Sell what you have plenty of Buy now - Bruun Rasmussen

obverse
enlarged 300%
BRUUN RASMUSSEN TRÉSOR
186
reverse
enlarged 300%
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Denmark, Valdemar II, the Victorious, 1202 - 1241. Penning (pfennig,
penny, denar, denier) struck in the city of Roskilde "In the year
of our Lord" 1234, 1,00g. Very Fine condition.
P. Hauberg, "Danmarks Myntvæsen", Copenhagen 1906, Tab. V,
12; A. Frey, "The Dated European Coinage prior to 1501, New York
1915, N1; R. A. Levinson, "The Early dated coins of Europe 1234 -
1500", New Jersey 2002, VI-1.
The coin shows a crown on the obverse and a miter (bishop's hat)
on the reverse and bears the following legends in uncial script:
+ANNO DOMINI / MCCXXXIIII.
From an old Swedish collection. First published in Nordisk Numismatisk
Unions Medlemsblad, August 2003, by Kent Bengtsson.
Of the utmost historical importance. A wonderful example, probably
the best of the 7 in existence and unique in private hands.
The present coin, which ranges among the most famous and most important
of all European coins ever, owes its position to the fact that it is the earliest
dated coin in the history of European numismatics. In his standard reference
work Robert Levinson puts it very accurately when he says that "The
decision to begin dating coins to an Anno Domini standard was hardly a
trend-setter: 138 years passed until the next European coins were dated in
1372", and the first collectable dated coin is normally considered as being
the 1374 Groschen from Aachen.
The reason for the issue of this outstanding coin has since its first discovery
around 1700 been something of a mystery, and in fact precisely the mysterious
could hold some of the explanation for the dating of this coin. In the
Medieval world superstition played a vital part in every day life and the
magic in numbers should not be underestimated. After all, never before - or
for that matter since - has there been a year containing such a "powerful"
sequence of numbers, no matter if you use the Arabic numbers 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 or
the Roman numerals M (x 1) C (x 2) X (x 3) I (x 4).
Most of the 13th century there was an intense conflict between the King and
the Catholic Church, and king Valdemar tried to secure full proceeds from
the minting, which was divided between the crown and the church. Following
a meeting in 1234, Niels Stigsen, who was bishop of Roskilde from
1225 till 1249, apparantly succeeded in maintaining "his" share of the income,
and so the present coin, showing the miter of the bishop, could be seen
as a sort of ecclesiastical commemorative. DKK 250.000 / € 34.000
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