CHF Editor Ancient Greece & Rome, Coin History

A Colossal Coin: The Rhodes Didrachm 

If Alexander Wills It…

Rhodes, or Rhodos in Greek, meaning; ‘rose’, is an island in the southwestern Aegean sea and is part of a collection of islands known as the Dodecanese. The island covers around 540 square miles and is today one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations. 

The island was once the jewel in the crown of ancient Greece, reaching a peak of maritime supremacy, cultural richness and commercial vigour during the classical and hellenistic periods. In 408 B.C. three established city-states on the island of Rhodes, Ialysos, Kamiros and Lindos, came together in a spirit of unity to found a new federal capital and port which they named after the island. 

The new foundation of Rhodes was very deliberately situated on the northern coast in order to take advantage of the island’s best natural harbour. It was a city designed, as much as possible, to resemble Athens, that supremely successful city-state, home to the Parthenon and so many philosophical greats. Rhodes benefited from a well-constructed sewer system as well as a water supply network designed by architect and ‘father of European urban planning’; Hippodamus of Miletus. 

Rhodes was embarking a high summer of success, bolstered by sea trade, skilled shipbuilders and open-minded politicians who kept the city prosperous right through to the domination of Rome in the 2nd century B.C. 

Rhodes island held a particularly strong and dominating position at a cultural crossroads between Europe, the Middle East and Africa and it was this tactical positioning on the major sea routes which would be the life-blood of its success. Rhodes city itself became an important stop on the trade routes linking the Greek cities in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) with the wealth of Pharaonic Egypt. 

During the 330’s B.C., Alexander the Great had taken the island peacefully from the then overlords, Achaemenid Persia, and established a garrison of soldiers there. It’s said he was welcomed and a special cloak made for presentation. Over time this friendly bond, according to one source, led to the Rhodians becoming the executors of Alexander’s will, a disputed idea but a nice claim-to-fame if true. 

The Pharaoh’s Loyal Ally

With the establishment of the eponymous Alexandria in 331 B.C, a strong and mutually beneficial bond had been formed between Rhodes and Ptolemy I of Egypt, a bond which caused unrest among Ptolemy’s enemies. 

Alexander’s death had caused his empire to fragment and be fought over by his successors, known to history as the Diadochi. 

Ptolemy was one such successor, a companion and historian of Alexander, who became Pharaoh of Egypt in c.305 B.C. thus establishing the Ptolemaic dynasty which ended with the famous suicide of Cleopatra in 30 B.C.. Another of the power-hungry Diadochus, Antigonus I Monopthalamus – ‘the one-eyed’, declaring war on Ptolemy, attempted to coax the Rhodians onto his side but they remained loyal to Ptolemy. 

As a result, Antigonus sent his son, Demetrius, to take Rhodes by force. 200 warships, 170 transports carrying 40,000 men plus horses along with an allied force of pirate and privately owned vessels all descended on the island in 305 B.C. What ensued was a year-long siege of Rhodes city during which time the inhabitants defended themselves valiantly. 

The culmination of this siege came in the building of a Helepolis or ‘taker of cities’ on the order of Demetrius. Reaching more than one hundred feet tall and weighing 160 tons, the Helepolis, an awesome wheeled siege tower, earned Demetrius the nickname Poliorcetes – ‘besieger of cities’. It was, at the time, an invention of mammoth proportions but it wasn’t enough. 

With the help of Ptolemy and other members of the Diadochi, Lysimachus of Thrace and Cassander of Macedon, the Rhodians held strong and eventually repulsed Demetrius. An agreement was formed whereby Rhodes would support Antigonus but never carry arms against their ally, Ptolemy. In an act of reconciliation, Demetrius presented the Helepolis to the people of Rhodes. This act concluded one of the most significant events of the island’s history and gave rise to another. 

A Colossal Claim to Fame

The entrepreneurial Rhodians sold the Helepolis and other siege equipment, weapons, armour and such like for a cool 300 talents. It’s very difficult to equate a talent into modern measurements but, at the time, this was equivalent to 1.8 million Attic silver drachms, each weighing 4.33 grams and thus totaling nearly 7.8 tonnes of silver! Far from being frittered away, this tidy profit was put to very good use by the Rhodians in honouring their patron deity, Helios, god of the sun and of sight and guardian of oaths. 

For this era-defining victory, Helios was praised in gargantuan form. The Rhodians enlisted the help of one of their own, Chares of Lindos, pupil of famous sculptor, Lysippus, a favourite artist of Alexander the Great, to design for them a colossal statue of Helios in all his resplendent glory. Chares did not disappoint. In c. 280 B.C. he delivered his commission, a construction twelve years in the making. 

It was a truly awesome sight which captured imaginations for centuries to come. According to one 2nd century B.C. engineer, Philo of Byzantium, the 33 metre high statue required 12 to 13 tons of bronze, an operation, he said; ‘…that involved the bronze industry of the entire world’. Modern historians generally agree that the statue was situated at the entrance to Rhodes’ harbour and so today two pillars stand at the entrance to the Port at the spot where the statue is believed to have stood. 

Being such a monumental investment and project, the Colossus required a huge amount of funding over a period of 12 years. The coinage of Rhodes city began in around 408/7 B.C. with the introduction of a silver coinage bearing a deeply cut image and vigorous rendering of Helios, seen full-face with luxuriant hair, blown back by the wind as his chariot carried him, as the sun, across the sky. Helios’ imposing image was paired with that of a rose (a pun on the name of the city) and also the city’s ethnic; POΔION, meaning ‘of Rhodes’. Tetradrachm coins, worth four drachma, were the main denomination until later in the 4th century when the didrachm or two drachma silver coin became preeminent. Issues of these Rhodian coins were fairly regular with spikes in production correlating with construction projects or military engagements. 

It was, however, the construction of the Colossus which instigated a spike in activity at the mint and, as such, these Rhodian didrachms financed its construction. From 304 B.C to c.265 B.C. an issue of coins depicting Helios in profile are thought to possibly portray the Colossus itself. If this is the case then the statue wore a radiate taenia or band of spikes, designed as if to be the gleaming rays of sunlight issuing forth from Helios’ head. Full facing didrachms featuring this new crown of sun rays were struck alongside the profile portrait didrachms and they too played their part in financing the era-defining statue which would, like the giant of world history that it was, stride its way into antiquity’s hall of fame as a wonder of the ancient world. 

The Sun of God

Those who were able to see the Colossus in situ didn’t know how lucky they were. In 226 B.C., after towering over the harbour of Rhodes city for only 54 years, tremors from a powerful earthquake toppled the statue which, according to ancient writer Strabo, broke off at the knees. 

It was not a good sign for the Rhodians who ritually honoured Helios every year by sacrificing four consecrated horses in an act of driving them over a precipice into the sea. This equine sacrifice was the culmination of the Halieia festival, a highlight of the island’s religious calendar with chariot races, gymnastic events and music contests. 

