Gironde. Jean-François Trescos pierces the mysteries of ancient coins

“My passion was born at the age of 15 when I discovered with my father, in our property in Casseuil (Gironde), a dozen old coins”.

Jean-François Trescos is 71 years old today and he remembers this discovery as if it were yesterday:

Intrigued to know their origin, we presented them to a professional in Bordeaux. He offered an exchange with a box of 30cm by 30 in which there was a whole pile of parts and documentation. I kept three pieces of my loot and took the box. I was very happy !

This is how this Sud-Girondin bit into the numismatics and in particular, the study of currencies. And the coins found in his garden dated from the time of Charlemagne, a rare currency, but he “learned it a long time later, 20 years later”, he specifies.

A beautiful piece was worth 10 francs

In the 70s and 80s, Jean-François Trescos therefore began by snoop around second-hand and antique dealers : “There were still few coin collectors and we bought a very nice coin for 10 francs”. When the first collector’s purses arrived, interested parties gathered to make exchanges.

In this activity, what made him really hooked, he admits, is because ” it is the only collection that allows you to trace all of history, over at least 2,500 yearsthe first coins having been struck on the 5^e century BC! »

Jean-François Trescos thus traveled through “Roman, Byzantine, Gallic, feudal, royal, revolutionary and modern times”, even if he prefers to concentrate research related to numismatics.

What details can be used to date a piece? “It’s what I love to spend my time on, it’s find the origin from clues (mint letter for example) which specify the place (city) where the coin was minted, by whom and how many copies it was distributed”.

The myth of the “treasure seekers”

So much so that he can spend about an hour, or even more on the internet, to unravel these mysteries: “you have to weigh it, see it is really authentic, compare it and try to determine its value in relation to its quality…” Because the important thing for a collector is to “find a coin of good quality, even perfect : used or with knocks, it is of no interest”.

But where to find them? “In collector’s purses or at auctions,” replies the specialist. There is a myth: that of finding through “treasure seekers” or otherwise, but personally, I have never discovered like that, apart from those accidentally discovered by my father in 1968! »

And besides, these, out of the question for Jean-François to sell them: “they are perhaps worth a hundred euros but they have especially in my eyes sentimental value “. Another, from the Gallic period, from which he will never separate:

“In appearance, there is nothing extraordinary about it – it is made of bronze – but its particularity is the name engraved on it, Triccos, very close to my surname. When I saw it, I was so moved that the seller gave it to me. So this one is a collector’s item! »

In the same way, he is looking for elements that will speak to him or surprise him: “this year, I only bought one coin and I fell in love with the coin of the Black Prince, minted in the region and which reminds me La Reole, my native town, where the mansion of the Black Prince is located. »

One millimeter and one gram coin

Afterwards, the South of Girondin also attached great importance to the reliefs of the object, as in Roman times, with portraits of every emperor over nearly 400 years of History. What is also striking over time is to observe the different sizes of pieces.

One of the smallest that the Sud-Girondin has, it dates from the Gallic era (2 millimeters/and weight: 1g). And one of the oldest in his possession dates from 425 BC (17g), from Sicily. Among the most original, one of Alexander, unusual, with the engraving of a panther skin.

A collection exchange in Fargues, September 18, 2022

“All coins are different, even unique for the very old ones, depending on how they were minted” explains the enthusiast who devotes at least two days a week to his passion and who is sometimes requested by individuals who would like to know the origin of what they have in their possession (contact : 06.08.58.14.33).

Retired for four years, the former real estate agent who worked in Langon, participates once a month on the internet at auctions and twice a year at collectors’ fairs. He will also be on Sunday, September 18 at the multi-collections exchange organized by the Entente Philatélique et Numismatique d’Aquitaine (EPNA), an association of which he is a member.

His research on old coins, he accumulates them in about fifteen binders: “ practically the content of a thesis, 40 years of work! he jokes. Like what, a coin found by chance in a garden can take you much further than you would have imagined!

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