Dea Moneta
login

Main

home auctions shops past results Numismatic Conferences Book Store New issues

Not yet registered? Sign up now

Did you forget your username or password?

Banner Artemide LX
Lot # 734
Tripoli. Raymond III (1152-1187). AE Pougeoise. Obv. Fortified gateway with five rows of masonry and five crenellations, and large divided door with rounded top. Rev. St'Andrew's cross; circle in center, crescents in each quarter. Malloy 13; Schl. pl. IV, 9/11; Metcalf 523/529. AE. 0.77 g. 16.00 mm. R. EF.
Ex Collection Blankenberg.
The anonymous 'castle coppers' began to be struck during the reign of Raymond III. It is possible that the gateway design was instituted to memoralize his father Raymond II who was killed by assassins at the city gate of Tripoli in 1152. The design of the city gate also harks back to the period of Poins when seals of the counts have a reverse depicting the city of Tripoli with three towers and the city wall with a two door gate. A similar tower appears on the coinage of Sidon after 1170, and on the coinage of Beirut after 1205. The castle coppers have been divided into six types according to the style (see Sabine 'Tripoli' pp. 109-112 Nos. 240-331). Funny to note how these coins undergo a gradual degeneration in style until they resemble the Genoese gateway rather than the original type.