constanius

31mm thin silver. NANERL WAS BRINGST DU MIR. (Nanerl what bringst you to me) Exe. EW. HOCHW. LEIB SPEISE. (Your Reverend's favourite food/dish) Not sure what this is but have seen a silver lid, on a German 19th century tobacco pipe, with the same inscription & an almost identical scene. I am not sure if there is an innuendo in the inscription but the serving-girl is showing quite a lot of leg, amongst other things. I am hoping someone will know more about this.

GECT.POVR.LE.BVREAV.DES.FINA (Jeton for the office of finance) CAROL.II.DG HISP.ET.INDIAR.REX. Netherlands Jeton, 1670, Cross of St Andrew Burgundy Dugn. 4281, Mitch. 2726, nice old jetton, copper, approx 32mm across, Cross of St Andrew Steel of Burgundy/ portrait of Charles II of Spain, some original mint luster great condition, with lots of doubling ....... but holed.

TDP, I am delighted your hopes have been fufilled. Thanks Frank, I thought you would enjoy this post. I cannot really believe it all myself, it has all happened so fast. I was so delighted to find the one on eBay(provenance of most of my medals) and everything seems to have just snowballed since. You know me, always digging for more info & instead of just posting a find, trying to write a novel about it, hoping not to bore everyone to death. Well I guess this time it really paid off handsomely. Alas I fear there is no way I can ever top this, so perhaps I should just retire gracefully from collecting.........but maybe not. Pat

Great medals, great provenance & very nicely presented

Welcome to CoinPeople Iosephus Seeing as you are interested in Italian medals you might enjoy these http://www.coinpeople.com/index.php/topic/33582-the-sacred-mount-of-san-carloborromeo-arona-1614/ http://www.coinpeople.com/index.php/topic/34112-pedro-tellez-giron-3rd-duke-of-osuna-1618/ Thanks everybody for your kind comments. It is rewarding to share our collections, especially when fellow collectors post feedback, that is a great encouragement. Pat

Very good points to make. Michael Hall was a very serious & knowledgeable collector &, though 83 when the auction took place, I am reasonable sure that information that important & unusual would have been used. I had a reply, soon after I sent my email to Piero Voltolina, from his widow Meri informing me that he had passed away 10 years ago. I had delayed posting that info while we were corresponding, back & forth, over the next few days. Meri was kind to enough to check her late husband's work & informed me that he was unaware of any other plaque/medal by Ambrogi, further to that, she was still in possession of Ambrogi's Tasso & sent me a picture of it. I gave her the link to this post, partly so she could see what the other Ambrogi plaques were auctioned for, she subsequently offered to sell it to me saying she would be happy if an important part of her husband's collection went to a passionate collector & gave me permission to use the picture here. We agreed on a price, which we were both happy with, & I also purchased from Meri a copy of Piero Voltolina's 3 vol. "la storia di Venezia attraverso le medaglie". I will have to learn Italian The picture helped to confirm, what I suspected, that the Petrarca, the Tasso & my Ariosto were all copper, either darken with time or deliberately. The Petrarca is heavily patinated green, my Ariosto shows copper highlights through the blackening & a slight tinge of green in places, Voltolina’s Tasso is clearly copper and been cleaned. So almost certain that I have discovered a small series of medallic plaques by Ambrogi.........perhaps there are others to be found?

They are very minimal in value, monetarily wise but historically they are worth collecting. Sorry that I cannot be much help in giving a numbers value.

The Roman alphabet only had 24 letters 'I' was used in later times both for J & I, 'V' was used for U & V Julius was written originally written as IVLIVS in roman times. J & U were later added to the alphabet. So his surname was HUNWICKE not as inscribed HVNWICKE.

The second is a British 17th-century token farthing issued by John Hunwicke of Braintree, Essex, active 1649 - 1672. http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguedetail.html?&priref=152349&_function_=xslt&_limit_=25 Obv. IOHN . HVNWICKE Rev. IN . BRAINTREE

I love Cats & Money so I love it, my cats would too. Made me smile, thanks.

