Affordable coins (<2k) with an interesting backstory?

[AncientCoinnoisseur]

Title! I collect coins that have a story to tell, or that can connect to other areas in unexpected ways. My personal theme is:

• Coins that tell a story

One could argue that each coin has its own story, and that is true, but I mainly focus on coins that have an interesting backstory and when you show them to someone you can go off for a tangent and talk about the whole circumstances that are connected to that coin.

Examples:  

 

Minted in Babylon (or by a moving mint going there with Alexander) around the time Alexander The Great was there and about to die. Think of the stories this coin could tell!

 

 

Minted by a travelling mint moving with Caesar as he crossed the Rubicon to march towards Rome!

 

 

Coined for the inauguration of the Colosseum one year after the Vesuvius eruption! 

 

 

Shows the minting tools on the reverse and the goddess Juno Moneta on the obverse, where the term for money comes from!

 

 

Probably shows the head of the Colossus on the obverse, and it was minted some years after it fell but when it was still visible. 

 

Minted for the 1.000th anniversary of Rome!

 

 

Coins minted to commemorate the Trial of the Vestal virgins.

 

 

The coin that was shown to Aldus Manutius by Pietro Bembo, which was later used as Manutius’ typographic logo. Erasmus of Rotterdam talked about this specific coin and (wrongly) associated it with the Festina Lente motto and with Vespasianus. The dolphin and anchor symbol goes way back, appearing in mosaics of Delos, then in coins associated with Neptune. Titus either minted these to ‘calm the gods’ after the Vesuvius eruption (Sear) or as a series of coins connected with the ‘pulvinaria’ for the Colosseum inauguration (Dámsky).

 

I made several infographics, but the point is: I want a story to accompany my coins. There are also coins I have just because they look cool, but it’s not the same!

If you have any coins to suggest that meet my criteria, please let me know 🙂

[JayAg47]

Well you asked for backstories! 

A coin depicting baby Krishna dancing on the head of Kaliya, the demon snake.

The story goes as a giant snake once terrified the people who went near the river Yamuna. Krishna as the human incarnation of Vishnu, was playing with his friends on the banks of the river, and when their ball flew into the river he went to retrieve it, but Kaliya started to constrict him and tried to swallow the child Krishna as a whole. But Krishna started to grow in its mouth, opened the jaws and got on to the snake's head, and started dancing, each step squeezed out the venom and in the end, he not only devenomized Kaliya but also showed him mercy after the snake repented. Madurai Nayakas, 2.50 grams, unidentified Tamil legends on the reverse within an incuse. circa 1500s. 

The Battle of Kandalur Salai (~988 AD)

The Chola emperor Raja Raja Chola had won many battles and subjugated various kingdoms even before he became the emperor, although this particular battle marked his first military achievement of his reign. Kandalur Salai is a place in the modern day Kerala province of India, which once belonged to the Chera dynasty. The battle is dated around 988 AD, Raja Raja's 4th regnal year, as evident from various inscriptions from 988 AD onward mentioning him as 'Kandalur salai kalamarutta' or 'Keralanthagan' meaning one who put an end to the Keralas/Cheras, similar to the Roman titles like Parthicus or Germanicus. 

Thanjavur was the Chola capital, to get to Kandalur Salai marked by X, the Cholas first had to subjugate the Pandya kingdom, with their capital being Madurai. 

The Cheras were a Vishnu worshiping country, while the Cholas were Siva worshiping, so when Raja Raja Chola conquered them, he issued special coins that portrayed the feet of lord Vishnu called Sripada aka 'sacred foot' along with the Chera symbol bow. There are two ways of interpreting this, one is that Raja Raja wanted to show that despite being a Siva worshiper, he still tolerates those who worship Vishnu, or he wanted to show that the Chera country signified by the bow, along with their Vishnu worshiping people are now the subjects of Cholas.

A Hindu religious stone of Vishnu's feet on the right, on the left is the normal issue where the bottom right on the obverse has a floral/lotus image, in the centre is the special issue with the distinct foot and a bow. On the bottom right is the gold fanam issued by Travancore kingdom of the Kerala region circa 1800s showing a Stylised Vishnu feet. 