In an act of solidarity, Pharaoh Ptolemy III Euergetes ‘the Benefactor’ offered to pay for the Colossus’ reconstruction. The Rhodians, deeply concerned about such an ominous omen, had consulted one of the most powerful women of the classical world, none other than the Pythia, high priestess of the Temple of Apollo, most famously known as, the Oracle of Delphi. 

In a trance-like state, fevered by the intoxicating gases billowing forth from the earth, the Pythia channeled the voice of Apollo himself and warned not to rebuild Helios’ Colossus. Taken as a sign that Rhodes’ patron god had caused the earthquake as retribution for their insolence, the Rhodians respectfully declined Ptolemy’s gesture. As such the Colossus lay in pieces, embedded in the ground where it fell for a number of centuries. It remained a wonder which drew in the curious from far and wide. 

Roman author and friend of Emperor Vespasian, Pliny the Elder, wrote in the 1st century A.D.; ‘Even as it lies, it excites our wonder and admiration. Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues. Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in the interior.  Within it, too, are to be seen large masses of rock, by the weight of which the artist steadied it while erecting it.’. For 880 years the Colossus lay broken in the earth, an apparition of its former glory. 

In 654 A.D. Arab invaders, Ummayad Muslims, led by caliph Muawiyah conquered Rhodes and completed the job which the earthquake had begun centuries before. Muawiyah’s forces broke the statue up and transported the hacked bronze pieces to Syria where they were sold to a Jewish merchant. It’s reported in a number of sources that the bronze was carried away by upwards of 900 camels and then may have been used to make coins, tools, artifacts and weapons. Centuries later, in a case of mistaken identity, the extant Rhodian didrachms would become much revered religious relics. 

The religious houses of Christian Europe saw in Helios’ portrait an image of the Passion of Jesus Christ whereby the son of God was adorned with the crown of thorns. These coins, it was believed, were the very biblical coins, thirty pieces to be exact, that Judas Iscariot received upon betraying Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Alas we know this not to be the case but it’s an entertaining historical footnote to behold. 

A Statue for Liberty

While the production of Rhodian silver coins bearing the image of Helios came to an end during Roman domination in the 1st century B.C., it’s the legacy of these coins that really brings them into a league of their own. 

These were coins made by the very people who built the Colossus and saw it with their own eyes. To the Rhodians these coins represented life and liberty. On the subject of Liberty, one can fail but notice the more than passing resemblance between Helios and Auguste Bartholdi’s masterpiece, Liberty Enlightening the World, more commonly known as the Statue of Liberty. 

The French sculptor is known to have been inspired by the story of Rhodes’ colossus, an inspiration which took the beaming rays of Helios’ crown and placed them on Liberty’s head. Rhodes’ coins survive as relics of this source of inspiration, the original blueprint of freedom personified. 

To raise money for Liberty’s pedestal, American poet, Emma Lazarus, wrote a sonnet called ‘The New Colossus’ in 1883, a poem which would, in 1903, very appropriately be cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside Liberty’s pedestal. 

In words that would be equally applicable to Liberty herself, an ancient eulogy in praise of Helios from the Greek Magical Papyri, beautifully expresses the colossal importance of his celestial body; ‘the earth flourished when you shone forth and made the plants fruitful when you laughed and brought to life the living creatures when you permitted’.

CHF Editor Ancient Greece & Rome, Coin History

Carthage: Courage and Conquest

JW Turner’s The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire (1815)

What remains of the ancient city of Carthage, near the modern city of Tunis in North Africa, was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1971. The ruins tell a story of total destruction and annihilation. Here lived a people who were one of the most influential civilisations in the ancient world, a people who almost changed the course of Western civilisation so how could it be that virtually all trace of their being was put to the torch? 

This is the story of Carthage, its rise to glory and its demise at the hands of one of Rome’s great generals, Scipio Aemilianus. Apart from the beautiful coins produced within Carthage’s powerful empire, all that survives are the accounts of ancient Greece and Rome, both vengeful enemies of the state. We hear of a group of depraved monsters, greedy, treacherous and brutal who readily sacrificed their own children to cruel gods. However, we need to remember that both ancient Greece and Rome had an axe to grind. 

Carthage was one of the largest and richest cities in antiquity and the power it held within the Mediterranean was a threat. Carthage was founded a hundred years earlier than Rome in c.814, it’s said by an exiled priestess fleeing her native city of Tyre in ancient Phoenicia, now Lebanon. The Greeks named her Dido and legend told of how she came to found Carthage and become its queen. Upon landfall in north Africa she led her people to a local Berber chieftain in the hope of acquiring some land to settle and make home. The chieftain replied that she could have  “as much land as could be encompassed by an oxhide”. Thinking on her feet, Dido cut the hide into strips and stretched them around a large hill name Byrsa or “hide”, an alternative name for Carthage. 

In carving out the earth for their new settlement the Tyrians discovered an ox’s head and all activity came to a halt. This was a bad omen that foretold the city would be wealthy but “laborious and always enslaved”. The decision was taken to dig elsewhere and fortune smiled upon the tired colonists for a horse’s head was found in the freshly dug earth. In Phoenician culture the horse was a symbol of courage and conquest, foretelling that Dido’s new city would rise to greatness. 

And so it was that Carthage, a name which derived from the Phoenician Qart-Hadasht meaning “New City”, came into being. 

Mother of pearl, coral, amber and ebony

For centuries, Carthage was a mere outpost of its mother city, Tyre, but by 509 B.C. it was independent enough to negotiate a commercial treaty with the new Republic of Rome. Bringing with them their Phoenician penchant for seafaring and trade, the Carthaginians set about establishing themselves in the mediterranean as its most dominant power. One of its main advantages was the supremely dominant position it held in the Gulf of Tunis. Here it was close to Sicily, Italy, Sardinia and Corsica and not too distant from the Balearic Islands, Spain and Gaul (modern day France). 

From Carthage, trade could be completely controlled. Through domination of the seas it became the overlord of a vast network of trade which stretched to the west of Africa and into northern Europe. It’s even said that Britain’s first contacts with the classical world were through Carthaginian merchants who came in search of tin. Commodities from all over the ancient world flowed in and out of Carthage and its network of cities and satellite states which was larger than any other power in the region. 

Within his poem, Ithaca, the Greek poet, Constantine Cavafy, gives a vivid recounting of the lush goods which would have abounded in and around these ports; ‘…May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, what joy, you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time; may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, sensual perfume of every kind, as many sensual perfumes as you can’. 

This great source of richness was coupled with ready access to abundant fertile land and an enterprising culture in the working of it. The writings of Mago of Carthage on farming and animal husbandry were considered as being of such importance that they were among the few to be spared by the Romans after their destruction of the city. This innovation was coupled with Carthage’s revolutionary idea of the ‘flat pack’ ship which was the first to have been produced using a standardised design and construction. This was part of the foundation which saw Carthage secure itself as one of the largest and most powerful navies in the ancient Mediterranean. 

As long as money clinks, my captain I’ll obey

Both Carthage’s army and its navy were lead by powerful families, mainly the Magonids and Barcids, who spent vast sums on piecing together a burgeoning force of foreign mercenary soldiers. One of the main struggles which ancient Carthage sought in expanding its sphere of power and influence was over the island of Sicily and its main city-state of Syracuse. 

