MA-Shops: The Golden Solidus Most starting collectors of ancient coins have something in common. They want an ancient gold coin in their collection. Golden coins from ancient times are most of the times expensive investments. Think of the golden aurei … Continued
Error Coins on MA-Shops. JUST AN ERROR OR FORTUNATE COINCIDENCE??? Every piece of an error coin is spectacular. It reminds you that nothing is perfect and each misstrike is one-of-a-kind. If you own one of these, you can be sure … Continued
MA-Shops: Kingdom Lydia The first coins were minted from the natural alloy called electrum. Electrum is a natural alloy from gold and silver. Herodotus called it ‘white gold’.1 Because of the varying fines of the metal the coins were later … Continued
MA-Shops: Kingdom Lydia Precious metals had long been in use in large parts of the ancient Near East as a means of payment. Especially silver was saved and transacted by weight in different forms. The invention of coins made the … Continued
MA-Shops: Coin Collecting It is my intention to write several blogs about general subjects of coin collecting. In this first blog about a general subject I will discuss the quality of coins. Ever since I started as a professional in … Continued
MA-Shops: Islamic Coins-Part 2 Important for people who are interested in how the Islam inflected coinage is how the Islam influenced politics. It is a very interesting part of history but it can be summarized that rulers who were followers of … Continued
MA-Shops: Islamic Coins-Part 1 What are Islamic coins? And how to start collecting them? I was asked if I could write something about Islamic coins and I was glad with this request. I was glad with it because a lot … Continued
MA-Shops: The Thaler Since the invention of the thaler in Tirol a lot of rulers in the mid-west of North-Europe started to mint the thaler with their own iconography. There is too little space and time to discuss al the … Continued
MA-Shops: The Thaler For me it is one of the most impressive kind of coin ever minted after the classical era. The thaler is with its impressive weight (around 30g) an innovative silver-type coin that was invented in the late … Continued
MA-Shops: Akragas, Sicily Akragas is a city that was founded In the 688 B.C. by the Geloans in Sican territory in southern Sicily. It was a typically Greek city on the Dorian part of the island. They started minting coins … Continued