Coin Talk

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Here I have the next mythological interesting coin. I know its conservation is not exceeding F+ but in EF this type is hardly affordable. It is said this type is extremely rare, only about a Dozen known!

The Coin:
Thrace, Mesambria, Gordian III & Tranquillina, AD 241-244
AE 27, 13.2g, 26.78mm, 180°
obv. AVT K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC AV CEB / TPANKVΛΛIN (AV ligate)
Confronted busts of Gordian III, draped and laureate, r., and Tranquillina, draped
and diademed, l.
rev. [MECAM] - BPIANΩN
Two Kuretes, helmeted, in short chiton and boots, performing the Pyrrhic dance.
Standing turned away, but looking at each other, holding each a round shield
above the head and beating with short swords against it.
ref. Varbanov 4186; Karajatov (2001) 111; SNG Fitzwilliam 1560
very rare, F+, dark green Patina


Mythology:
This coin leads us to the great Creation Myths of the Olympic gods. Like many others Zeus was the son of Rhea and...

While recently reading R. Hobbs' Currency and Exchange in Ancient Pompeii, I came across this fascinating table. It's a list of 1,385 coins found in a large dolia at a bar in Pompeii. Presumably the coins were left behind by the owner who fled the eruption in a hurry.


Unsurprisingly, coins struck by Vespasian dominate the hoard.

The dolia was sunk into the counter (like the one pictured below) and perhaps held the previous evening's takings.




Prices normally were listed in asses because bronze was the common currency for everyday exchange while gold and silver was for storing one's wealth. Poignantly, silver and gold coins are normally found on the fleeing victims of the eruption who wished to take their stored wealth with them. Rarely are bronze and precious metal coins found in a mixed condition. The Pompeian fresco below wonderfully illustrates this - precious metal on the left, bronze on the...

I ordered this coin continuing to fill out more of my Sicilian Greek coinage sub-collection that I've recently found a spark of interest in. So, as you might have assumed, I bought this initially with the belief that it was from Sicily and was listed as such struck by Hieron II.

I received it yesterday and started to do more researching on ACSearch and found similar coins... but to my confusion, they were listed as Ptolemy II, and... well, I guess it had that common type with Zeus and and eagle, but it had more of a similar Greek-style Zeus to the Mamertine coin I recently shared. I decided to go to CNG to research a bit more there, and came across this listing describing that this type has recently become to be thought of as more probably being struck in Sicily by Hieron II imitating the Ptolemy type. So, as with any Ptolemy coin, I ventured to the Ptolemaic Bronze site to see if I can find out more from Wolf & Lorber....

When Bruttia Crispina, the teenage daughter of twice Consul Gaius Bruttius Praesens
and his wive Valeria, married the 16 year old Commodus in the summer of 178, she
immediately received the title Augusta and thus became the sole empress of the Roman
Empire, as the previous empress and wife of the Senior Emperor Marcus Aurelius,
Faustina the Younger, had died three years before.
It was Marcus himself who had arranged the marriage of his son to crispina, who was not
only described as being a graceful person with a susceptible heart, but also brought a dowry of a large number of estates in Lucania.

Crispina´s images fall into two portrait types. The first type, which we see here, comemorates her marrige to Commodus in 178 AD, whereas Crispina´s second type marks Commodus´s accession in AD 180.
The hairstyle here is similar to that of Faustina minor in the 1st figurative type. In place of the loosely hanging hairline bows we see a heavy rolled plaid which is parted over the center of the...

I wrote this article for my local club a couple of years ago. Since I don't know what to do with it from there, I'll post in here in three parts.

Bah Humbug! That phrase is most often associated with Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but the word, "humbug," had many other applications in the 19th century. "Humbug" describes something that is met to deceive or mislead people. Some people applied that description to the many projects of Phineas T. Barnum, but I would prefer to characterize him as America's first great showman, perhaps our greatest showman.

