SAGINAW — Mark Berg can hold Saginaw history in his hands. In a chance find this year, he uncovered the first three $10 notes Saginaw City Bank issued in 1837. The notes bear the serial numbers 1, 2 and 3 and are in perfect condition. Norman Little, founder of Saginaw City in 1836, served as Saginaw City Bank president and signed the notes Dec. 26, 1837 — 170 years ago today.

“The significance isn’t in the value of these notes or in their pristine, uncirculated condition,” said Berg, a Saginaw Township numismatic hobbyist and small-time collector. “It’s the fact that they still survive today, 170 years later, as a group.”

Little’s bank issued “wildcat” currency in 1837. His ability to sell land in Saginaw City backed the notes, says “Saginaw’s Changeable Past: An Illustrated History,” which Delta College history Professor Jeremy W. Kilar wrote. Read Full Story

MOSCOW. (Nikolai Lukashov for RIA Novosti) – An international archeological expedition to Lake Issyk Kul, high in the Kyrgyz mountains, proves the existence of an advanced civilization 25 centuries ago, equal in development to the Hellenic civilizations of the northern coast of the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) and the Mediterranean coast of Egypt.

The expedition resulted in sensational finds, including the discovery of major settlements, presently buried underwater. The data and artefacts obtained, which are currently under study, apply the finishing touches to the many years of exploration in the lake, made by seven previous expeditions. The addition of a previously unknown culture to the treasury of history extends the idea of the patterns and regularities of human development. (more…)

Some 1,650 years ago someone was so comprehensively fed up with the state of the Roman empire that they committed an act of treason, blasphemy and probably criminal defacing of the coinage. They cursed the emperor Valens by hammering a coin with his image into lead, then folding the lead over his face.

The battered scraps of metal discovered by Tom Redmayne, an amateur metal detector, in a muddy field in Lincolnshire are a unique find.

The mid-fourth century was a time of turmoil in Roman Britain. A Roman aristocrat, Valentinus, had been exiled to Britain where he was stirring up trouble. (more…)