 

A gold massa from Srivijaya, and their sacking by the Cholas!

South India is often overlooked by the historians, as most people consider the dramatic northern part to be more interesting, however away from all the ruckus of the north were the kingdoms of the Tamil region, the Cholas, Cheras, and the Pandyas. Among them the most successful in not only getting out of the southern peninsula, but also establishing their control on far off lands was the Cholas. It is really interesting to read about their naval adventures, I would say they were the most powerful naval force at the time after the Romans, but before the European/Ottoman fleets of the late 14th century! With a powerful navy and a quest for dominance comes with its problems, the Sri Vijayans. The Cholas and the Srivijayans once had cordial relations, even the Srivijaya king Mara-vijay-ottungga-varman of the Sailendra dynasty built a Buddhist monastery called ‘Chudamani Vihara’ in Negapatnam (modern Dutch-Indian colony), in the Chola land under the patronage of Raja Raja I. However, the relations started to deteriorate as the Cholas expanded their power and trade. The sea route to China was controlled by the Sri Vijayans, it is still one of the busiest routes in the world (Malay-Singapore straits). Heavy taxes and the constant pirating of the Tamil merchant ships made the Cholas angry, but the catalyst that made them sprung into action was when the Hindu Khmer king Suryavarman I requested the help of Rajendra Chola, against the Buddhist kingdom Tambralinga, who then allied with the other major Buddhist kingdom, Sri Vijaya! So, in 1025 AD, Rajendra Chola’s fleet set on the journey of crossing the Bay of Bengal, at first, he sent a small fleet to the north of Sumatra as a decoy, so when the ill-prepared Sri Vijayans spent most of their forces preventing the advancement of the ships in the north, the much larger armada sailed behind the island down its west coast, crossing the Sunda strait (Sumatra-Java), and attacked the southern part of Sumatra where the Sri Vijayan capital, Palembang, was located! The Cholan army then sacked the capital, plundered the ‘Vidhyadara Torana’, the jewelled 'war gate' of Srivijaya, and finally captured Sangrama Vijay-ottungga-varman, the king himself! The distance from the Cholan port city of Poompuhar to Palembang is the same as the distance between London and Iraq (2500 miles)! The Chola fleet didn’t stop there, the ships advanced northwards, sacking and plundering every city including Melayu, Tumasik (modern day Singapore), Panai and Kedah (Malaysia). For this achievement, Rajendra Chola is also known as ‘Kadaram Kondan’, aka the one who conquered Kadaram (Malay peninsula).

This was the point of Sri Vijayan decline, for the next two decades (until when Rajendra died), Sri Vijaya was under the direct control of the Cholas, and from then onwards until the Pandyan conquest of Cholas in 1279, Sri Vijaya was no more a dominant player in the area as the Cholas took over the control of the trade, after that the new Majapahit kingdom came to power in that region around 1293.

1 Massa Piloncito
2.44g
Gold
Incused Lingam with Nagari legend 'Tha' on the reverse.
Circa late 8th century
From Mataram/Medang Kingdom of central Java ruled by the Sailendra dynasty, they develpoed the Hindu/Buddhist culture in the Southeast Asia

Rajendra Chola
1014-1044
0.45g
This Commemorative coin of Rajendra Chola shows the conquering of neighboring kingdoms of Chera, and Pandya, depicted as the royal emblems-Cholan tiger, flanked by the Pandyan twin fish to its right, and the Cheran bow behind the tiger (off-centered), all under the single rule symbolized by the umbrella. On the reverse, it reads Yudha-malla, aka one who's strong in battles.

 

Revenge of the Pandyas, 

The most underrated yet one of the longest surviving kingdoms, the Pandyas (300 BCE- 17th century CE).
The Pandyas called the southern tip of Indian subcontinent their home, and slightly to the east were the Cholas, who often overshadowed them, and their relationship date back to 300 BCE!
While for the most part they fought among each other, they did form coalitions when a common enemy knocked on their borders, for instance when the Mauryan empire under Ashoka was extending throughout India, the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas banded under the lead of Nedunjeliyan I, who's title reads as 'Aariya Padai kadantha Nedunjeliya Pandiyan' (A Pandyan King, who defeated the Aryan intrusion), c. 270 BCE.
This time period is known as the Sangam period, when Tamil kingdoms shared and developed the Tamil literature, producing numerous poems and epics that are still taught in schools! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangam_literature
They also traded with the Greeks, Ptolemies, and the Romans, as the ancient Greek source 'Periplus of the Erythraean Sea' mentions the Pandian kingdom as a place distant from Muziris by river and sea about five hundred stadia, and is of another kingdom, the Pandian. This place [Nelcynda] also is situated on a river, about one hundred and twenty stadia from the [Arabian] sea....
The Roman emperor Julian received an embassy from a Pandya about 361 CE.

