As a beginning collector I have not paid much attention to postmarks but I recently bought a stamp album with some interesting material and noticed these postcards were postmarked on U.S.Navy Ships. I will try and store and index them…
One of the oldest cities in Indonesia, Palembang is located by the Musi River. In 1619 the Dutch East India company established a trading post there to capitalize on the Spice Trade. Until 1821, when the dutch assumed control of…
The Archaic Smile: The Enigmatic Expression of Early Greek Art In the galleries of the world’s great museums, visitors often find themselves locked in a gaze with statues from the 6th century BCE that seem to share a private, timeless…
The Dirham: A Legacy of Silver and Sovereignty The Dirham is one of the most enduring names in the history of global finance. While today it is recognized as the modern currency of nations like the United Arab Emirates and…
The Drachm: The Silver Heart of the Ancient World If history had a universal currency before the era of digital banking, it was the Drachm (or drachma). For over a thousand years, this silver coin was the standard unit of…
The Teruncia: The Smallest Coin of the Roman Republic In the early days of the Roman Republic, the monetary system was a physical reflection of a heavy, agrarian society. Long before the rise of the gold aureus or the silver…
The Aes Grave Semis: The Heavy Bronze of Early Rome Before Rome minted the delicate silver denarius or the golden aureus, its economy was built on something much more literal: Aes Grave (Heavy Bronze). Among these massive, cast pieces, the…
The Æ Follis: The Coin of the Common Man In the late 3rd century CE, the Roman Empire was suffering from a “silver crisis.” The once-pure silver denarius had been debased so many times it was essentially a copper coin…
The Budju: The Silver Echo of Ottoman Algeria While the Solidus and the Tetradrachm fueled the great empires of antiquity, the Budju (also spelled Boudjou or Bujū) served as the monetary backbone of the Regency of Algiers.1 For over three…
