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Banner Artemide LX
Lot # 723
Edessa. Baldwin II, second reign (1108-1118). AE Follis. Obv. Count walking left holding cross in right and sword in left hand. Rev. Floral cross with pellets in angles. Malloy 9a; Schl. pl. I, 7; Metcalf 109/111. AE. 3.79 g. 22.50 mm. Choice example, well detailed. Good VF. The county of Edessa was the first state to be conquered and formed during First Crusade on March 10, 1098, when Baldwin of Boulogne assumed power there and adopted the title of count; and the first to fall, on November 3, 1146, when it was conquered by Nur-ad-Din Mahmud. The entire coinage of Edessa was issued between 1098 and 1144 and thus forms a compact series of scarce copper coins designed in quasi-byzantine style, often overstruck and reduced over the years in module and weight. At some point during his second reign, possibly around 1110, Baldwin's issues start to change. It is known that in the spring of 1110 Maudud of Mosul devastated the county's territory east of the Euphrates; subsequent Turkish and Armenian incursions impoverished Edessa beyond hope of recovery. Despite this issue that can be concerned with the possibility to obtain copper Porteous suggest that Edessa reduced the standard of its coinage to conform to that of Antioch.