I went with Schwim to the SF Historical Bourse, a coin show. Dealers show up, you look at coins, you buy them if you like them. Nothing radical!
Schwim has been slowly sucking me into this habit of his (he's a very avid collector) and is a better historical resource than most of the dealers. This also makes him a great resource for knowing when to buy and when to not buy (I wish I had someone like this when I go book-buying). Most of the coins we look at are Ancient (anything before about 100), Byzantine (once the emperor moved to Constantinople), and medieval (although less of this, to my dismay).
What's interesting about coins? Well, for me it's a way to "touch" history. I like seeing what the materials used were, the crude implements for stamping images, and the varying level of sophistication with making money. For example, the coinage of Macedon (where Alexander the Great was from) is in some ways much more sophisticated than the provincial Roman coinage of a thousand years later. The decoration on the coinage of Henry II (Holy Roman Emperor, King of Germany 1002-1024) is very simple whereas the later coinage of the Holy Roman Emperors is much more elaborate. I also derive a certain amount of pleasure from holding a denarius and then an antoninianus and thinking back into history. The latter is actually worth 2 denarii, but is debased (bronze added to it) as the empire suffered a crisis in acquiring silver and massive monetary inflation!! Thus the coin is physical evidence to the decline of the Roman Empire! Collecting for me is thus the joys of seeing the physical history without needing to visit a museum. They also let you touch them. :)
Saturday was an exceptionally long day. We went up to the city around 10, eating our breakfast on the way. We spent about 7 solid hours at the show (with a small break to Starbucks) and had to get special permission to stay after they closed the show doors. Afterwards we went to dinner at Tokyo Go Go with the one of the two reps from Harlan J Berk. The company was great, but I can't say I cared much for TGG's service. Is it really difficult to remember what we ordered? On the plus side they had very fresh sushi and everything was fairly tasty.
This will be the last time I let Schwim drag me to the city for a day-long event though. :) He kept looking at coins until midnight when I finally protested in favor of sleep.
Alright, onto the fun... a few of my favorites.
Tancred of Antioch
I'm quite interested in the Crusades. Tancred (a Sicilian Norman) participated in the first Crusade and became the ruler of the ancient city of Antioch (I seem to have a special attachment to Antioch; I have a few of coins from there) after liberating it. I picked up a "scarce" coin from Tancred's rule there. It is an example of a very simple coin for its time. Antioch was constantly dealing with invasion and a migratory population as people returned to Europe or more troops were moving in. They didn't have a lot of energy to spend towards stamping out coins, in fact this coin was stamped on top of the previous rulers and a few artifacts of the old image are visible if you look closely and know what to look for.
Bronze, from between 1104-1112 AD in Antioch.
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Henry II - Holy Roman Emperor (reign 1002-1024)
The coinage of the empire around 1000 is very simple. This is a silver coin (I think?) and feels very fragile, almost like tin. The format of coins around this time is all mostly the same, and is very simple. This is one of my favorites because I've recently been to Germany and seen the evidence of Henry's existence such as the ambulatory he dedicated to the cathedral at Aachen and the remnants of the treasure he donated to the cathedral at Bamburg (now housed in Munich). He's no longer just a person I've read about in books.
Denar (Denier?), from between 1002-1009 AD, minted in Regensberg.
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Louis the Pious (reign 814-840)
Louis the Pious is an interesting character to me because of his relationship to Charlemagne (he was his son). Again you can see the very simple design of the coin.
Denier, from around 819-822, Minted at Melle
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There are a few other coins that I've collected thus far in the past year or so up at my public picasa album including a follis of Constantine minted in London. It is a Sol Invictus coin dating from before his supposed conversion to Christianity (ca 310).
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