Beginning in the 480s B.C., two centuries of bitter warfare would see Carthage establish a network of fortresses and mints which protected and paid its mercenary forces both in Sicily and in its hard-fought lands in Spain and Sardinia. This network first came into being when Carthage established its coinage c.410 B.C. in Sicily itself. 

Control of the island and beyond could only be secured if Carthaginian coins chinked in the purses of its soldiers of fortune. To this end, Carthaginian ships made daring voyages as far as West Africa to trade for gold. In around 350 B.C. a super-attractive new gold stater was produced specifically to pay Carthage’s forces. It was adorned with two of the powerful city-state’s most potent symbols, the Phoenician goddess, Tanit, and Dido’s omen of good fortune, the horse. 

Carthage,_c.350-320_BC,_Stater – Photo Credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc

Tanit was Carthage’s patron deity, bestowing protection and good fortune upon it. She was a mother goddess, representing fertility, love, the moon, stars and sky, cycles of life, strength, abundance and much more. Tanit was worshipped throughout North Africa, Spain, Malta, Sardinia and Rome but her most well known temples were found in Carthage itself. 

Her bust closely resembles coins which were produced by Carthage’s nemesis in Sicily; Syracuse, which depict their own deities such as the nymph Arethusa. It should be said that these coins of Syracuse have been identified by numismatists as being the very pinnacle of ancient art, unsurpassed until at least the nineteenth century, so this is a proud numismatic heritage to speak of. 

Tanit wears a wreath of grain, referencing fertility and abundance. Her neutral facial expression is said to denote nobility and a transcendence of earthly concerns, just like the Greek coins from which she is modeled. According to Carthage’s enemies, this beauty and divine wonder was underpinned by a much darker side. Ancient writers say that zealous Carthaginians gladly gave their children’s lives as sacrifices to honour their patron goddess, Tanit, and her consort Baal-Hamon. 

Adorned Statue of the Punic Goddess Tanit, 5th–3rd centuries BC, from the necropolis of Puig des Molins, Ibiza (Spain), now housed in the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia (Barcelona)

Nowadays, however, these claims have been questioned as ancient attempts to paint the Carthaginians in a bad light although it is still a possibility. This being as it may be, Tanit’s status as the primary deity of ancient Carthage is undeniable. The choice of a horse as her counterpart on Carthage’s gold staters too shows the significance which they gave to this majestic animal. To the Carthaginians it may have been a proud representation of their foundation story, a subject which was commonly depicted on coins of the ancient city-states. 

However, because the myth was recounted by a later Roman writer named Justin, its uncertain whether or not the Carthaginians knew of it. Another interpretation of the horse is that it refers to the military purpose of the staters. On some Carthaginian coins the horse is shown with the goddess of victory, Nike, who holds a wreath and a caduceus. The wreath was a symbol given to victors in contests and battles and so the horse may represent the military might and success of Carthage. Military success, though, in the ancient world required money and a lot of it. 

Weathering the storm

The wars in Sicily against Syracuse and beyond required huge resources and over time Carthage’s gold staters contained more and more silver. From 320 B.C. they have been classed as electrum which is a mixture of silver and gold. 

A further draw on resources came when North Africa was invaded by Agathocles of Syracuse in 310-307 B.C.. Agathocles sought to subdue Carthage and use its wealth to fund his wars. Allied with Libyans and Berbers, Carthage was able to see off Agathocles and continued to prosper until it came into conflict with a new enemy, then just a small city-state on the Tiber River in Italy; Rome. 

While the electrum staters ceased to be produced in around 280 B.C., their designs remained the staple of Carthage’s coinage right until the bitter end. Carthage would soon, in 264 B.C., embark on a series of three wars with Rome, known as the Punic Wars (deriving from the Phoenician word for the citizens of Carthage and in Latin reading Punicus), which would ultimately spell disaster and utter destruction for this once great city-state. Not even the efforts of one of their most famous names, the distinguished general, Hannibal Barca, could save them. 

After the loss of the first Punic War in 241 B.C. Carthage’s treasury was so depleted that it was reduced to coining debased silver and over-valued bronze coins. Under the terms of the treaty devised by Rome, Carthage had to pay 1,000 talents of gold immediately, plus another 2,000 talents over the next decade, amounting to an eye-watering 78,000 kilograms of bullion, or some 8.3 million gold staters! The second Punic War was meted out between 218B.C. and 201 B.C. and again Carthage was overcome. This time Rome stripped Carthage of its hard-fought colonies, denied it of its navy and forced it to pay another huge indemnity. 

Carthago delenda est

By the time of the third Punic War of 149 B.C. to 146 B.C. Rome had come to the end of its tether. Its elite came to believe that only total annihilation of Carthage could ensure Rome’s security. It was in the build-up to this last and most famous phase of the wars that Roman Republican politician, Cato, ended all his speeches with the words; Carthago delenda est, ‘Carthage must be destroyed’. 

Roman naval attack on Carthage. Photo credit: WorldHistory.org

And so it was that the might of the Roman Republic came down on Carthage in the form of a three-year siege, beginning in 149 B.C. The city had a population estimated at 700,000 and the vast majority of them were wiped out. In the spring of 146 B.C the Romans launched their final assault and over seven days systematically destroyed the city and slay its inhabitants. 

Only on the last day was the order given by Rome’s commander, Scipio Aemillianus, to take prisoners. 50,000 citizens were rounded up to be sold into slavery. Carthage’s top-of-command, Hasdrubal, pleaded for his life and freedom. This was observed by his wife who cursed her husband and with her children walked into a temple engulfed with flames. 

The ancient historian, Polybius, was present at the final destruction of Carthage alongside Scipio and it’s said that; ‘Scipio, when he looked upon the city as it was utterly perishing and in the last throes of its complete destruction, is said to have shed tears and wept openly for his enemies’. 

Such was the destruction that apparently not one stone was left on top of another. The site was cursed and according to a 19th century myth, sown with salt to prevent any crop ever growing there again. Despite this inglorious end and scornful treatment, a century after the war ended, Julius Caesar planned to rebuild Carthage as a Roman city but little work was done. 

Augustus revived the project in 29 B.C. and by the time of the Empire it had become one of the main cities of Roman Africa. It appears from the history books that Rome had a grudging respect for Carthage as confirmed by the Roman politician, Cicero, who wrote; ‘Carthage would never have held an empire for six hundred years had it not been governed with wisdom and statesmanship’. 

Such sentiments developed into full-scale equanimity on 5 February 1985 in a symbolic peace treaty which was signed by the mayors of Rome and modern Carthage, 2,131 years after the war ended.

CHF Editor Ancient Greece & Rome, Coin History, Medieval Coins, Monarchs

The Poison King: Mithradates VI

Greatness reborn

The Kingdom of Pontus was located on the southern coast of the Pontus Euxinus ‘hospitable sea’ in Asia Minor. Pontus Euxinus is an ancient name for the Black Sea and Asia Minor for an area which roughly covered that of modern day Turkey. 

