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History => Ancient and Medieval History => Topic started by: Imperial Dave on August 20, 2017, 07:50:31 PM

Title: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Imperial Dave on August 20, 2017, 07:50:31 PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-40962865

unusual and a nice find
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Patrick Waterson on August 21, 2017, 08:09:20 AM
It seems to be based on Byzantine surrogate coinage, e.g. this (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/justinian_I/GB_122cf.jpg), produced by Athalric (the Ostrogoth) in the name of Justinian I; such coins were sometimes* better made than the Imperial version (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/justinian_I/Metcalf_358ff.jpg).  These particular coins were distinguished by a full-face depiction instead of the usual profile (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/justinian_I/MIB_N36.jpg).

*On occasion, not so; this one (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/justinian_I/Gemini_526.jpg) seems carelessly executed and/or intended to look silly.
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Duncan Head on August 21, 2017, 08:53:22 AM
None of your picture links work, Patrick: "hotlinking disabled".

The story at http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/norwich-castle-museum-hopes-to-obtain-unusual-7th-century-gold-coin-pendant-found-at-north-elmham-1-2333254 does say that it's a "French" (presumably Frankish!) copy of a Byzantine coin, not an original:

QuoteThe coin, about the size of a modern penny, is an imitation of a gold solidus of emperor Maurice Tiberius (582-602 AD).
...
"The French have copied this coin, and it has come over here and been made into a pendant to be used as jewellery," said Dr Marsden. "It could have been lost from around the neck of the wearer, but it is probably from a ploughed-up grave.
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Imperial Dave on August 21, 2017, 09:57:47 AM
thanks Duncan,

I do hope that the journalist transliterated the discussion he had and put French down rather than Frankish.....maybe he thought the readership wouldnt know what the reference was?
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Patrick Waterson on August 21, 2017, 07:07:08 PM
Quote from: Duncan Head on August 21, 2017, 08:53:22 AM
None of your picture links work, Patrick: "hotlinking disabled".

Odd - I tested them all (twice now) and they work perfectly.  I have suspicions your firewall may be being paranoid. ;)

However this does not solve your current inability to link to them, so here (in order) are the urls - good luck!

http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/justinian_I/GB_122cf.jpg
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/justinian_I/Metcalf_358ff.jpg
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/justinian_I/MIB_N36.jpg
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/justinian_I/Gemini_526.jpg
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Duncan Head on August 21, 2017, 10:46:13 PM
Certainly not a firewall issue; I get (on both the original and your repost) the attached, clearly from the coin site.

Pasting the url into the address bar works fine, as does right clicking and "open in new tab" ...
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Patrick Waterson on August 22, 2017, 09:46:37 AM
Curious.  Does anyone else have this problem with these links?

I notice the Wildwinds message designates certain browsers as error-prone (in addition to having a novel jurisprudential approach to hotlinking).  I use Firefox and it manages these links with no bother.  Anyway, any thoughts on the actual coin/pendant, or have we covered all relevant aspects?
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Andreas Johansson on August 22, 2017, 03:01:49 PM
I have the same issue as Duncan. I'd suspect the reason you don't is that your computer has cached the images and isn't actually fetching them when you click the links.
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Martin Smith on August 22, 2017, 06:54:49 PM
Quote from: Patrick Waterson on August 22, 2017, 09:46:37 AM
Curious.  Does anyone else have this problem with these links?

I notice the Wildwinds message designates certain browsers as error-prone (in addition to having a novel jurisprudential approach to hotlinking).  I use Firefox and it manages these links with no bother.  Anyway, any thoughts on the actual coin/pendant, or have we covered all relevant aspects?

Same problem when I tried the links.

Martin
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Patrick Waterson on August 22, 2017, 08:44:40 PM
Hmmm ... not sure what I can do about that except to suggest following Duncan's advice to right-click on the urls and open them in separate tabs.

Sorry.
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: willb on August 29, 2017, 03:54:25 AM
Using Firefox and I get this error:

The page isn't redirecting properly

Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.

    This problem can sometimes be caused by disabling or refusing to accept cookies.


It would appear that the site is fairly aggressive about tracking visitors.

Using Chrome, I was able to view the two images posted earlier.
Title: Re: 6th Century Byzantine coin 'pendant' discovered in Norfolk
Post by: Patrick Waterson on August 29, 2017, 09:12:13 AM
Quote from: willb on August 29, 2017, 03:54:25 AM
Using Firefox and I get this error:


And now so do I ... so no more links to Wildwinds in future.  Just have to download the picture and host it here.  Annoying.