Drusus Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 I have minted a coin to commemorate my daughters birth. It came out nice for the price. She now has coins to play with and she walks around with them in a coin purse, counts them and says 'My coins!'. I STILL would like to do a crusader coin next. Get some dies made as I have had problems making my own dies as I want them and then using them to hammer them out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NumisMattic2200 Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Wow! I really love the ideas you have there - such a cool idea and maybe one day if she's poor they will sell for thousands as they were designed originally by the famous Drusus? the King's head on the medieval one looks like a bird of some kind..hmm but cool design anyway.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiho Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Beautiful coin/token/medal Drusus, you have a lucky daughter. I'll assume it's solid platinum... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted December 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 No...but thats what I will be telling people its made of from now on The birds head portrait is my version of the busts found on the coins of Bohemond III, the crusader king of Antioch, I have always liked the stylized helmeted head they used for those issues. Its supposed to be emulating these: I put together a 'crusader font' to do this one because the lettering on the coins are so unlike any style of font I could find I just downloaded about 10 crusader coins with the text still halfway readable (they are barely readable in the first place) and picked and chose the letters I needed from each coin and emulated them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 An absolutely brilliant thread. Keep up the impeccable work Drusus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted December 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Thanks Clive. While I know the minting and even design isnt the best around, I have always thought the minting of a coin to commemorate births and death to be a great thing that doesnt seem to be done quite as much these days. I went with what I could afford when it comes to minting and got several hundred. I would certainly call them tokens but to be honest...in hand they look rather nice and now she has some peronalized play money. Since I have so many I plan to 'lose' them while I am out and about. I travel a lot for business, my next trip is to Australia so I will probably lose a few there. What would be great if someone found one then popped up on a coin forum looking for information on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted December 19, 2009 Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 Her name is Cassia? I love it. What's the inspiration? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted December 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 I thought it was a lovely name. Inspired by the Gens Cassii. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted December 19, 2009 Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 I finally gave in and purchased a Bohemond III. I've seen so many over the years but never owned one. Thanks for giving me the motivation to spend more money on myself this Christmas Chris! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted December 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 Cool! I am wanting one as well, looking for a good example at the right price....post it when you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldeCollector Posted January 1, 2010 Report Share Posted January 1, 2010 Cool! I am wanting one as well, looking for a good example at the right price....post it when you can. Here it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ætheling Posted January 1, 2010 Report Share Posted January 1, 2010 TYRANNUS? - A tad harsh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
constanius Posted January 1, 2010 Report Share Posted January 1, 2010 Missed the original postings as I was on vacation in Florida. What a great idea & execution Drusus. Your other design reminds me of the helmets & chainmail on the Bayeaux Tapestry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiho Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 What would be great if someone found one then popped up on a coin forum looking for information on it More likely you'll see your coin on eBay the day after you "lose" it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 2, 2010 Report Share Posted January 2, 2010 Really neat coin. I admire your creativity, would never have thought of doing something like that myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted January 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 TYRANNUS? - A tad harsh? If you knew her you would understand, she is, without doubt, an little absolute ruler. thanks for the kind words everyone. I am looking into having dies made so that I can hammer my own coins...the next step after that is getting all I need to create the dies myself. I am looking into photochemical etching which I hope will produce the results I am looking for. I will post anything new here... If one of these coins popped up on eBay, That would be quite amazing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saor Alba Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 I would suggest for originality and look - experiment and make your own dies. You can buy raw metal for dies and punches to make them. I did this when I was a kid, and still have the coins I made and the dies too. I made English hammered style coins myself and it actually was a lot of fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted January 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Yes, I have tried that as well but found that I could not get a level of sophistication and clean look I wanted and probably would never be able to in my lifetime without serious time and instruction. I have metal for dies, I simply plan to transfer my image with chemical etching instead of trying to do it by hand. Steel is VERY hard to punch as I am sure you know and if I ever want to do anything beside very rough images, I will have to find another way or find an etching class. I have already made one attempt to make a coin myself and hammer it out, it came out rather rough as you can see: Actual size .75 in But it showed me I CAN product something and if I can refine my methods, I can make the image and strike more clean. I am pretty sure with something called photo resist I can create a clean image of my own design...including the Bohemond coin, I have about 3 or 4 more designs I would like to create. If I am able to perfect this method I might even make a Coinpeople coin The Bohemond design I want to make simply for fun, I might put my website address on it somewhere. I used to do Zinc plate etching so I already have a bit of a working knowledge of chemical etching, I have the etchant, dies, resist and most other things I need...I have a few more hurdles I need to jump before I try again. I also have small clay portraits I did of a few of my family members I would like to make into medals...I have done some casting before so I might try that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saor Alba Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Drusus, I am not sure why you were disappointed with your work, remember we are talking 9th or 10th centuries here, we don't have to make them look like Mona Lisa's or similar. I want to do this again sometime, the stuff I bought from Edix2001 is an inspiration: This piece is enigmatic, and looks like it was created for jewellry but could pass for some mysterious Prague half thaler or something from the 17th century. I conjecture that it may be a Joe Rust creation(Gallery Mint) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted January 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Well, THAT is lovely and elegant while mine is obviously a heavy handed hack job I am not writing any method off, its just that I am eager to produce something a little better than the rough example I have above...also text is very diffucult to do and make look clean as well. I may continue to attempt to perfect hand etching but I also want a way to produce a die faster and very cleanly with good, readable text. My problem is that I learn best when I watch others do something then try it myself...problem is, I know of nobody who does this and the few people I have found who do will not communicate with me regarding techniques...I have recieved some pointers and tips from some sources on the internet but I believe the tools I am trying to use are not good enough, or the steel I am trying to use it too hard as I have ruined many of the tools I have tried to use on the steel and have a real problem getting a good clean cut on the die surface without losing control or bending my punch. We will see...Its a bit frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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