In the decades following the death of Alexander the Great, many new kingdoms emerged from his fragmented empire. Out of this period of formation came the Kingdom of Pontus which was proclaimed by its founder, Mithradates I,  in 281 B.C. This new kingdom was Hellenized (i.e. culturally Greek) with Greek being its official language and its kings proudly proclaiming a bloodline through Alexander himself. 

In general terms, Pontus was nothing special, it’s borders ebbed and flowed like most kingdoms. What it needed was a sign that great things were to come and they sure did come. Ancient sources record that in the birth year of one particular Pontic prince a comet burned brightly for 70 days, shining so bright as to be brighter than the sun itself. As a baby the prince was said to have been struck by lightning, a phenomenon which Alexander the Great’s mother, Olympias, had dreamt of happening to her womb and which had happened, too, to Semele, the mother of Olympian god, Dionysus. 

Prophecies in the east had foretold the coming of a god-sent saviour king whose rise would herald the end of an evil empire. Was this the second coming of Alexander? In 120 B.C. Mithradates V, King of Pontus, was murdered by poison when his son and heir, also Mithradates, was only 13 years old. 

The dead king’s wife and mother of young Mithradates, Laodice, took over the kingdom and set about having the young prince disposed of. Laodice had Mithradates ride dangerous horses and throw javelins and when this didn’t work she tried to poison him. That too didn’t work; Mithradates took flight and spent several years in the Pontic wilderness during which time he took a keen interest in the natural plant and wildlife of the kingdom. 

Upon his return to court, Mithradates himself used a poison, possibly arsenic, to remove several treacherous relatives and rivals, managing to secure his kingdom in the process. 

Mithradates VI ‘The Great’ had arrived.

This young man, the very prince whose birth, it’s said, had been heralded by a comet brighter than the sun and who had been struck by lightning as a baby, immediately set about writing himself into the history books. Through his father, Mithradates had a royal lineage harking back to the Persian emperors and through his mother he had a direct bloodline to Alexander himself. This meant that the new king was a perfect fusion of east and west, something which proved to be a potent political tool for the king whose dream was to form an empire unifying the towns and cities around the Black Sea.

In this endeavour, Mithradates was given a divine helping hand in inheriting Alexander the Great’s mantel, his purple cloak which, it’s thought, was imbued with the great emperor’s qualities. During a time when the Roman Republic was becoming increasingly powerful, perhaps it was Alexander’s inspiration which made Mithradates the republic’s most dangerous and relentless enemy. 

The golden kiss

Mithradates’ rule saw the Kingdom of Pontus reach its largest extent and it wasn’t just his dreams of a Black Sea empire which caused this to happen but also a drive to liberate the Greek cities of Asia Minor from their oppressors, the Romans. 

Using philhellenism (a love of Greek culture) as a political tool, Mithradates proclaimed himself as ‘great liberator’ of the Greek world and set about executing a ruthless plan which became known as the Asiatic Vespers. In 88 B.C. between 80,000-150,000 Roman and Italian citizens were murdered on a single day in the Greek settlements of Asia Minor. The plan was orchestrated by Mithradates who had convinced his friends and allies to rid themselves of their Roman oppressors in one foul swoop. It was a brutal move which is now considered to be one of the first genocides in history. 

Rome wouldn’t stand for such defiance and the hornet’s nest was well and truly stirred. War was declared on Mithradates by the Roman Senate and what ensued became known to history as the Mithradatic Wars. Around this time Mithradates is said to have portrayed the Romans to his men as a group of people suckled by a she-wolf, who once had kings chosen from shepherds, soothsayers, exiles, and slaves, and who were hostile to him and other monarchs. 

Not all kingdoms, however, bought into Mithradates’ cussing of the Romans who could be quite accommodating if it benefited them. King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia had been forced out by Mithradates and fled to Rome only a couple of years previously. With the aid of former Roman consul, Manius Aquilius, Nicomedes was able to gain his throne from the neighbouring Pontic kingdom but it didn’t end there. Aquilius encouraged King Nicomedes to encroach upon Pontic territory and this was seen as a massive affront by the proud and belligerent Mithradates. 

Battle was inevitable. Aquilius’ forces took on Mithradates and were beaten with the former consul of Rome promptly fleeing in the direction of Rome to save his life. Aquilius got as far as the Aegean island of Lesbos before being handed over to Mithradates. Making an example of Aquilius, Mithradates had him placed upon a donkey and then forced to confess his wrongdoings all the way to the city of Pergamon. Waiting for Aquilius was an ignominious end. Here, Mithradates attempted to strike fear into all those who opposed or displeased him. Orders were given to heat a bar of gold to melting point which was then ceremoniously poured into Aquilius’ mouth. It was a bold move against the might of Rome and significant gains were soon made by Mithradates. 

Liberation, divination and frustration

In the spring of 88 B.C. Mithradates was invited by the military leader of Athens, Ariston, to liberate Greece. If ever there was a chance to follow in the footsteps of Alexander as hero of the Greek people then it was now. A Pontic army was sent to Greece and anti-Roman rebellions erupted throughout the Greek mainland. Rome only had two Legions in the area but they were up in the northeast fighting against the Thracians. 

Forced back to Greece to fight the first Pontic army, the Roman legions had their tails chased by a second Pontic army which had marched into Thrace. Now with two armies in the field, a heady sum of money was needed to realise Mithradates’ dreams of a liberated Greece. For this endeavour the spirit of Alexander was revived in a gold coinage which bore his youthful image. This was, however, more than a mere representation of the legendary King of Kings, this was the image of a god. Upon Alexander’s temple can be seen the curled horn of a ram; this is the deified Alexander as the god Zeus-Ammon. While building his empire, Alexander had insisted on marching his troops to the temple of Zeus-Ammon in the Egyptian desert. This famed oracle told Alexander that he himself was the son of Zeus-Ammon confirming the claims which Olympias, Alexander’s mother, had made years previously. 

Subsequently Alexander’s portrait was sometimes adorned with horns of the Egyptian god, Amun, as confirmation of this divine status. On the reverse of Mithradates’ gold coinage is the seated image of Athena Nikephoros, meaning Athena ‘carrying Nike’, the Greek goddess of victory. Accompanying Athena and Nike is a Greek legend which translates as ‘Basileus Lysimachoi’ or in modern terms, ‘King Lysimachus’. 

Why, then, do Mithradates gold coins name King Lysimachus and not Mithradates himself? These coins are direct copies of a gold coin struck by the founder of the Kingdom of Thrace, Lysimachus, over two hundred years previously. Lysimachus was a companion and bodyguard of Alexander the Great who had formed the new kingdom out of the chaotic power struggles that followed Alexander’s death in 323 B.C. 

Lysimachus had struck the gold coins in honour of Alexander and they had become immensely popular, so much so that they were still circulating in Thrace and the Black Sea area when Mithradates’ army were campaigning there in the early first century B.C.. Recognising their popularity, Mithradates took to striking his own copies and used them to fund a contingent of Thracian mercenaries against the Roman legions. 