Between 4th-7th century AD, with the raise of other regional kingdoms, Pallavas and Kalabhras, the original kingdoms waned in power. However the Pallavas and Pandyas formed a coaliton and defeated the Kalabhras, with the Pallavas taking control of the Northern Tamil region with Cholas as their tributaries, and Pandyas taking control of the south with Cheras as their tributaries around 650 AD.

Nothing much changed up until the mid 9th century AD when the Chola chieftain Vijayalaya Chola rebelled and made progress against the Pallavas, with his son Aditya I putting an end to the Pallavas by 900 AD, this was a big blow to the Pandyas, as their trusted ally is now gone!
With the subsequent successions of powerful and effective Chola emperors, the Pandyan kingdom, along with the Cheras finally came under the Cholas by the mid 10th century AD.

A coin of Uttama Chola (970–985 CE). Similar to the coin of Rajendra Chola, this coin of Uttama Chola, his uncle, also commemorates the subjugation of Cheras and Pandyas and with the Cholan tiger flanked by Pandyan twin fish and the Cheran bow, all under an umbrella.

Uttama Chola
Silver Stater
4.15g
970-985 AD
MCSI2 326, R
Mitchiner 713-725

For the next 250 years the Pandyas were nothing but just one of the tributaries of the Cholas.
But with every society, good times creating bad men, and bad men creating bad times, the Cholas were weakened by the mid 13th century, and the Pandyas wasted no time in regaining their dominance, and by the 1250s, not only the Pandyas became independent, but also planned to conquer their conquerors! and they successfully invaded and subjugated the Cholas in 1279 AD.

The below coin issued by the Pandyan king Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I commemorates capturing the city of Kachi (modern day Kanchipuram) from Telugu Chodas (different from Cholas, although related to the Cholas by marriage (ChoDa is different from Chola), and giving back the city to the Tamil Cholas, who by this period started to wane in power. Around the year 1258 AD, Pandyan forces killed the Telugu Choda ruler Vijaya Gandagopala of Nellore Chodas and captured Kanchipuram, but rather than directly annexing the place into the Pandyan kingdom, he offered the city to the Cholas, their arch nemesis, in that process the Cholas were brought under the suzerainty of the Pandyas.

This particular Pandyan coin is different form other issues from their kingdom, as the design seems to be newly created rather than copying the previous Chola copper coins (shown above) that feature the standing king/seated king motif, however here we see the legends Kachi Valengum Perumal. Also the fish emblem of the Pandyas were always featured by the side with a sceptre below the seated kings arm (top coin), but here we see the fishes being placed on top of each other in a cross like motif, the reasons are yet unknown (bottom coin).

Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I
Copper Kasu, 2.85 g
Obv: Twin fish interlinked, with sceptre to left, conch below, crescent above, and unknown symbol to right.
Reverse: கச்சி வழங்கும் பெருமாள் Kachi-Valangum-Perumal in Tamil (The king who offers Kachi)
1258-1260 AD

 

Edited September 16 by JayAg47

[AncientCoinnoisseur]

Thanks for that, @JayAg47! 
I admit I’m only versed in Greek and Roman coinage, so this was all brand new info for me! 😄 

Any other coins with backstories are welcome!!!

[Kaleun96]

I think the satrapal staters of Tarsos issued by Pharnabazos, Datames, and Mazaios have some interesting backstory to them while also being visually quite interesting. With Pharnabazos there's the wars with Athens and Sparta, the whole Egyptian invasion thing, his involvement in Xenophon's Anabasis, the possible use of the coins to pay mercenaries from Sicily (iirc), the connection via his granddaughter to Alexander the Great etc. Datames then takes over and starts a revolt and it's interesting to try and hypothesise whether he made his feelings known via slight changes to the coinage, and lastly Mazaois had a long and storied career lasting all the way up until Alexander's conquering of Babylon and a few years after.

