MEDIEVAL COINS OF DEFUNCT DYNASTIES

COINS OF THE last known type issued by a ruling dynasty seem to have a particular fascination for collectors. Events surrounding the collapse of a long-standing regime are often dramatic and frequently tragic, and coins provide a tangible link to that history.

For example, the scarce but otherwise unremarkable gold coins of Romulus Augustus, the child puppet ruler deposed by a bloodless coup on September 4, 476 CE, command fabulous prices because of the special cachet attached to his status as the last Roman emperor in the West.

So when CoinWeek asked me to write about the last coins issued by a variety of medieval ruling dynasties, I was all for it. Here we go!

Louis V

Remembered as Louis Le Fainéant (the Lazy, or the Do-Nothing), Louis V misruled part of France from 979 to his death in a hunting accident in 987 at the age of 20 or 21. Dying childless, he was the last direct descendant of Charlemagne (the Carolingian dynasty[3]), although that much-married emperor left such an enormous number of collateral-line offspring that most modern-day European royals can trace some line of descent back to him.

 

CAROLINGIANS. Louis d'Outremer or Louis le Fainéant (the Lazy). As Louis IV, King of West Francia, 936-954, or as Louis V, King of West Francia, 986-987. AR Denier (20mm, 1.47 g, 3h). Virduni (Verdun) mint. + LV[D]OVVICVS around REX / + VIRDVNI CIVIT?S, cross pattée. Depeyrot 1136 (Louis IV); M&G 1621 (Louis IV or Louis V); MEC 1, –. VF, toned. Rare. Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XVIII Auction date: 6 January 2015 Lot number: 1448 realized: $3,000.

Because the numbering of kings with the same name did not become a common practice on coinage until the 15th century, coins of Louis V cannot be distinguished from those of his grandfather, Louis IV (ruled 936-954). The silver denier of this era, weighing about 1.4 grams, bore the Latin form of the name Louis, LUDOVVICVS around the title of king, REX in a circle. The reverse bore a plain cross surrounded by the name of the mint city. In a 2015 New York auction, an example of this rare type brought $3,000 USD, against an estimate of $1,000.

To read the complete article, see:
Last of His Line: Medieval Coins of Defunct Dynasties (https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/last-of-his-line-medieval-coins-of-defunct-dynasties/)

 

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web