 1572 marking the commencement of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Thousands of Huguenots in Paris for a royal wedding were murdered by the Paris mob.

silver jeton struck in 1723 for members of the Languedoc Estates (parliament) to commemorate the consecration of Louis XV at Rheims.

This is a silver obol from Syracuse circa 485 bc during the time of Gelon and Hieron. Detail is quite remarkable for a coin that's only 9mm diameter but clearly the worse for wear. obverse is Arethusa. The reverse is a four spoked wheel. this one seems to have cuds at the centre which suggests the die was.... erm...dying

I bought a few roman bronzes and a couple of Sicilian bronzes last month. All of them are relatively scarce, but not in the category of being stellar examples.....hence their affordability for me The first is an Ae Antoninianus of the very short lived Roman Emperor Quintillus (270 ad) The second is a silvered Ae Antoninianus of another fairly short lived Roman Emperor, this time Carus (282-3 ad) The third is a fairly rare example of a double centenionalis of the Roman Emperor Magnentius....again, short lived (350-3 ad) The fourth is a centenionalis of Magnentius's brother , Decentius (also 350-3 ad), who committed suicide on learning of his brothers death Then there was another relatively scarce Ae1 (28mm) of Julian II ,aka `The Apostate' (360 -3 ad) . At the foot of Italy in Bruttium was a town called Rhegium which produced bonze coins circa 270 bc just like the one below. Obverse Apollo (if you look really closely). Reverse a tripod....nothing to do with War of the Worlds though. finally an Ae7 from Syracuse circa 370 bc.

12mm at narrowest. 13mm at widest.

Aarau shooting festival (1908) by Hans Frei.

small silver litra from Abacaenum (Abakainoi), an ancient town situated in the North East extremity of Sicily, some eight miles from the coast. Abacaenum was a Sikel town and not a town built /colonised by the Greeks, although the coinage was heavily influenced by the coinage of the neighbouring Greek colonies. This small coin weighs in at 0.64 gram, has the laureate bust of Zeus obverse and a boar reverse, with acorn below the neck. I have no reference for the obverse/ reverse die pairing for this coin. Ordinarily the boar would face to the right, but not so on this coin.

That is some collection you have Bill. Very interesting. What I love about this particular forum is the diversity, yet commonality of collecting interests, and the incredible knowledge base of the contributors concerned. It's always a learning experience. Thanks for sharing.

The story accompanying has zero credibility. `I found it lying on the floor of the factory that produced it' or `I was sold this as being genuine by a street seller in Luxor when on my cruise of the NIle' would have been much closer to reality. A crude base metal cast copy of an iconic silver coin made to fool the ignorant into believing they are buying a piece of history `psst......... cheap to you kind sir'.

The jeton below was struck in 1758 during the reign of Louis XV for the `Prieurs et Juges /Consuls de Dieppe' , This was a judicial body set up under an edict of Henri II in 1563 to regulate commercial activity and resolve problems arising between merchants. The merchants decided amongst themselves the election of the `Prior' (in this case, the person acting as the spokesperson for the court) and the Judges to act in this capacity and bestowed significant powers, including the right to determine and administer bankruptcy. These jetons were issued as a means of recompense for the performance of these roles and would be `paid' to the members of this `merchant court' as an honorarium. I am not aware of the number of jetons that would comprise the honorarium. The bust on the obverse and the obverse legend is unique to this particular issue. Coupled with the low mintage for the issue it is categorized as being rare. This example is relatively high grade with original lustre which my flatbed scanner fails to justify

In my ongoing search for jetons, I came across this item described as a`medal' by the seller. It is in fact a silver tetradrachm from Myrina. Unfortunately it has been `brooched'. That is, it was at one time transformed into a jewelery piece,with resultant damage to the reverse. It is still very collectable however, and one of my cheapest ever ancient coin purchases.

It's a really really poor imitation of a Syracusan decadrachm. Sorry, but the idea of having `found' that in the ruins of an old roman outpost somewhere in the Egyptian desert is about as far fetched as a bucket of s*it from China. If you bought it you have been suckered big time.

That's a very nice find you have there! How did you come by it?

Nice medal. The `river god' is, unsurprisingly, a regular theme for french jetons and medals. These may be a cheaper but equally rewarding collecting area for your attention. The example below was truck for the merchant trades of Orleans:

I've collected in many different aspects of `numismatics', but for me the most fulfilling is and continues to be the study / collection of ancients. it's very definitely a `work in progress' . It's never too late to take up the cudgel Art!

here's a couple i have. this one has an added bit of a crescent in the reverse. Not sure as to the cause of it, but unusual. this one is a slightly earlier example, well worn and with a test cut, but is is a well centred strike.....and it was relatively cheap.

That's the french for you........

It must be the way Paris is standing. When I first looked it was as if she was holding the arms in her right hand.

The spirit is willing but the understanding and use of technology (and technique) is weak. The image as scanned is fairly detailed, however I usually post via `omnicoin' as being an easy way of attaching images to posts on coinpeops'. More than happy to post the larger images if I knew how to.

Although there was a massive exercise to preserve /replace damaged dies at La Monnaie in the late 18th C, this was more as a `let's preserve our heritage for the future' than a `real time' problem with dies disintegrating during the minting process. The main evidence of damaged dies i've observed is in the form of die cracks. Occasionally you will find a jeton with significant and spectacular cuds, but then again i've examples of spectacular cuds on US coinage and Uk coinages, so there is nothing new under the sun in that respect. There are a couple of specific issues where a reverse flaw appear on jetons issued over a significant number of years and sometimes bearing the busts of different monarchs (indicating the same die has been used for decades). The jeton shown would have had a mintage in the hundreds, so it is difficult to understand the die having being significantly `challenged' by the quantity involved in the striking. More likely there was too much grease around,and some dirt got in the way. I've only seen one other example of this particular jeton, so i'm quite ignorant as to whether this was a typical example of thew run, or a late strike etc.

This is an example of a rare jeton that was struck to commemorate the establishment of a Royal refinery (silver and gold refining) at Trevoux, the main city in the Principality of Dombes, France. The refinery at Trevoux was the third such refinery in France, the other two being sited at Paris and Lyon. In 1762 Dombes was fully integrated into France and Louis XV was keen to consolidate this, The refinery was his way of doing so. The jeton itself bears the mature bust of Louis XV obverse. The reverse shows a view of Trevoux, with the city wall (left), the Refinery in the middle distance, and a horse drawn barge in front of it. The jeton also evidences being struck with either dirty or deteriorating dies (or both). The `C' in Christianiss (obv) is `filled', suggesting part of the die has chipped and some parts of the reverse legend arw faint suggesting grease or dirt filling the die. It's particularly evident in the exergue.