Their poetry immortalizes great poets.............but this? ARIOSTO NOAH WYLE AS TOM MASON IN "FALLING SKIES"

Where to begin? When in doubt, from the start is always a good option. I purchased this via eBay, a plaque/medal mounted in a 8 X 8 inch mahogany wood frame. It is of the poet Ludovico Ariosto(1474 -1533) signed by Domenico Ambrogi(1600-?- 1678 or later) here are two of the vendors pictures. I have taken some of my own pictures which help to show the quality of the piece. I was surprised to find no entry in Forrer's Bio........ for Domenico Ambrogi, searching the web I came across this auction result. As you can see there is a reference , Voltolina 1020, and that it appears to be the only medal made by Ambrogi. Well I sent pictures of both the Ariosto & Tasso to Philip Attwood of the British Museum, who is an expert on Italian medals, but he was away for a week, during that week I had an idea. Seeing as Ambrogi had produced 2 plaques of Italian renaissance poets perhaps he had done others, turned out it was a good idea. Found this auction result of an ex-Michael Hall collection 'roundel' not attributed but to my eyes it was another by Ambrogi. Well I could see something below the bust, so blowing it up and comparing it to the signature on mine.......eureka! The last 'O' in Domenico and the capital 'A' of Ambrogi is just about visible. Seeing as Philip would not have seen the previous email yet I sent the pictures of the signatures & auction, stating, I hope this is news to you, though you probably already know all about these medals. His reply: Thanks, Pat. No – we seem to have no medals by Ambrogi, nor do I have information on him, so this is interesting stuff. Best wishes Philip I have been trying to contact by email Piero Voltolina, whose reference was used for the Tasso auction, to confirm if that was the only previous known plaque by Ambrogi who was chiefly an architectural painter of frescoes & quadratura plus an engraver of plates for printing pictures, or if he was aware of these other 2. Strange that Michael Hall the greatest private collector of Renaissance & baroque medals owned the one of Petrarca(Petrarch) but did not attribute it to Ambrogi, though the signature is very indistinct & unlike me had no other to compare it to. So just to sum up, I have; Discovered a plaque of Ariosto by Ambogi, Attributed one of Petrarca to Ambrogi, By doing so, have discovered a small series of Renaissance Poets plaques by Ambrogi. Unless of course Voltolina replies to my email & he was already aware of these 2 others. So not just an epic discovery but an epic post too boot. AMBROGI, Domenico, called Menichino Del Brizio. According to Malvasia, this painter acquired that name from his being the scholar of Francesco Brizio. He was a native of Bologna, and distinguished himself as a painter of history, both in oil and in fresco. He also excelled in representing landscapes, perspective, and architectural views, and was much employed in the churches and palaces at Bologna mainly for his quadratura. , In S. Giacomo Maggiore, is a picture by this painter of the Guardian Angel, and in the Nunziata, S. Francesco, with a glory of angels. In 1653, he published some wooden cuts, from his own designs, printed in chiaro-scuro, of which one represented a woman in a triumphal car, holding two flambeaux, and a serpent, conducted by Neptune. Here is a link to a map of Bologna(Ambrogi's home town) signed bottom right by Ambrogi https://archive.org/stream/leantichitpianti00mont#page/n107/mode/1up and a list of the variations of his name Ambrogi, Domenico (Italian painter and printmaker, ca. 1600-after 1678) Names from Getty: Ambrogi, Domenico (preferred,V,index) Domenico Ambrogi (V,display) Brizio, Menichino del (V) Menichino del Brizio (V) Briccio, Menichino del (V) Bricci, Menichino del (V) Menghino del Brizio (V) Brizio, Menghino del (V) Brizzi, Menghino del (V) Domenico degl'Ambrosij (V) Domenico del Briccio (V) Ambrogi, Menichino Del Brizio (V)

An Italian lira or 2 lira with the quadriga design 1914-1917.

Another post brought the Maria Theresa 1780 restrikes to mind, certainly a beautiful and affordable coin.

