MC160.Romania, Wallachia, Mircea the Old (Grandfather of 'Dracula'), 1386-1418, AR Denar. Shield/Eagle left on helmet. Near centered on slightly ragged flan, some modest garbling from double-striking obv., clear eagle on helmet, a far superior example for these crude issues(The small group I had until recently form a hoard of several years ago is gone and I cannot find any more at that price. The price has risen significantly on these so I am trying to get only superior examples. ), Very Fine.....SOLD Photo
Dracula is a name known to all from the movies and books concerning the legend made famous by Bram Stoker's tale. But Dracula was not a tale created out of thin air; he was a real prince - Vlad Tepes of the House of Basarab, ruler of Wallachia in Romania from 1456-1462. The name Dracula, meaning little dragon, was inherited from his famous father, Vlad Dracul (1436-1446), who allied himself with Sigismund of Hungary against the Turks and is often confused with Dracula himself. In gratitude Sigismund made him a knight of the Dragon Order, founded to fight for both Christianity and Sigismund. His son(Dracula) swore his life to bloody combat against the Moslem Turkish invaders of his Chrisitan homeland. Refusing to submit to his enemies, he executed 20,000 of them (both domestic and Turkish) in his short span of six years. When Turkish emissaries of the Sultan refused to remove their headgear (some say helmets, some say turbans), Dracula returned their heads to the Sultan with the headgear nailed in place. His brutality gave him the name 'the Impailer' during his lifetime and his lust for vengeance was well known in Europe in the 1400's. The stories persisted for hundreds of years, finally culminating in the transformation wrought by Bram Stoker of the vampire Count Dracula. I have often been asked to obtain a coin of the famous Dracula. He issued no coins as far as we know, nor did his father, but these crude little silver coins made by his grandfather, Mircea, were the common circulating medium in his realm during the life of Dracula, and are the only extant numismatic link to Dracula. These coins have long been considered rare and are missing even in most specialized collections of Eastern European coinage.

MC196. Romania, Wallachia, Mircea the Old (Grandfather of 'Dracula'), 1386-1418, AR Denar. Shield/Eagle left on helmet. Near centered on somewhat ragged flan, bold clear obv., slightly weak strike on rev. but eagle on helmet is clear, a superior example for these crude issues(The small group I had until recently form a hoard of several years ago is gone and i cannot find any more at that price. The price has risen significantly on these so I am trying to get only superior examples. ), Very Fine+/about Very Fine....SOLD Photo

MC204. > Romania, Wallachia, Mircea the Old (Grandfather of 'Dracula'), 1386-1418, AR Denar. Shield/Eagle left on helmet - a small group of lesser examples, still presentable, listed individually below: A. Slightly offcentered on irregular flan, eagle mostly clear but top of head off, helmet partly weak, shield mostly clear with partial legends, Very Fine....$110 Photo
B. Centered, fairly weak especially in center each side due to die clashing, outline of eagle mostly clear, shield weak, Fine....$85 Photo
C. Rev. centered high and features larger than normal helmet so helmet is clear but only the bottom of the eagle is shown, shield mostly clear, much legend off or weak, Fine....$85 Photo
D. Centered, appears to be double-struck and shows much garbling, eagle is visible (but hard to make out in scan) and shield is fairly clear, Fine....$85 Photo
E. Near centered, eagle mostly clear with some flatness, helmet weak, shield mostly clear with some weakness, partial legends, Fine....$95 Photo
F. Centered, flip-over doublestrike so partially garbled, part of eagle weak, helmet weak, part of shield visible behind eagle in field, shield on obv. is garbled and partially clear, partial legends, Fine....$85Photo
G. Centered on slightly ragged flan, strongly clashed dies with bars of shield strongly visible on eagle's body, helmet fairly clear, wavy flan, shield clear, Fine-Fine+....$85 Photo

MC205. Romania, Wallachia, Mircea the Old (Grandfather of 'Dracula'), 1386-1418, AR Denar. Shield/Eagle left on helmet. I have 3, described as follows: A. Centered on slightly squared flan, clear eagle and shield, grey tone, about Very Fine....$110 SOLD Photo
B. Centered on slightly ragged flan, clear eagle, helmet and shield, near full legends, nice example of these crude issues, Very Fine....$125 Photo
C. Centered on triangular ragged flan, clear eagle and shield, grey tone, Very Fine....$75 Photo

MC268. Romania, Wallachia, Mircea the Old (Grandfather of 'Dracula'), 1386-1418, AR Denar (minted after 1396). Vojvode (duke) stands with lance and globus cruciger/Eagle on helmet set on shield, B.196. I have 4 as follows: A. Obv. centered, rev. centered slightly high crowding eagle head, some weakness as usual but mostly clear design, legends mostly clear, Fine-about Very Fine....$95 SOLD Photo
B. Near centered, some weakness upper rt./lower rt., otherwise clear, Fine-about Very Fine....$95 SOLDPhoto
C. Obv. centered slightly high crowding top of head, rev. centered, weakness at top each side, otherwise well struck, Fine-about Very Fine....$95Photo
D. Obv. centered slightly high wih little off, rev. centered slightly left, slight waviness to flan, weakness to left/top, nice shield but eagle weak, light tone, Fine-about Very Fine....$95Photo