Coin Talk

Just who was Joseph W. Barr? He was born on January 17, 1918 and died on February 23, 1996. His place of birth was Bicknell, Indiana.

He received a BA from Depauw University and an MA at Harvard University in the field of economics. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1945 during World War II with his duties assigned as a subchaser in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

He received a bronze star and was credited with the sinking of a submarine off of Anzio Beach.

After the war he worked in grain elevators, theaters, real estate and publishing businesses. In 1958 he was elected to Congress from the 11th district in Indiana but was defeated two years later.

During his two-year term he made friends with then Senator John F. Kennedy. After his defeat President Kennedy appointed him Secretary of the Treasury for Congressional Relations. In 1963 he was appointed chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the FDIC.

From 1965 to 1968 he served as...

Lysimachus was one of Alexander the Great's personal bodyguards. After Alexander's death, somehow Lysimachus worked his way up to general and eventually the ruler of Thrace. He ruled Thrace from 305 BCE until he was killed in battle in 281 BCE by Seleukos I Nikator.

Below is a drachm, typical of other Greek drachms of the period, until you look at the busy reverse. Talk about eye candy. Besides Zeus and the eagle, we have a lion, a pentagram, and a control mark that looks like an o with a spear through it.


AR drachm
Kingdom of Thrace
Lysimachus (305-381BCE)
Kolophon Mint (299-296 BCE)
weight 4.258g, maximum diameter 18.7mm, die axis 0o
obverse: head of Herakles right, wearing Nemean Lion skin, scalp over head, forepaws tied at neck.
Reverse: Zeus Aëtophoros seated left, eagle in right hand, scepter in left hand, right leg drawn back, lion-forepart left over Φ (control symbols) in left field, pentagram (control symbol) under throne, ΛYΛIMAXOY downward on...

Pleasure & Profit (Second Edition): 100 Lessons for Building and Selling a Collection of Rare Coins by Robert W. Shippee, Whitman, 2019, 318 +x pages, $19.95.

Robert W. Shippee found no profits and significant losses in his acquisitions of high-grade certified modern coins. A Deep Cameo Proof 69 Silver 1999-S Connecticut Quarter is just not rare; and it simply never excited him. He bought the coin (and four more similar Mint States and Proof, silver and clad 1965, 1976, 1999) and he lost half of his $370 investment at sale. He bought them only to complete a PCGS Registry set. He built the set only to sell it. He made a lot of money on the truly collectible and objectively rare coins from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, and he did it under ten years. This is his story.

He weaves numismatics with his other passion, golf. My complete disinterest in golf did not detract from the book. And I am not an investor. As a...

George E. Dixon was a first lieutenant in the Confederate Army but his early life is unknown and the only census in 1860 listed him at the age of 23. George's profession was steamboat engineer and he resided in New Orleans, Louisiana before moving to Mobile, Alabama for reasons unknown. During Georges time in Alabama he joined a militia company called The Washington Light Infantry of Mobile and in the fall of 1861 the militia became part of the Confederate Army. During the early months of 1862 Georges regiment, The 21st Alabama Infantry Regiment moved towards Corinth, Mississippi to participate in the Battle of Shioh and during this battle George would be shot in the left leg but the bullet did not penetrate him being saved by his $20 gold coin given to him by his lover.

George E. Dixon, at the age of 27 was selected to command the newly commissioned H. L. Hunley on it's first attack on a Union Navy ship. During this first attack the Hunley got with 20 feet of the USS Housatonic...

Steatite Seal. Indus Valley Civilisation. Harappa. Northern India-Pakistan. Circa 2600-1900 BCE.


Featuring a sacred bull common among Harappan iconology. Undeciphered Harappan script on the top. I took a light plaster imprint of the seal to avoid damage or flaking of the surface due to thousands of years of exposure and the soft material that is Steatite. nonetheless a remarkably well preserved seal with full details intact.

Despite efforts of archeologists and scholars, no one in the world to date is able to decipher the various obscure pictographs found on these seals. Nonetheless they appear prominently on excavated artefacts and often depict common thematic pictures such as the a sacred Bull or unicorn, 3 headed beasts, elephants and human figures in seated meditative posts. Given the soft composite of steatite or "soap stone" many seals reveal traces of damage of breaks.