As it happens, the famous Roman general and statesman, Sulla, eventually pushed Mithradates’ forces back into Asia Minor and the gold staters ceased to be minted around 86 B.C. It was a huge setback for Mithradates who was fined 600,000 gold staters and forced to abandon his attempted liberation of Greece. Rome would continue to deny the Pontic king from fulfilling his ambitions, however, during his reign, Mithradates did manage to conquer the historical regions of Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos as well as, for a brief time, the Roman province of Asia. 

It was an awesome achievement but after a long struggle with his Roman nemesis, the mighty Mithradates was eventually forced to take his own life. The end game took place in the ancient Greek colony of Panticapaeon on the Cimmerian Bosporus in the northern Black Sea. In 63 B.C. Mithradates had hatched a plan to invade Italy by way of the Danube when his own troops led by his son, Pharnaces, revolted. 

Reading the writing on the wall, Mithradates attempted to poison himself along with several other family members. Consuming the poison last, most had already been used and it was not strong enough to overcome Mithradates. He ordered a Gallic mercenary to finish the job by blade and Mithradates was dead. It’s believed that his body was taken by the famous Roman general, Pompey the Great, back to the old Pontic capital of Amasya to be buried in the rock-cut tombs of his ancestors. Pompey then awarded the Bosporan kingdom to Pharnaces for the betrayal of his father. Pharnaces ruled for sixteen years before making a decisive move on his original inheritance of Pontus. 

The Romans reacted swiftly and a rapid five day war ended Pharnaces’ hopes, culminating in the Battle of Zela in 47 B.C. The victor at this battle was none other than Julius Caesar and it was a quick, clean and clinical routing of Pharnaces’ forces. Writing back to the Roman senate, Caesar summed up his actions in the famous words; ‘Veni, Vidi, Vici’ – ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’. It was the end of any hopes that the Kingdom of Pontus might be saved.

The Poison King

To this day, Mithradates is known as the ‘poison king’ but how did he earn this name? 

From an early age Mithradates took a great interest in toxicology, taking the time during his years in the Pontic wilderness to become familiar with the poisonous plants and animals within the kingdom. Here could be found Monkshood, Hellebore, Nightshade, Hemlock, Azalea, Rhododendron and Pontic ducks, all poisonous if eaten. Once he ascended the throne, Mithradates set about building laboratories and collecting specimens from right across his new kingdom. Plants and animals with powerful healthful or poisonous characteristics were abundant throughout the Black Sea region and poison was built into the culture of some of Mithradates’ allies. The mounted nomad archers of Scythia, poisoned their arrows with a sophisticated concoction of viper venom and other pathogens. 

Shamans from this area as well as physicians and healers were employed to help Mithradates find the holy grail of toxicology, a universal antidote to all poisons. A central part of this endeavour saw him consume a concoction of various poisons every morning as a means of building up immunity. In a world where poisoning was the preferred method of undetectable assassination, paranoia was a necessary evil. Mithradates employed guards in his kitchens as well as royal tasters. Poison cups of electrum (gold mixed with silver) were used which would reveal the presence of poison if a crackling sound was heard along with an iridescent colour. In addition, Mithradates used glossopetra or ‘tongue stones’ in his drinks. Believed to magically deflect poisons, glossopetra were, in fact, fossilized giant sharks teeth which, like the poison cups, would react with any hidden poisons. 

Mithradates’ sleeping quarters were always guarded by a horse, a bull and a stag which would whinny, bellow or bleat whenever anyone approached the royal bed and while such measures may seem a little extreme they weren’t without foundation. It’s known that a group of Mithradates’ friends formed a plot to assassinate him but one of the conspirators, perhaps in fear of the king’s unorthodox methods of retribution, got cold feet. It was arranged that Mithradates would listen in on one of their meetings by hiding under a couch and the plot was known. 

Retribution for this heinous plan, just like Aquilius’ faceful of molten gold, would serve as a potent antidote for anyone else thinking of doing the same. Naturally, the plotters were tortured and executed but Mithradates didn’t stop here, he then killed all the plotters’ family members and went on to kill each of their friends. Employing such brutal measures against his enemies and hunting down a universal antidote to poison were two of Mithradates’ most potent drives to ensure his position was kept secure.

Over the years a vast library was built, many notes taken and eventually a formulation was identified which would become the most popular and longest lived prescription in history. It was called Mithradatium and it led to Mithradates being hailed as the father of experimental toxicology. 

After Mithradates’ death the formulation was reputedly found in his cabinet on a note written in his own hand. It was carried to Rome by Pompey and translated into Latin by his freedman, Lenaeus. According to Marcus Aurelius’ physician, Galen, Julius Caesar was prescribed Mithridatium and over time the emperors of Rome would all take a version of it. Roman poet, Juvenal, once wrote; ‘“If you want to survive to gather rosebuds for another day,” “find a doctor to prescribe some of the drug that Mithridates invented. Before every meal take a dose of the stuff that saves kings.”. 

The formulation was said to contain many ingredients of which some of the more familiar are cardamom, anise, dried rose leaves, parsley, frankincense, myrrh, rhubarb root, saffron, ginger, and cinnamon. Nero’s physician, Andromachus, was one of the many doctors who claimed to have improved the recipe for which he replaced minced lizards with venomous snakes and added opium poppy seeds. 

It’s Andromachus’ version of Mithradatium which archaeologists believe may have been found in a vat discovered near Pompeii in 2000. After the Romans made their mark on Mithradates’ universal antidote it went viral in Europe to the point where apothecaries were required by law to mix it outdoors in public squares. 

For more than two millennia after the death of Mithridates, kings, queens, and nobles from Charlemagne and Alfred the Great to Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I would take some form of Mithridatium on a daily basis. It’s even been claimed that a form of Mithridatium was advertised by a pharmacy in Rome as recently as 1984.

CHF Editor Coin History, European Coins, Medieval Coins, Monarchs

The First Franc – a King’s Ransom

Gold coins are something special. While silver coins were for the most part the common means of exchange in the mundane world, gold coins were destined for greater things, in this case the ransom of a captured king and in essence the arrival of two great powers, England and France. 

In the 13th century, gold coins started reappearing in Europe. They were still scarce, but they at least existed. No longer were the Byzantine solidus coin, or is successor, the hyperpyron, the dominating gold coin. Northern Italian city-states took over the mantle, with especially the Florentine florin as the leading gold coin. First struck in 1255, was the first gold coin to be struck in significant numbers and for commercial use for about 600 years. In one coin lay the signal of a new dawn of European civilization. 

Surprisingly quickly after the first florin, the French court introduced their own gold coin in 1266. King Louis IX, or Saint Louis, had the Coat of arms of France on the obverse, giving the coin its name, Écu, or “shield”. The coin was not popular, and disappeared again to make infrequent reappearances throughout the next century.

A Century to Forget

In fact, France was the richest country in Western Europe. The summers were long and warm, the winters mild and advances in agriculture gave a huge turnover. That, however, changed dramatically in the following century. 

