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?

an example of a silver unit of the Iceni tribe which inhabited the East Anglia region of England. This coin was struck circa 20 -50 ad during the time of Prasutagus,the wealthy and pro-Roman king of the Iceni. His wife, Boudicca was later to rise against the Romans. The obverse has conjoined crescents central to the coin. The reverse has a galloping horse to the left and underneath is ECEN (retrograde in this example). The Iceni were the only Celtic tribe to put their tribal name to their coinage

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:

Thanks for the background to the obverse design......and the detail of a satyr clutching the fire. Now the design makes a lot of sense and i've learned from another fascinating aspect of ancient mythology. indeed, `post tenebras, lux'.

I've seen various medals of this design and struck in different metals. The first ones I saw were minted in the 1940's and commemorated 20 yrs (bronze) 25 yrs (silver) and 30 yrs (gold) service. The group i've just acquired were struck in the 1960's and sadly the silver is now silver plated bronze and the gold isn't even gold plate and barely qualifies as even gold coloured bronze. The obverse design is however `memorable' and extremely well struck up. I'm struggling to work out the significance as to why `Pan' as the characterisation on the design (?). Seems to me to be a strange choice but i'm probably missing something that the typical employee of these state industries would have completely understood (?). The reverse is certainly `on topic', but a tad unimaginative / bland in my humble opinion.

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!

...another beaut, but strangely, I still much prefer thesimple aesthetics of the `Arfur'.

I like! Looks like a very good buy to me. I had thought that the date was later, but I really don't have much of a clue on that. I am however astounded to learn that the quality of electrotyping was that good in the 1840's. Looking forward to seeing the others in the batch, but that `Arfur really is quite a beaut. Well done that man.

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.