The mints of San Francisco Part 1: The Old Mint
Join us on our trip to the “Old Mint” of San Francisco. Old and new photos give an insight into the minting as it was done in The Granite Lady.
Entries by Ursula Kampmann
Medieval Sicily Part 3: Arab Influence
The Arabs didn’t just rule Sicily. They had such an impact on its art and culture that this influence continued to have an effect long after the expulsion of the Muslim masters. This episode tells of what Europe owes to them.
Medieval Sicily Part 4: The Normans are coming
Around AD 1000, Sicily was ruled and shaped by the Arabs, Lower Italy by the Byzantines and the Lombards. Then the Normans came and created a new empire in the South …
Medieval Sicily Part 1: The Byzantines
Since ancient times, Sicily has been a cultural melting pot, a junction of Africa and Europe, of West and East. The Byzantines even temporarily moved their capital there.
Sicilian Mosaic Part 10: Rescue by the Mother City of Corinth
After the murder of Dion, the ruler of Syracuse, his followers looked for help in Corinth, where the founding settlers of Syracuse had come from many centuries ago. And Timoleon in fact succeeded in stabilizing the Syracusan region.
Sicilian Mosaic Part 11: The classical coinage of Syracuse
Syracusan coins are among the most beautiful strikings of antiquity. Have a look at a few examples in the following.
Sicilian Mosaic Part 12: Naxos and Leontinoi
Naxos was the first Greek city founded on Sicily. Today we take a look at its coins, as well as the coins of Leontinoi, founded by Naxos, and Catane.
The Delian League and the Athenian Money
In 479 BC the Greeks defeated the Persians at Plataiai. At that time nobody dared to hope that the fight was so soon to end. On the contrary, every Greek city was afraid of the Persian king, who had vast resources at his disposal. He was feared to raise another army in order to conquer the whole of Greece. Something had to be done to prevent that.
Bullion coins part 3: The American Eagle
This bullion coin of the United States, first released in 1986, can look back on a long tradition. Its obverse takes up an effigy that was designed by one of the greatest American artists.
Bullion coins part 4: American Buffalo
The bullion coin “American Buffalo” is supposed to capture the beauty of the Wild West. In reality though, the models used for the images were anything but wild.
