This 1512 Zurich silver taler appears to depict a horror scene: three people hold their heads in front of them. In fact, they are the city’s patron saints Felix, Regula and Exuperantius. They were persecuted and beheaded as Christians in ancient times – and thus became saints.
Today you will try your hand at a special denarius of Caesar. In 49 BC, in the midst of the civil war, the general chose a dramatic image: an elephant that tramples a snake. What do you think? Who is who in this political message?
In 1500, the Archbishop of Salzburg Leonhard von Keutschach had this silver batzen minted. Through his reforms he turned Salzburg into one of the richest principalities of the Holy Roman Empire.
Today you can try your hand at a tetradrachm of Lysimachus. The reward is a portrait of Alexander the Great!
This time, you will try your hand at a drachm from Istros on the Black Sea coast. The issue does not specify what the motif in the style of a Chinese yin and yang symbol depicts: the brothers Castor und Pollux, the trade up and down the river? Anyway: a fascinating beauty!
No, today’s issue does not feature gardening tools, but a numismatic object lesser known in Europe. Spade coins were a type of money in ancient China. This coin is from the 3rd century BC and you can probably tell straight away how it got its name.
Today’s puzzle shows us how the Roman Empire moved its centre of power around 300: on this solidus, Roma presents the globe to Emperor Constantine the Great. From then on, it was no longer the old lady on the Tiber who played first fiddle but the metropolis on the Bosporus.
According to its reverse, this denarius of Louis the Pious was minted in Venice. But the lagoon city wasn’t even ruled by the Carolingians! How is this possible? Does this coin testify to a plot of the mint master against his doge? …
Today you can try your hand at an augustalis of the Holy Roman Empire. The reward is a portrait of Frederick II, King of Sicily!
Today’s puzzle is an electrum stater from Milet. After solving the puzzle, you can marvel at a roaring lion!