The Fourteenth Century was a saeculum horribilis, or horrible century, for Europe. The warm weather period which had lasted for two hundred years subsided, and a cold front took its place. These changes lead to bad harvests and a lack of food. The population, which exploded in the previous centuries, now faced several famines. As that was not enough, France and England were embroiled in a war from 1337 on which would take almost 116 years to resolve. Most of the fighting consisted of plundering of large areas in the French countryside. About ten years later, the extremely deadly plague, the Black Death, killed large amounts of the populous. 

Gold for the King

In 1356, the French and the English clashed in the Battle of Poitiers. While they did fight honorably, the French forces were weakened by internal squabbles, and even though they had the numerical advantage, the English were both better tactically and better equipped. The English-Welsh-Gascoigne army, lead by The Black Prince Edward, captured the king of France, John II.

Portrait of King John II, the Good aged 30–31

The French humiliation showed the open wounds in the French nobility for all to see. Outdated, divided and ineffective, they blamed each other, and mainly the king. When the English demanded first four, and then three million écu, many nobles balked.

The regent in the king’s captivity, Charles, had the unenviable task of raising money for the ransom and for the needed upkeep of the now weak army. The Estates General refused to grant the money, and ousted the regent. A civil war ensued, and Charles returned to power. He raised the money, and the king was set free.

Well, to be precise, the Black Prince treated the king to such luxuries during his captivity that the king probably saw little point in returning to the impoverished France. He would hunt pheasants, go to balls, eat lavishly, meet his family and converse with interesting people. 

In fact, rumours have it that the king negated several reasonable demands made by the Estates General to prolong his stay. When he did return, it was in exchange for his second oldest son, Louis. As Louis escaped, John returned to England. If this was a matter of chivalry or longing for British hospitality is a matter of debate.

France would probably have produced gold coins faster and with much less opposition a century earlier, when the king was popular and finances were good. Now, however, the coins were minted in few numbers each year, and the amount was not met until the reign of Henry V about 60 years after the ransom was set.

The Majestic Coin

While the ransom was expressed in écu, it was paid in another currency. The coin had its own motif, and it did not feature a shield. To unite the French, Charles had made the image of King John II in full armor on horseback on the obverse. The motif was understood as the king free and on horseback, or in French: Franc à cheval. This, or possibly the legend “Rex Francorum” was the reason for the new name – the Franc.

The Franc lined the English coffers for a long time, and helped the English in their own development towards a sound money-based economy which was the backbone of the English Empire from the late 15th century onwards. The coin might have been French, but the fortunes were English.

It was also the start of a more sound financial policy for France. The Franc was fixed at a livre tournois, a specific weight, of gold. This predictability meant that for a good two hundred years, the French had a gold coin which could compete with both the Florin and the Ducat.

That is not all. The gold Franc followed the fortunes of the war. For while the gold coins did pay for the king who would defeat the French at Agincourt, it also paid for the 16 year old girl who rallied the French army to turn the tide and lift the siege of Orléans. Joan of Arc started the ousting of England from Europe and the defeat of their French allies. 

This is therefore not only a coin, but also so much more. It is the start of sound French policy and unity. France had arguably never been in a more humiliating position than the one they were in when the coin was minted. When the Franc was discontinued in 1641, France was the strongest country in Europe militarily and arguably financially. It was feared by most and commanded the respect of all. This coin is quite simply French pride and honour minted in precious metal. 

CHF Editor Coin History, U.S. Coins

The First U.S. Commemorative?  A Gold Rush Treasure Story

Image courtesy of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS)

While the 1892 Columbian Half Dollar is officially published as America’s first commemorative coin, there is another legendary issue that many argue is the true heir to this prestigious title:  The 1848 “CAL.” Gold Quarter Eagle. 

The reason for this claim? The 1848 Gold piece was minted from the very first gold sent east from the famous California Gold Rush, and each coin bears a special “CAL.” Stamp above the eagle as recognition of the pedigree and source of the gold.

Born in the Gold Fields of California

On January 28, 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill near Coloma, California – and this single event ignited one of the most exciting times in the young nation’s history. People from all over the country, and indeed, the world, flooded into the gold fields of California and surrounding areas armed with rustic tools, a strong back, and the dream of striking it rich.  

Between 1848 and 1855 an estimated 300,000 people arrived in the California territory.  Settlements quickly sprung up, many of which would become cities which thrive to this very day. San Francisco became a boom town – eventually getting its own branch mint to strike coins from all the gold being mined from the surrounding countryside. Transportation also rapidly improved – including advancements in railroads and steamships – and this all fueled the further development of California.

All these changes ultimately led to the admission of California into the Union as a state in 1850 – only two years after the Sutter’s Mill discovery!

Gold Rush Gold Travels East

Less than a week after the original discovery at Sutter’s Mill, California’s military governor, Col. Richard B. Mason, ordered Lt. Lucien Loeser to immediately depart for Washington, D.C. carrying samples of the newly found California gold.  This first gold, packed in a tea caddy, made the long overland journey to the East coast, where it ultimately ended up at the Philadelphia Mint to be assayed (tested for purity.)  

After it was assayed, the Philadelphia Mint struck an estimated 1,389 gold Quarter Eagles ($2.50 denomination) made exclusively from this California gold.  To commemorate this event, the abbreviation “CAL.” was counter stamped into the surface of each coin – directly above the head of the eagle.   

A Legend Is Born

Because of this incredible pedigree and the commemorative nature of the CAL. designation, many argue that the 1848 CAL Gold Quarter Eagle truly deserves the honor of being called the First US Commemorative Coin.  

Only 1,389 coins were ever stuck, and only a fraction of that mintage have survived to this day.  The coin’s romantic story, great historical significance and scarce numbers have all served to make it incredibly popular and justifiably valuable.  

A review of the major grading services reveals that this gold treasure has been submitted for grading around 127 times, and they have achieved grades from Good 6 to MS68.  These days, an 1848 CAL Quarter Eagle in Mint State 60 grade is valued at around $130,000 – while the same coin in highest grade can be expected to bring $475,000 – $800,000 at auction. 

Buyer Beware!

Of course, as one might suspect, the nature of the CAL counter stamp and the high value of these rarities have led to many forgeries of this historically significant rarity over the decades.  

CHF Editor Coin History, U.S. Coins

The Infamous ‘Folsom Prison Nickel’

What follows is the text of an article which appeared in San Francisco’s The Call newspaper, March 10, 1898. 

Outside of California residents, most of the rest of the world was to first hear the name Folsom Prison in the 1955 hit song “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash. In 1968, Johnny Cash performed live at the prison to the delight of inmates and jailers. 

BOGUS MONEY IS MADE RIGHT IN FOLSOM PRISON

Guards Surprise Convicts Busily Engaged in Coining Nickels in the Engine-Room.

SACRAMENTO, March 10. 

