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5 C Ceres: an unexpected use

Started by saro, March 10, 2024, 02:20:31 PM

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saro

The Makiila is the traditional Basque stick (extreme South West of France) made of medlar wood. A mountaineer's walking stick, an elegant cane, it is above all a weapon, a formidable weapon... It is everywhere, traditionally behind each bedroom door in all Basque houses. The bottom of the Makila ends with a forged "cloverleaf" ferrule which provides good grip on earthy or stony paths. This "clover" weighs him down heavily and makes him a "headache"(it also has a 15 cm sharp tip in its removable handle...).
 Traditionally, the "clover" is pushed through a pierced coin placed between the ferrule and the socket and which finishes and protects the end of the barrel.
I possess one since a long time and, numismatics oblige...I was interested in the coin it is fitted with, still identifiable:  a 5 C. Ceres type dating  1871-1898.
Each stick is unique and engraved in Basque script, mine shows "Hitzemana Zor / a promise is a debt"


"All I know is that I know nothing" (Socrates)

Figleaf

Now you have done it. Yesterday I didn't even know I need a Makila for my collection :)

It's not at all the same, but I was reminded of the traditional Japanese tsuba, the hand guard of a sword. I have seen one that is a coin but resembles a Tsuba

Akita-Tsubasen.jpg

as well as one I cannot find again that is a Tsuba but resembles a coin. The consolation prize is a Tsuba decorated with coin motives (they look Chinese to me, possibly a modern fantasy).

Numismatic Tsuba.jpg

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

Guillaume Hermann

I have read that tsuba, which range from rudimentary objects to the most luxurious, have sometimes served directly as currencies, but I cannot say whether this is true or an erroneous simplification linked to the subtleties detailed above by Figleaf. In any case, on the militaria market, one find a lot of tsuba without the rest of the sword, despite the cult devoted by the Japanese to their swords, objects of family transmission over sometimes 5 centuries.
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