Lot 866 WESTERN HAN: Anonymous, 110-90 BC, bronze mold, H-8.9, wu zhu mold for making 10 coins with squared head of the zhu component, with very attractive patina, set in custom made plush case, EF, RRR. Estimate $15,000-20,000

Lot 730 MUGHAL: Jahangir, 1605-1628, AR rupee (11.44g), Mandu, AH1026 year 12, KM-149.19, "fath-e dekkan" ("victory over the Deccan") commemorative, with the special couplet that translates as "the coin of the victory over the Deccan, struck at Mandu by the Shah of the Land and the Sea // the emperor of the time, Shah Jahangir, son of Shah Akbar"; wonderful example, without any testmarks, bold strike, NGC graded AU55, RRR. First published in detail by R.B. Whitehead in 1923, this piece remains an extreme rarity and of great historical importance. The AH1026 conquest of Mandu and the Deccan region included the city and fortress of Ahmadnagar, formerly an independent Sultanate, which thereafter became an important Mughal mint for the next 150 years. There are no examples on CoinArchives, but three on Zeno, one in British Museum, and two others without location, all of lower grades than the example in this auction. Please visit Zeno-82520 for further information. Estimate $15,000-20,000

Lot 945 FUKIEN: Tao Kuang, 1820-1850, AR dollar, ND (1844), Kann-5, L&M-290, Changchow Military Ration issue, character tong with open head variety, with single Chinese chopmark as usual for this rare type, NGC graded About Unc details, RRR. The Fukien Changchow Military Ration Dollar is one of the least comprehensively understood of the early Chinese silver types. On the obverse, there are four characters translating to "Changchow Commissiariat", under which is a signature in handwriting style. On the reverse are four additional characters translating to "pure pattern, generally current." The history of the coin is not well documented but according to some important catalogs (Kann, H. Chang, Dr. Tseng, Chang Foundation), it may have been issued in 1836 or 1866, but a date of 1844 is commonly applied. Despite the lack of available information, the type is still considered a very important historical coin of China in that it represents one of the earliest attempts at a dollar denomination which was the value of the majority of foreign coins circulating in China at that time. Estimate $10,000-15,000

Lot 1046 TIBET: AV 20 srang, Ser-Khang Mint, BE15-54 (1920), Y-22, L&M-1063B, snow lion looking left, variety with dot, a lovely lustrous mint state example! PCGS graded MS63. The Ser-Khang, literally "Gold House" Mint, was located in southwest Lhasa, at the Dalai Lama's summer residence at Norbulingka. The mint was run by Tsarong Shape, who reaped some of the profit. He was granted the unique privilege of a private mint by the Dalai Lama as a reward for his heroism during the flight to India in 1910. As its name implies, all the Tibetan gold coins were produced in this mint, but Bell confirms that when he visited the mint on October 5, 1921, silver and copper coins were being struck there as well. Most of the machinery was run from a water wheel, some having been imported from England. Estimate $10,000-15,000

Lot 320 ZIRID OF QAYRAWAN: al-Mu'izz b. Badis, 1016-1062, AV dinar (3.67g), Qayrawan, AH442, A-458, with mint epithet madinat 'izz al-islam, EF. Estimate $350-450

Lot 1403 ANGLO-GALLIC: Edward the Black Prince, 1362-1372, AV pavillon d'or (5.31g), Aquitaine, ND, Boudeau-508, Duplessy-1120, the Prince seated facing on throne, crowned with roses, holding raised sword and flanked by four ostrich feathers, under Gothic canopy, with 2 leopards lying on either side of his feet with ED: PO: GNS: REG - ANGL: PnCPS AQ around // acorned and leafy cross with rose in a curvilinear heart-shaped lozenge, with two leopards and two lis in the angles, in a four-lobed square flanked by clovers with + DNS: AIVTO: Z: PTECTO: ME: - IIPO: SPAVIT: COR: MEVM: B around, well struck, some luster, EF to About Unc. Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince, was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, succeeded to the throne instead. Edward nevertheless earned distinction as one of the most successful English commanders during the Hundred Years' War, being regarded by his English contemporaries as a model of chivalry and one of the greatest knights of his age. The abbreviated Latin legends should read in full on obverse as "Edwardvs, Primo Genitvs Regis Anglie Princeps Aqvitanie" which translates as "Edward, first born of the King of England, Prince of Aquitaine." On the reverse the full Latin legend should be "Dominus adjutor et protector meum et in ipso speravit cor mevm" which translates as "The Lord is my strength and my shield, and my heart hath trusted him." A Psalm from the Bible. Estimate $5,500-7,500