A counterfeiter’s layout has been discovered at Folsom within the State prison walls, the last spot on earth where one would look for the illegal minting of Uncle Sam’s coin. If there is a place in the broad universe where neither the opportunity nor demand of money arises it is within the walls of the State prison; at least such is the general impression of people who are without experience with criminals. To those who have had dealings with me sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for the commission of crime it is known that there is no passion or desire stronger than the predilection of a prisoner to carry upon his person some small amount of money. On the part of many it becomes a mania, and they will resort to all sorts of devices and any kind of a subterfuge to withhold a few pieces of coin from the Warden upon entering the prison. Secretary Smith, in speaking of this peculiarity on the part of prisoners, once said to The Call correspondent: 

“You would be surprised to know what difficulty we have in securing money from the prisoners who are brought here. No second termer ever comes without an endeavor to conceal upon his person some bit of money. I have known them to have five-dollar pieces covered with cloth and sewed upon their vests as buttons. They conceal money in their hair and in their ears, and we are not always successful in obtaining possession of it. Not long ago I brought $75 worth of books for our library with money found around the prison grounds — money that had been hidden by convicts or carried in, notwithstanding the precaution we take to relieve all the prisoners of every cent they have upon their person when entering for registration .” 

But while it may not be astonishing to find this overwhelming desire on the part of convicts to conceal their spare change, there is probably no prison in the United States where the criminals successfully operated and circulated bogus coin, manufactured within the prison walls under the very eyes of the officers. For some time past Officer Charles Jally. whose station is at the rock crushing plant, has had his suspicions aroused by the peculiar conduct of some at the prisoners under his control At first he thought these whisperings and signals were carried on in the planning of some scheme to smuggle in opium. This is a very common matter at the prison, and only last week Guard Lamphry burned ten pounds of the drug which had been surreptitiously brought within the confines. After three or four days of watching Jally informed Superintendent Taylor, and both became convinced that some deeper plot was being laid, and they became more determined than ever to ascertain the cause of so much suppressed excitement among the convicts. 

Yesterday they were rewarded. Some time during the morning Jally informed Taylor  that there was something wrong in the engine room. Taylor gathered about him Guards Jally and Silak. and the three made a rush for the engine room. Convicts Cayne(sic) and Brown were encountered, and as the officers rushed in both convicts leaped through a window in the engine room and ran to the tank of the canal, which was within a short distance of the engine house. One of the guards followed them, while the others proceeded to Inspect the engine room.

As the convicts reached the edge of the canal there was a splash of muddy water. The crucible and dies they had used were forever beyond the possession of those in pursuit. The quick sands and murky waters of the American River were safe custodians of their guilt.

There were other evidences, however, and they consisted of a pile of nickels which were captured by the guard who entered the engine room. These nickels were splendid specimens of workmanship. The material out of which they were made consisted of babbiting, which is a white soft metal which forms the inside rim of the axle box found on a locomotive. This substance was taken from the engine which runs through the prison grounds and hauls the trains of crushed rock which are shipped from the prison rock crusher.

The nickels are seemingly as perfect and complete as any ever made by Uncle Sam. Many of them have been given circulation and The Call correspondent found no difficulty in procuring one of them in the town of Folsom.

How the dies and crucibles were ever made will perhaps remain a mystery. Plaster of parts molds were used, and in the engine room were found many fragments of this material.

Captain Murphy was rather reticent when asked about the affair.

“It amounts to nothing,” the captain said, “and if it did I would not talk about it in the absence of the warden. I do not deem it to be best for the prison discipline to take such matters up and give them undue publicity in the papers.”

When shown one of the spurious coins the captain admitted that he had seen them, but beyond the admission he preferred to say nothing.

It is not supposed that Cayne and Brown are the prisoners who made the molds, but as there are several counterfeiters doing time in Folsom, it is probable that the devices used were made by some of them, and the coining of the counterfeit left to Cayne and Brown.

A very extensive traffic has for a long time been going on among the prisoners, and the officers have been at a loss to know where the convicts obtained the money which had been so freely circulated. The cigarette paper among the convicts is a very choice article, and they will give almost anything: to obtain a package of it. On the other hand, there has been a great quantity of opium smuggled in lately, and there is no doubt that these coins ; were being made for the purpose of paying those who sent it in from the outside, as well as exchanging them for cigarette papers.

It is a matter of some regret that the entire layout was not captured, as it no doubt would have given the officers some clew (sic) as to the means employed in obtaining it. Some of the officers think that the dies were smuggled in from the outside, while others hold that the entire apparatus was made within the prison walls. As there are many tools and furnaces available around the quarries, it is very probable that the latter theory is the correct one.

The ladle used appeared similar to those used around assaying establishments, while the crucible was crude in form, and appeared as though it had been melted into shape from railroad couplings.

There are many cars arriving every day in the yard, and it is from these that the prisoners are supplied with opium from the outside. The most wonderful devices are employed in this prohibited traffic. Opium has been found in the axle boxes of the cars, or fastened to the inside of a brake beam; in fact there is no place about a flat car that has not been used in concealing the drug.

The impression prevails among the officers that it was the intention of the convicts to coin a great quantity of nickels and then ship them out on the freight cars, where their friends on the outside could receive them in exchange for opium.

It is probable that nothing but nickels were attempted to be made for the reason that the convicts could not obtain the metal necessary to manufacture silver coins.

An 1898 Liberty “V” Nickel

justinrobinson Coin History, Shipwrecks

The Treasure from the SS City of Cairo

In 2013, Deep Ocean Search Ltd, a British-led team, successfully retrieved £34 million of silver coins from a shipwreck in the South Atlantic ocean. Working at a depth of 3.2 miles, the operation set the world record for the deepest salvage of cargo in history. When the news was made public in 2015, it was widely reported that the recovered coins had all been melted down.  But in reality, a small number were saved from the melting-pot. Collectors now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own treasure from this record-breaking operation and hold history in their hands.

The SS City of Cairo

On a cold November evening in 1942, the SS City of Cairo, a British passenger steamship traveling from India to the UK, was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat in the middle of the South Atlantic. At the time of her sinking, few people knew that she was carrying top-secret cargo. A huge consignment of silver coins, which had circulated for decades through British India, was being transported to Britain to be melted down for their high silver content. 

As men, women and children struggled in the water, the U-boat that had sunk them surfaced alongside them. Commander Karl-Frederich Merten informed them that the nearest land was the small island of Saint Helena, 480 miles to the north-northeast. Privately, he considered their chances of reaching land or being rescued at sea to be almost zero, and U-boats were forbidden from attempting to rescue civilians on enemy ships. Merten concluded the conversation by saying, “Goodnight. Sorry for sinking you”, and then sailed away into the night.

With no distress signal having reached the mainland, meagre rations and only one sextant to navigate their course, the prospects for the 296 survivors huddled together in six damaged and overcrowded lifeboats looked bleak. Yet astonishingly, people were rescued from all six lifeboats. Four lifeboats were picked up after spending thirteen days in the shark-infested waters. Sadly, rescue came too late for many in the two remaining boats. A German vessel picked up three survivors after 36 days, though one later died of her injuries. The last lifeboat remained at sea for 52 days before it was spotted off the coast of Brazil. By that time, only two occupants were still alive.

Lifeboats

Of the 302 people who sailed on the last voyage, six were lost on the night of the sinking. Sadly, 93 more would perish in the lifeboats as they waited for rescue, and a further eight would die shortly after being rescued. Against all expectations, 195 men, women and children survived their ordeal and made it safely back onto dry land.

