despite the time
Oriental coins (VII-XXI century)
The conquerors of the territories that previously belonged to Byzantium were not familiar with the coinage before the reign of Muhammad, and therefore the history of the Arab coinage begins with imitation of coins of the Byzantine and Sassanian type. In part, these imitations were a rather loose interpretation of the original. Along with them, images of the ruling caliphs were minted on Arab coins.
Around 696-698, Caliph Abdul-Malik ibn Mervan from the Umayyad dynasty (685-705) carried out a reform of the eastern monetary system. Continue reading
European coins and medals (XVI-XXI century)
New time in numismatics begins in Europe around 1500 in the lands of the Habsburgs. In 1486, by order of the Archduke Sigismund (1439-1490), the Tyrolean guldengros was minted. It was the world’s first full-weighted silver coin, corresponding in value to the Rhine gold guilder. This coin became a model of European coins in the next 400 years.
The name of this successful coin comes from the name of the location of the silver mines of Joachimstal, which were owned by the von Schlick counts. Hence the name “thaler”. Continue reading
Possessions of the Habsburgs – Austria (XII-XX centuries)
In 1273, King Rudolph I became the first representative of the Habsburg clan who ascended to the Roman-German throne. It began the reign of the Habsburg dynasty, which lasted until the reign of Charles I (1916-1918), the last emperor of Austria.
From 1438 until the fall of the empire in 1806, almost all German kings and Roman-German emperors came from the Hapsburg clan. Thanks to the skillful marriage policy, true to the motto “Motto Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube” (“Let others wage wars – you, happy Austria, marry”), from the Middle Ages until the New Age, the Habsburg managed to create a network in Europe dynastic ties that, among other things, provided them with rule in regions such as Bohemia and Hungary, Spain and Portugal, as well as in Milan and parts of Lombardy. Continue reading