Lot 1556 ESSEQUIBO & DEMARARY: George III, 1760-1820, AR 3 guilders, 1809, KM-8, Prid-4, edge grained left, nicely detailed despite the shallow-strike that is standard for this type, much original mint bloom present, PCGS graded MS62, R. A true condition rarity, only one example is graded higher at PCGS. Estimate $5,500-6,500

Lot 133 ARAB-SASANIAN: Bishr b. Marwan, fl. 692-694, AR drachm (4.00g), BCLA (al-Basra), AH75, A-27.1, Malek-206, this remarkable coin, the Caliph Orans types, has the standard Sasanian style obverse, with the name of Bishr b. Marwan in Pahlavi and Arabic bism Allah muhammad rasul Allah in the margin; the reverse has the portrait of the caliph, in praying position, in place of the fire altar, flanked by two bearded attendants in Arab dress, VF, RR. Bishr b. Marwan was the brother of the Umayyad caliph 'Abd al-Malik, appointed as governor of al-Kufa immediately after the Umayyad victory over 'Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr in AH72. It is generally assumed that the Syrian copper Standing Caliph fulus were also introduced in the same year. The silver was struck at al-Kufa AH73-75 and al-Basra 75. The al-Basra 75 is known from many different dies, thus likely issued in a large quantity, but the rarity suggests that the type was disapproved by the end of AH75 and the outstanding issued withdrawn from circulation. There is a short Pahlavi word in ObQ1, read by Malek as "DYN", which would mean "God". Estimate $5,000-6,000

Lot 1289 FRANCE: Jean II le Bon, 1350-1364, AV mouton d'or (4.73g), ND (1355), Duplessy-291, paschal lamb left, head turned right, in front of a cross with gonfanon intersecting and with + AGN DEI QVI TOLL' PCCA MVDI MISERERE NOB' around and IOh REX in exergue // trefoil and leafy cross, with a fleuron in the heart in a small angled quadrilobe, flanked by four lilies, in an angled quadrilobe cantoned with four lilies with + XPC VINCIT XPC REGNAT XPC IMPERAT around, a few hairlines, lustrous, Unc. Estimate $4,000-6,000

Lot 1001 YUNNAN: Republic, AV 10 dollars, ND (1919), Y-482, L&M-1057; Fr-10; K-1527; WS-0652, variety with "1" below reverse tassels, struck for General T'ang Chi-yao, military governor of Yunnan, cleaned, overall a nice example of this rare and popular type, PCGS graded About Unc details. Estimate $5,000-6,000

Lot 1705 MICRONESIA: Yap, rai stone money (12010g), ca. 1871-1931, Opitz p.316-321, Opitz (2011) p.533 (plate example), 34 x 28.5 x 9cm (13.4" x 11.2" x 3.5", 26.48 lbs), made from crystalline calcite (aragonite per Opitz), holed in the center, a very nice example of this famous ethnographic currency, VF, RR, ex Charles Opitz Collection. Known locally as rai or fei, the Yap stone money is a disc-shaped stone with a hole in the center for transportation, with sizes ranging from 12 feet to a mere 2 inches in diameter. The stone for making rai is not found on Yap itself and was instead sourced from Palau, located some 280 miles (450km) away. Before the arrival of European traders, a Yapese chief would grant permission to a work crew to sail to Palau, manufacture the money, and bring them back in their canoes. Due to the limited means of transportation, these stones were no larger than 4 feet. Bigger examples did not appear until the arrival of Western traders and their large ships in the late 19th century. Stone money was produced as late as 1931, and a contemporary survey found a total of 13,281 pieces on Yap. However, many were destroyed and used for road construction during WWII, and only half are estimated to have survived to the present day. Furthermore, it has been illegal to export them from Yap since 1965. Hence all examples of the stone money on the market are very rare and highly sought after. Due to their size and fragility, the larger stones are not physically exchanged in a transaction, and are simply displayed in public, often outside of one's house or on the side of a road. Instead, each stone has a unique oral history of ownership that is agreed on and widely known to the community. In fact, one stone, according to oral tradition, fell into the ocean during a storm just before it reached the island. But because everyone agreed that the stone is still there, it continued to be used just like any other stone money, long after anyone had seen it. This fascinating practice follows the same principle behind the blockchain technology used in cryptocurrency and foreshadows the cashless transactions that we take for granted every day. Visit www.traditionalmoney.com for a downloadable copy of Odd & Curious and Traditional Money (Opitz, 2011). Estimate $4,000-6,000

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