Numismatic and History Discussion Forums > Byzantine Coins Discussion Forum
"True Cross" Pilgrim's Tokens
Vladislav D:
My new token .
15 mm.
cmcdon0923:
I thought I would post this here to keep most of the information for this somewhat specialized discussion in a single thread....my apologies in advance if that is not proper protocol....
I finally added a "True Cross" to my collection. I had looked for one for a while and missed out on a few offered specimens. This past weekend I was at a local coin show with a pretty decent representation by ancients dealers. There was a new dealer (well known) in attendance, who had one in his case.
It was attributed as "Mitchiner 1070" but upon closer inspection, two "X"s are readily apparent above the vertical bar of the cross. So it more closely fits the Mitchiner type "c" examples (1067, 68, or 69). The token is 18.47 mm in diameter and weighs 1.61 grams.
Gert:
Congratulations. Yes, you are surely right in correcting that attribution. Just curious: did it come with that weird sales pitch that the Byzantines burnt a piece of the most sacred relic on earth to produce them?
Regards
Gert
cmcdon0923:
Thanks Gert.
No, but we talked about them for while and obviously it came up, but I was already aware of that traditional rumor.
He did explain a bit to me about the hoard in Turkey from which many current specimens come from. I believe he called it the "Maker's Hoard" as they were found in a container in the ruins of a building and it is thought by some that it may have been the location of the actual "maker" of the tokens.
Is there anything published anywhere about this hoard?
Joe Sermarini:
Tiny pieces of the true cross were sent as relics to various churches, some of which still have them. It would not be too surprising if they burned a small piece and mixed the ashes with the clay to make the tokens. I would like to know where that story originates. I have read it many times in sales listings.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version