[Al Kowsky]

Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar's assassins, & strong supporter of the Roman Republican form of government, had a supporter issue this denarius in 54 BC. He claimed lineage from Lucius Junius Brutus, the legendary founder of the Roman Republic, circa 509 BC, & the man who overthrew the last Roman king, Lucius Tarquinius Suberbus. When Julius Caesar proclaimed himself as emperor of Rome, Marcus Junius Brutus instigated Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March, 42 BC.

 

[Curtisimo]

I think pretty much every ancient coin fits the bill for telling a story. Most of the imagery on them was designed to do exactly that. Here are a few that I think tell a particularly interesting story and are not at all expensive. 

The First Denarius

This coin was among the first issues of the denarius. Based on historical accounts and metallurgical analysis, these first denarii were most likely struck with looted silver taken from the sacks of Syracuse and Capua during the Second Punic War. This coin was struck to pay the legionaries fighting Hannibal.

Roman Republic
Second Punic War (218 – 201 BC)
Anonymous AR Denarius, Rome Mint, struck ca. 211 BC
Wt.: 4.2 g
Dia.: 20 mm
Obv.: Helmeted head of Roma right. X in left field
Rev.: Dioscuri galloping right. ROMA in exergue and partially incuse on raised tablet
Ref.: Crawford 44/5 Brinkman Group 5. Sydenham 167. RBW 169.
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica Auction 100, Part II, Lot 1368 (May 30, 2017)

The First Jewish Coin

This is the first coin struck by an independent Jewish state in its own name. The design is notable for respecting the prohibition against graven images. I wrote about this coin here.

Hasmonean Dynasty of Judea
John Hyrcanus I, 134-104 BC
AE Prutah, Jerusalem mint, struck ca. 129-122 BC
Wt.: 1.82 g
Dia.: 15 mm
Obv.: Paleo-Hebrew inscription in wreath; Greek letter alpha above
Rev.: Double cornucopia with a pomegranate between horns
Ref.: Hendin 1132
Ex E. Montgomery Collection, privately purchased on March 9, 2017

The First Jewish Revolt

Another Judaean coin. This one was struck in Jerusalem during the second year of the Jewish revolt and proclaims “Freedom of Zion.” However, just a few years later Vespasian and Titus would oversee the suppression of the revolt and the destruction of the Second Temple.

Judaea
First Jewish War
AE Prutah, Jerusalem mint, struck ca. AD 67/8
Wt.: 2.13 g
Dia.: 16 mm
Obv.: Amphora; Paleo-Hebrew inscription: "Year Two"
Rev.: Vine leaf; Paleo-Hebrew inscription: "Freedom of Zion"
Ref.: Hendin 1360
Ex Tareq Hani Collection

Edited September 16 by Curtisimo

[shanxi]

Emperor Huizhong from the Northern Song Dynasty was a great artist, painter and poet. He also wrote a book on the preparation of tea. However, when the Northern Song Dynasty was attacked by the Jin, he was the wrong man on the throne and the Northern Song Dynasty came to an end. 
About the coin: The legend of the coin is written in the emperor's personal handwriting, the so-called Slender Gold Script, a style that is still admired today, and shows the emperor's artistic skills. It also makes the coin a piece of history.

Below, one of his paintings and one of his poems in his own handwriting. (source Wikipedia)

Emperor: Huizong, 徽宗
Obv: Da Guan Tong Bao, 大観通寳
Slender Gold Script
Rv: -
Wert: 10
Year: 1107-1110
AE, 40.5mm, 13.8g
Ref.: : Hartill 16.426, FD 1062, S630

 

Edited September 16 by shanxi

[Deinomenid]

The backstory of the coins showing the impoverishment of Athens in the very late 5th century is quite interesting. And the coins sell for well under 2k. (Ignoring the emergency gold ones which are a tiny bit more than that.) "Grievous coppers" as they were called in The Frogs where  the Chorus complains that the employment of less-than-honorable citizens and foreigners in positions of civic leadership was similar to the state's recent use of gold issues and so-called "grievous coppers" (πονήροις χαλκίοις) as currency.

