Jeez, love how some of the older ones are very well conserved.

Where is number 8 from? England or Scandinavia? I vaguely remember some king named Canute from the story of a Danish mercenary.

And... Which one was the most expensive? No need to say values, I'm just curious to know which is more valuable :3

The silver penny by Cnut is English... but Cnut himself was Danish, and England part of a brief-lived Dankish empire. Within about 50 years, the Normans would invade and there were no more hodge-podge English kingdoms.

Ah, I see. Must've been an interesting series of events to witness, even if probably very dark and bloody.
If the book I read was correct, you know how "based on real events" accounts can be, things were pretty ironic. Cnut's father revolted against his own father and seized the throne. Soon after conquering England, Cnut poisoned his own father and seized the throne, repeating the story. It didn't go as far as the Norman invasion though, as a few years after helping him secure the throne Thorkell, the book's main character, fell out of favor with Cnut and fled back to Denmark.

And thanks for the explanation about the coins, I can see how both are rare, being minted only through short periods of time.

I haven't read that deeply into Cnut's life. I know he was succeeded by Harold I, Hardacnut and then Harold II, who lost at Hastings in 1066, to William The Bastard ... thereafter known as "The Conqueror."

And "Cnut" just means "knot." Scandanavians had rather plain names...

The most valuable coin depicted is the silver denarious by Pertinax. Pertinax was emperor of Rome for about three months. He had had a distinguished career and was in retitrement in Rome when Caracalla was murdered. The sentate chose him as the murdered emperor's successor, and Pertinax promptly began a series of reforms ... incuding some of the Praetorian Guard, who had grown too fat, lazy and spoiled to put up with drills and training. They killed Pertinax and then auctioned off the purpose to the hightest bidder.

A fool named Didius Julianus won the auction and lived for about two months... But it was too much for the people and soliders of Rome. He was pelted and booed in the streets -- sort of like Donald Trump -- and the army of Septimius Severus arrived from the Rhine to depose him. He was killed and Severus became emperor after him.

Although the British gold stater was pretty expensive, the denarius of Pertinax cost me about half again as much.

I'd love to have that Civil War note in my collection. But then I'm a Civil War buff.

You can probably find them on eBay, but be prepared to spend at least $40.

Schweet haul!

Very cool. <:D

That private bank issue note, did banks in the US issue their own notes at one time rather than use the dollar notes? And how was their worth calculated?

They did indeed. In fact, most states vehemenantly opposed the creation of a Federal bank because of the advantages of separate state banks to the bankers. When a Fed was created by Hamilton, it became a serious issue, with the states-rights supporters denouncing it roundly. The bill that created it expired in a few year, and newly elected Andrew Jackson (a sort of Donald Trump type of ignoranti populist, but not as sleazy) refused to renew the bill ... so the Federal bank closed and the US economy was set back at least 30 years. But it made suspicious farmers feel vindicated, and frauds who printed fake banknotes in the basement ecstatic.

The problem with bank notes was that nobody knew if the bank was solvent. Someone handed you a $5 note on the Bank of Sloggerville, and there was no way to know if the bank could back it up with coin or bullion (in those days, much the same thing). The bank might be running on fumes, or it might collapsed last week ... or never even existed! So taking paper money was hazardous. Naturally, people preferred "hard cash", i.e. gold or silver which the paper supposedly represented.

It took the Civil War to force the government's hand to create a new Federal bank, finally.

Throughout American history, the country has been just as hidebound and conservative as it's been progressive or innovative. The two tendencies have always been at war.

That is a very nice collection. Do you keep the historical information with each item?

I jot a little down, but the rest I commit to memory.

A wonderful haul.

AU = gold, AR = silver? That's a sweet haul you brought home. :)

Yes, and AE is copper, bronze or brass. The abbrev. come from the Latin words.

Are there any particular coins you collect? I've kept some coins myself over the years.. Just coins that struck me as special (mostly Dutch coins)

At one time I kept almost anything, but the size of the collection was getting out of hand, and, frankly, I didn't give a damn about South American, African or Arab coins for the most part. Places like Brazil changed their currency about every five or six years, and not always all at once, so there was no logical way to arrange them in my zip lock binders. So now I concentrate on medieval and ancient coins, which in practise means anything before about 1800. I also focus on Canadian, US, British and a few other nations.

I love the Bronze age. Especially the British Isles, Northwest Europe.