For nearly seventy years, the wreck of the SS City of Cairo and her top secret cargo lay undisturbed on the ocean floor. Then, in November 2011, a company called Deep Ocean Search Ltd began searching for the ship, having been authorised by the UK Ministry of Transport to recover the silver coins on board.  

The plan to search for the ship and salvage her lost treasure was the brainchild of deep-sea salvage pioneer John Kingsford, who set up the company. In 1984, he read an account of the sinking by one of the survivors, the ship’s surgeon, Dr Douglas Quantrill, who described seeing boxes of silver coins after the torpedo had blown off the hatches in hold number four. 

Secret government papers confirmed that the ship had been carrying silver on her last voyage. A despatch from Embarkation Bombay to the War Office established that she left Bombay (now Mumbai) with 2,182 boxes of silver coins weighing 122 tonnes. DOS researchers scoured key documents about the sinking as they became publicly available. Military records from both sides provided details of how the ship had sunk and the likely location of the wreck.  

The scale of the challenge facing the team was formidable. The ship’s last recorded position was about 1,000 miles off the coast of West Africa, where the weather, swell, and currents are extremely changeable. Furthermore, there were contradictions between the last known positions of the ship given by the U-boat and the ship’s officers. It meant that the team, which included twenty French oceanographers, would have to search an area of the ocean floor that was around twice the size of London. 

A salvage operation at a depth of over five kilometres had never been successfully accomplished before. Nonetheless, Kingsford believed it was possible and signed a contract with the British Government authorising him to search and retrieve the lost silver treasure. 

Deep Ocean Search took the survey and salvage vessel John Lethbridge, equipped with sonar and robotics, to the target area and began scanning the seabed for signs of the wreck. On board was a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) capable of working in extreme depths and 11,000 meters of sonar cable which tethered it to the ship. It was slow and laborious work. The ocean floor was littered with rocks and canyons, and the team watched the monitor screen intently as the ROV sent back video. It would take a highly experienced eye to spot a man-made object amongst all the naturally occurring features. 

Deep Ocean Search at work

After several weeks of scanning, the team identified a small target that didn’t appear to be a natural occurrence. Kingsford was initially unconvinced that it was the SS City of Cairo because it didn’t correspond to his expectations of how the wreck should look. However, he trusted his team’s view that the seabed looked disturbed, and the curious anomaly was deemed worthy of further investigation. Closer inspection revealed that it was indeed a shipwreck that had broken into two parts and was partially buried in the silt and mud on the ocean floor. But was this the ship they were looking for? 

Images of the wreck site revealed no visible name or builder’s plaque to identify it. So, the team had to analyse photographs and plans of the SS City of Cairo to determine that they had found their target. Eventually, after six frustrating hours, they were able to make a positive identification using the ship’s porthole formation. Then, to confirm their discovery, they saw silver rupees struck with the portraits of British monarchs in hold number four, where they had laid undisturbed for 69 years.  

Silver coins from the SS City of Cairo wreck

The ship had come to rest at a depth of 5,150 metres (nearly 17,000 feet) which meant that any successful recovery of coins from the site would enter the record books as the deepest salvage of cargo from a shipwreck. By comparison, the RMS Titanic lies at a depth of 3,800 metres (12,500 feet).

Working remotely 3.2 miles beneath the waterline, Kingsford’s team overcame huge technical and logistical challenges to bring almost 100 tons of the silver coins to the surface. The operation took eight months, finally reaching completion in September 2013. Before leaving the wreck for the last time, the ROV left a plaque honouring those who had died. It read,

“We came here with respect.”

Plaque left at the wreck site

The recovered coins worth £34 million were handed over to the UK Treasury as per their contracted agreement, and Deep Ocean Search received a share of the sale. When the British authorities permitted the news to be made public in 2015, it was widely reported that all of the silver rupees had been melted down.

However, that wasn’t entirely accurate. 

When the momentous news broke that silver rupees had been recovered from the SS City of Cairo wreck, the Samlerhuset Group began a six-year quest of their own to rescue some of the coins for collectors before they all went into the melting pot. Realising that their customers would welcome the opportunity to own treasure recovered from the deepest cargo salvage in history, the European coin company approached Deep Ocean Search and asked to purchase a batch of the coins.

Their persistence eventually paid off. Almost 22,000 Indian rupees from the record-breaking salvage operation have now been professionally conserved by industry experts, giving international collectors a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own these salvaged coins and hold history in their hands.

Coins recovered from the SS City of Cairo

Speaking about the sale, John Kingsford said,

“It is our wish that the history and amazing story of the SS City of Cairo continues to live on through the silver coins that survived her tremendous ordeal. We are delighted to confirm that the last surviving coins from her treasure have been saved from being smelted and have been professionally restored and made available to collectors worldwide.”

An Edward VII silver rupee recovered from the SS City of Cairo

The operation to recover the coins from a depth of over five kilometres will forever stand as a triumph of human engineering, ingenuity, and skill. Furthermore, each salvaged coin from the top-secret cargo provides a tangible connection with the people who used them in British India and who unknowingly travelled with them on the final voyage of the SS City of Cairo.

CHF Editor Coin History, European Coins

VIBECE FURSETH BECOMES NORWAY’S FIRST FEMALE MINT MASTER

Vibece Furseth in the Samlerhuset Group is taking on a new role, becoming the first female mint master and CEO of the Norwegian Mint in Kongsberg.

Vibece Furseth will take on the role of CEO and mint master for the Norwegian Mint in March. She has held many important positions in the Samlerhuset Group over the course of 25 years, and currently holds the role of Operations Director in Samlerhuset Norway. Vibece will continue to lead Samlerhuset Norway’s operations department and is part of the company’s management team, while also becoming the mint master in Kongsberg.

She takes over from Ståle Løkken by the end of March.

“The Mint has a first-class team that is in the international league in the field of coin minting, and with commercial insight and in-depth knowledge of the industry, I believe Vibece will be an ideal leader and bring many business opportunities to the Mint in the future,” says founder and chairman of the board of the Samlerhuset Group, Ole Bjørn Fausa.

“We thank Ståle Løkken for his good years at the Mint and wish him good luck with new important tasks at a new, strong Kongsberg enterprise,” he continues.

The Norwegian Mint was established in Kongsberg in 1686 and has had almost 50 mint masters during this time, all of whom have been men. Furseth thus becomes Norway’s first female CEO and mint master for the Norwegian Mint.

“I am taking over a well-run Mint with over 300 years of traditions in Norwegian industrial history, and I look forward to being part of the competence environment that the Mint represents in coin and minting technology. I have broad experience in the industry and am excited to explore new commercial opportunities for the Norwegian Mint,” says incoming CEO, Vibece Furseth.

The Norwegian Mint in Kongsberg is owned by the Samlerhuset group and produces coins and medals, including the official circulation coins in Norway, on behalf of the Norwegian Bank. The Norwegian Mint also produces the Nobel Prize medals annually.