Aristophanes' "grievous coppers" have consistently been interpreted as "official" fourrées, struck when the supply of gold was exhausted by 406/5 BC. While there's debate to distinguish officially grievous from non-state grievous (fourrées that were fabricated privately), the 1902 discovery of a sizable hoard of plated tetradrachms and drachms at Piraeus provided much evidence in support of the theory that the fourrées Aristophanes mentioned were "official" issues. CNG -Re-examining the issue in 1996, John H. Kroll (Essays Oeconomides, pp. 139-142) argued that while the direct evidence was not conclusive that the "grievous coppers" of Aristophanes were "official" fourrées, no plausible alternative hypothesis existed, and that the identification of the 1902 Piraeus Hoard with the emergency coinage struck in 406/5 BC was very persuasive.

According to Kroll, the drachms in the hoard numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands, and most were disbursed into the market over the years following its discovery. All the coins are of identical distinctive condition, coloration, and style, and were struck from a limited number of dies, nearly all had evidence of bronze disease. Another notable feature is that there is no crescent on the reverse on all dies. Only coins struck from the dies identified in the hoard can be reasonably attributed to the "official" fourrée issue of 406/5 BC.

This coin is not an exact match with any of the dies, though it  is stylistically very close so it is deemed  (by vendors 🙂) highly likely from the famous Emergency Issue.

Any which way, it is a good reminder of the decline and fall of a mighty and hubristic  empire.

 

Athens. Circa 405-404 BC. Fourrée Drachm (15mm, 2.38 g). Helmeted head of Athena right, with frontal eye / Owl standing right, head facing; olive spray to left; all within incuse square. For prototype: cf. Kroll 10; cf. HGC 4, 1631. Deposits, breaks in plating, scratches. VF. Likely from the famous Emergency Issue of 406/5 BC.
 

[Limes]

I really wonder if there are any ancient coins that dont tell a story. Coins always told a story; either of the place they were struck, or the circumstances under which they were struck. Roman took it to the next level, using it primarely as tools for propaganda. Even the 'god standing left, goddess standing right' coins tell stories of the fortunes the new emperor brings, the stability to the empire, good health after something happened, etcetc. Still, within these categories there are coins that perhaps tell a bit more specific of some troublesome time, of a special deed of the ruler. Specifically, I'm thinking of coins that show architecture, buildings. 

I'm interested to see the coins posted here, and information such as posted by @JayAg47 is simply fantastic to read! 

I'll just leave my miracle coin here, with my older text that accompanied it, leaving out the other photos. 

This sestertius of Marcus Aurelius is special for several reasons. First, the reverse shows the temple of Mercury, which makes it the only remaining image of the temple, as no remains of the temple itself have been dug up. The temple of Mercury once stood on the slope of the Avantine hill, overlooking the Circus Maximus. Founded in 495 BC, it was one of the oldest temples in Rome and it is known that it still existed in the 3rd century. The reverse of the sestertius shows the temple, but what’s particularly interesting is that its nothing like the ‘usual’ Roman temple. One can see pillars (on better specimens than my coin, this is even more clear) in what looks like the shape of a body with heads on top. And the roof is not triangular in shape, but a half circle. The pediment shows several objects, which are the attributes of Mercury (from left to right): a tortoise, a cock with the head turned right, a ram, the petasus, the caduceus, and a purse. Overall, the structure has a sort of Egyptian feel to it, which may have been done deliberately to pay tribute to the Egyptian origin of Mercury. The unusual pillars reminded me of the telamons we saw in Sicily, Agrigento, when we were there for our honeymoon in 2012.

RIC identifies the columns as ‘telamones’(I don’t have this RIC volume however, so I used OCRE), which is the Roman term for Atlases. In his book Monumental Coins, Marvin Tameanko puts forwards several theories to identify the columns. Besides telamones, he makes a stronger case that the columns are actually ‘herms’: stone idols related to Hermes, which had several functions, such as a good luck charm, but also protectors of travellers and traders. Not learned in this matter in any way, I do think the identification used by Marvin Tameanko makes more sense due to a directer link with Mercury. Also, as you can see from the photo from Sicily, one would think that the imagery of the telamones would include them raising their arms to hold the roof. (Or then again, maybe a more generalistic imagery was used, or maybe there was no room to make the arms...?) What do you think?

