A week long look at Numiscollects latest releases starts off with the latest in the excellent History of the Crusades series. With a debut back in 2009, Numiscollect started the series of twelve coins depicting one of the Middle Ages most destructive series of conflicts, the Crusades, but after the release of two coins in 2009 and two more in 2010, there was only a single release in 2011. Until the launch of the Sixth Crusade last September, we were concerned the series was to remain incomplete. Fortunately, that release and now this seventh coin mean we can again hope it runs until its conclusion. A series we collect personally and eagerly await, these are beautifully detailed strikes and the antique finish a very appropriate touch. With a mintage limited to only 1,000 units, they make a fine collection for the history buff. This coin ships in October and comes in a coin case enclosed in a coloured shipper.

For those who’d like to know more, we have one of our Coin Series Profiles on the range which details them all. This one will be added in due course.

Often thought of as wars of conquest, the Crusades are more accurately described as wars of restoration, involving the recovery of lands previously Christian that had fallen to the amies of the Rashidon and Umayyad Caliphates. Varying levels of success and failure, brutality on both sides, politics, betrayal, and self interest were all characteristics of a series of campaigns that after several centuries of conflict had changed very little in the region. The Fourth Crusade in particular, did much to destroy the strength of the Christian cause by its sacking of the Eastern capital, Constantinople, and the fall of Acre in 1291 meant there were no Crusader bases in Palestine. The Seventh Crusade was the last to actually reach the Middle East and was a complete failure.

MINTS DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION: The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for King Louis who, along with thousands of his troops, were defeated and captured by the Egyptian army led by the Ayyubid Sultan Turanshah supported by the Bahariyya Mamluks led by Faris ad-Din Aktai, Baibars al-Bunduqdari, Qutuz, Aybak and Qalawun.

The Crusades were a series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire during the 11th to 15th century. Each coin depicting a unique scene from that crusade and the most important commander/leader in that crusade. All finished in Antique making this series a unique piece of history.

REVERSE: Depicts Louis IX in a classic pose with a sword standing in front of what look slike the flooded Nile that prevented his army from progressing after an initial victory. At the top sits the descriptive inscription SEVENTH CRUSADE 1248. At bottom sits a cross with the name of the King and the date, 2015.

OBVERSE: Common to all coins in the series, at top is the inscription HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES and at bottom a small coin representation containing the Ian Rank Broadley portrait of Queen Elizabeth II surrounded by her name, the issuer and the denomination. The main image is of two Crusaders atop a battlement, one holding a cross and the other the Crusader flag.

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