British Museum. source:wikipedia


The Bronze...

Lately I've been really enjoying the Macedonian shield coins. An area that has always fascinated me, but one that I am having a very hard time finding data on.
The most impactful piece of literature that I have found so far is this this brief pdf: http://www.astro.ro/~roaj/26_2/17-Rov_Mac_f7_n30.pdf
A good amount, I would dare say most, of these coins listed on eBay, in all their varying types, are erroneously listed as Alexander the greats. That said, it is an area that really stresses the importance of knowing monograms and what, where and whom various symbols are attached to.
Case in point, here is a Demetrios Poliorketes from my good ol coin pal @ominus1, aka ominomonophthalmus1, where all you need to know is the monogram of "the besieger of cities". But without that knowledge you might have as hard a time figuring it out as Demetrios did getting into Rhodes!
(He never got inside. And as the story goes, he left the siege engine at Rhodes, where the...

In addition to what Roger wrote, I believe the failure of huge numbers of bills submitted also played a big part to their demise.

“Abuses of commemorative coins came to the forefront under Grant’s tenure, and President Coolidge vowed not to approve any more in 1925. President Hoover approved some commemoratives, then became disenchanted with the ‘racket,’ and threatened to veto any commemorative coin legislation sent to him by Congress.[1] This eventually resulted in replacement of the Standing Liberty quarter with the Washington design in 1932.

Although President Roosevelt initially approved of additional commemoratives, the entire matter got out of hand quickly. Secretary Morgenthau began to crack down on excessive commemorative coin legislation in mid-1936….(add quotes). Demand for normal coinage in 1936-1937 continued...

Rome has fallen, the glory days of the Antonines are a distant memory fit for the history books, and the Empire is beset on all sides by enemies that wish to extinguish the last light of Nova Roma. This was the world that John II Komenenos was born into.

John was the son of the great Emperor Alexius I Komenenos; it was Alexius who single handedly saved the Eastern Roman Empire from nearly 40 years of neglect and military disasters. This was good news for John as he inherited a secure Empire. Though secure, the Turks still held large swaths of the Anatolian country side. This was unacceptable to John and one of the first things he did was to make war against them. John's go to guy and commander of the field armies that was to lead the attack was confusingly named John. Though this John was a Turkman who had been captured as a child in the early stages of the first crusade. Ironically enough they were best of friends and Emperor John intrusted John the Turk with running the army and...

Hello! I'm new to the forums and just wanted to share my personal project I've been working on for the past year or so. I am collecting a fun short series of Irish coins specifically the silver Shillings. As far as circulating coinage there's only 10 pieces which makes the set that much more fun. I've tried other sets like the 7070 and found it to be overwhelming. As an added bonus these coins were very low mintages and they are a challenge to find in high grades. If anyone can point me to upgrades for the set please do!

Here's the set in it's current state.



Not a high grade but a fun bit of toning. It actually looks much different in hand but PCGS couldn't quite find the right balance. A friend of mine has given his style a go and you can see the same coin here:





This example hase been very recently upgraded with a nicer raw example. It is currently...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

One of the famous deeds of Heracles was the fight with Antaios.

The Coin:
Cilicia, Tarsos, Philip I, AD 244-249
AE 37, 19.96g, 225°
obv. AVT KAI IOV ΦIΛIΠΠON [EVT] EVC CE
in l. and r. field Π - Π
Bust, draped and cuirassed, radiate, r.
rev. TAPCOV THC MHTP[OΠ]OΛEΩC
in l. field B, in r. field one below the other A / M / K / Γ
Herakles stg. facing, head l., leaning l., wrestling Antaios; he lifts Antaios up
by the waist while Antaios tries to break his grip
ref. SNG Levante 1153 (same dies); Hunter S.556, 59, pl. LX, 18 (rev. same die);
Voegtli 17h
good F, usual roughness


Mythology:
Antaios (Lat. Antaeus), son of Poseidon and Gaia, was a huge giant, who is said to have a length of 60 Greek cubits. He was king and ruler of Libya and forced all strangers who entered his empire to wrestle with him. Beause of his immense force it was easy for him to strangle all...