Although I’ve always thought it’s tricky to make assertions on what a building may have looked like or whats its seize could have been, based on merely a coin, Marvin Tameanko does make an interesting one in his abovementioned book, following his identification of the columns as herms. He states that the peculiar shape and size of the temple may indicate that the ‘temple’ shown on the coin is actually not a temple, but a shrine placed inside a temple. The temple itself may have had a more familiar shape and size, and the shrine would constitute the sacellum. This also corresponds with the herms shown on the coin, which were used on small scale monuments. As long as no remains are found, it’s impossible to know, but it is an interesting idea.

The second thing that makes this coin interesting, is that it refers to the miraculous event that happened to the Roman legions of Marcus Aurelius, during their war with the Quadi. This coin therefore not only refers to a ‘miracle’, but the miracle itself is also chiseled in the famous column of Marcus Aurelius that still stands today, and its written down by ancient historians. So, a coin, a column and a writing all point to the same event.

Cassius Dio writes: “The Quadi had surrounded them at a spot favorable for their purpose and the Romans were fighting valiantly with their shields locked together; then the barbarians ceased fighting, expecting to capture them easily as the result of the heat and their thirst. So they posted guards all about and hemmed them in to prevent their getting water anywhere; for the barbarians were far superior in numbers. The Romans, accordingly, were in a terrible plight from fatigue, wounds, the heat of the sun, and thirst, and so could neither fight nor retreat, but were standing and the line and at their several posts, scorched by the heat, when suddenly many clouds gathered and a mighty rain, not without divine interposition, burst upon them.” There’s some debate going on between ancient authors, whether the “Egyptian magician who was a companion of Marcus, had invoked by means of enchantments various deities and in particular Mercury, the god of the air” or that “a division of soldiers (...) from Melitene when they had prayed, their God immediately gave ear and smote the enemy with a thunderbolt and comforted the Romans with a shower of rain” were responsible. Anyway, here’s the photo from the column, which shows this big bearded guy flying over the legionairs (that does not seem like Mercury to me...!)

[Curtisimo]

49 minutes ago, Deinomenid said:

Athens. Circa 405-404 BC. Fourrée Drachm (15mm, 2.38 g). Helmeted head of Athena right, with frontal eye / Owl standing right, head facing; olive spray to left; all within incuse square. For prototype: cf. Kroll 10; cf. HGC 4, 1631. Deposits, breaks in plating, scratches. VF. Likely from the famous Emergency Issue of 406/5 BC.
 

Wow! Amazing coin. One of these is high on my list but I’ve struck out the few times I’ve bid on one. 

[Al Kowsky]

6 hours ago, shanxi said:

Emperor Huizhong from the Northern Song Dynasty was a great artist, painter and poet. He also wrote a book on the preparation of tea. However, when the Northern Song Dynasty was attacked by the Jin, he was the wrong man on the throne and the Northern Song Dynasty came to an end. 
About the coin: The legend of the coin is written in the emperor's personal handwriting, the so-called Slender Gold Script, a style that is still admired today, and shows the emperor's artistic skills. It also makes the coin a piece of history.

Below, one of his paintings and one of his poems in his own handwriting. (source Wikipedia)

Emperor: Huizong, 徽宗
Obv: Da Guan Tong Bao, 大観通寳
Slender Gold Script
Rv: -
Wert: 10
Year: 1107-1110
AE, 40.5mm, 13.8g
Ref.: : Hartill 16.426, FD 1062, S630

 

Huizong was a very gifted artist & calligrapher as many of the Chinese emperors were ☺️. The 18th century emperor Qianlong, was an ardent collector of carved jade, & had a number of his poems carved on jades that he admired. The Emperor Qianlong also admired the artwork of the Jesuit priest Giuseppe Castiglione, who painted his portrait, pictured below.

                          

                                                  Emperor Qianlong, painted by Giuseppe Castiglione, AKA Lang Shining, c.1750.