I am unaware of any Maria Theresa thaler dated 1704 as that predates her? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_thaler The 1780 thaler has been restruck with that date up to the present. here is a link to help date the 1780 restrikes http://www.1messydesk.com/MTTs/m_theresia_talers.html Perhaps you have a 1764 thaler with the a worn '6' that appears to be a '0'? There are fakes of all the thalers. Here is what a worn or filled 6 would look like on a 1764 thaler

A 1797 Cartwheel tupence, Larry Moran's picture from Flickr. 2 ounces of copper! A true classic, the brilliance of Matthew Boulton & James Watt combined to produce this momentous piece. Compared to the coinage that preceded it, a staggering achievement, even though because of its huge size & the fluctuation in copper value it was doomed to failure. Bigger is not always better but for a collector of world coins it truly stands alone. Also they are very affordable. Larry Moran's picture from Flickr.

The one on the left is a bracteate, whether genuine or not I cannot say. Here is a similar one http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguedetail.html?&priref=111627&_function_=xslt&_limit_=50#1 The link to the bracteate collection in the Fitzwilliam http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguesummary.html?_searchstring_=(object_name=%27Bracteate%27%20and%20administration_name=%27Coins%20and%20Medals%27)&_limit_=50&_function_=xslt&_resultstylesheet_=imagecs for you to search.

I must say that I agree with you, it does appear to be a griffin but all the descriptions use 'dragon' whether from a numismatic or heraldic source, here is one from 'British Armorial Bindings' (U of T), of a later member of the Lowthers family.

This is interesting, brought over eBay(did not read all the blurb), what sold me on it at first sight was the condition but then on a second look the variation in the '3' made it a must have. Taking the photos I had a very pleasant surprise.......apart from the raised edge & beading.....all the reverse was all incused! I looked at the sellers listing again, and he had stated that fact, but it was not apparent from his picture. When you first see the picture above it does look incused but quickly the letters looked raised, try looking away for a few seconds then look again, it should appear incused for a second or two. Try this link http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21/constanius/DSCF3044.jpg Pat

Very nice & interesting items. Thanks for sharing

VVILHELM.VON.GOTS.GNADEN.PFALCZ.GRAF.BEI.RHEIN.SEINS.ALTERS.IM.XLI.IAR. Wilhelm IV, Count Palatine, Duke of Bavaria (1493-1550) by Matthes Gebel(ca. 1500–1574) Lead alloy unifaced after-cast of just the obverse of the 1535 medal of Wilhelm aged 41 by Gebel. The reverse had an heraldic design: HERCZOG.IN.OBERN.VND.NIDERN.BAIRN.ZC.ANN.DOM.MDXXXV.

I have to agree wit you TDP You know me and my obsession with trial strikes, it is not just that you get to see the piece in the development stage but there are X number of the medals around but the trial pieces(if they even survive) are normally unique. So to hold the unifaced lead trial is more exciting to me than if I was holding the silver double-sided medal, even though the finished silver medal is worth way more monetarily, rarity & historically the trial has the edge. Mind, having both wouldn't be too much of a hardship

Having the trial strike in hand & being able to take my own pics(I used the sellers before in my comparison composite) the guide-line for the inscription to be added is clearly visible. After the inscription was added to the die the guide-line was polished out. Though I was 99% sure before, that it was the original trial for the 1660 medal, that surely is the final proof needed.

Whitehaven Colliery Carrier's Token. In West Cumberland, the use of metal tokens for accounting for the movement of coal from the pits to the ships, which represented work done and avoided the need for the exchange of money during the process, dates from at least as early as 1670, when they are mentioned in a letter from Sir John Lowther to his Steward, Thomas Tickell, at Whitehaven. The Lowther family of Whitehaven (later Earls of Lonsdale) were the main force behind the development of the West Cumberland coalfield. This 23mm copper token bears their dragon crest, one of several designs used at Whitehaven, with the reverse a cypher of LOWTHER, circa 1690, Finlay No: 18, Mitchiner No: 8534. Info mainly from the Token Corresponding Society website.

Comparing with a known Henry Mitchell medal. So Called Dollar. HK 18 BATTLE OF LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL - 1875 This Lexington Centennial medal is struck in white metal from the same dies as HK 16 & HK 17. Dies engraved by Henry Mitchell and delivered to the U.S. Mint for striking. The dies were later returned to Mitchell. The mint refused to strike white metal specimens as requested by Mitchell so he had the white metal pieces struck outside the mint. Julian number CM-24. They do seem to be quite similar.