P.T. Barnum was born on July 5, 1810 in Bethel, Connecticut. Later in life he would settle in Bridgeport which would claim him as a native son when he appeared on the obverse of the Bridgeport commemorative half dollar. His first job was as a clerk in a country store at age 13. At age 18 he started to find his calling when he got into the lottery business. A year later he moved to Danbury,...

There was a question concerning a copy of the Continential Dollar in the "What's it worth?" forum. Since there was some confusion over the Continential Dollar and the Fugio Cent, which share design elements, I've decided to post this article here.

In the late 1780s a glut of circulating, light weight copper coins was damaging the fragile United States economy. Some of these coppers were legitimate pieces that several states were issuing under the provisions of the Articles of Confederation. Under that form of government, which preceded the U.S. Constitution, each state was allowed to establish their own monetary system and issue money to support it. There were also foreign coins in circulation, which had been the standard practice since the colonial period.

The worst problem was a growing number of underweight counterfeit copper coins which almost all bore a resemblance to the British half penny. Several nefarious minters were producing these coins, and one source,...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

I often only use coins as a starting point for further investigations. So I did it here, too.

Pygmies rarely appear on Roman coins. I only know of a Denarius of L. Roscus Fabatus, Cr. 412/1, symbols 69. All the more I was pleased to be able to acquire this coin from Alexandria showing a dancing Pygmy on the rev:

The Coin:
Egypt, Alexandria, Diocletian, AD 284-305
Billon-Tetradrachm, 7.51g, 19mm, 210°
struck AD 291/2 (RY 8)
obv. ΔIOKΛHTI - ANOC CEB
Bust, draped, laureate, r.
rev. Horus (Harpokrates), stg. facing, wearing hemhem-crown, nude except chlamys
over shoulders, holding branch in lowered r. hand and pomegranate in raised l.
hand; at his l. side the small figur of a dancing Pygmy.
in l. and r. field L - H (year 8)
ref. Milne 5021; Emmett 4062; Curtis 2005
about VF, interesting rev. type
pedigree:
ex coll. Zach Beasley (Beast Coins) 2009
ex coll. Keith Emmett
ex Harlan Berk Oct. 1991


Name and...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Most of us know the Phoenix from the FEL TEMP REPARATIO coins of the Late Roman empire. Here I want to share an article about the origin of the Phoenix from Egypt.

The coin:
Egypt, Alexandria, Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161
AE - tetradrachm, 11.44g, 22mm, 180°
struck AD 138/9 (RY 2)
obv. [AV]T [K T AIΛ AΔP] - [AN]TΩN[INOC EVCEB]
Bare head r.
rev. AI - ΩN
Phoenix, nimbate, stg. r.
in l. and r. field L - B (year 2)
ref. Milne 1603; Geissen 1291; Dattari 2430; Kampmann 35.2
Rare, F+, slightly porous
pedigree:
ex CNG electronic auction 219, lot 386
ex coll. Jörg Möller

Note:
AIΩN = eternity

Mythology:
The origin of the mythology of the wonder bird Phoenix can be found in Egypt. There the bird benu, a purple heron, played an important role. During the Nile flood this beautiful blue bird sat on a high place and collected the sunbeams over the water with its shining feathers. Therefore he...

I first saw this 1799 dollar in 1979. I had just joined a local club in the Boston area, and an older gentleman brought it to a meeting. I told him that if he ever wanted to sell it, that I would be interested.

About ten years later he approached me. He wanted AU money, but I told him that it was really an EF-45. We agreed to let ANACS determine the price. This was in the days when the ANA owned the company and the coins were slabbed in the little white holders.

The coin came back from ANACS in an EF-45 holder. I purchased the piece for strong EF money.

Jump ahead 12 years. I decided to get my collection graded. I cracked this piece out of the ANACS holder and set it to NGC via a dealer with whom I had done a lot of business as a dealer. The coin came back as an NCG AU-55. Here are photos of the piece.



The piece has a quite a bit of luster, and is easily an AU-55 by today's standards.

You can condemn me if you like, but...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

I'm sure many of you have already seen coins from Caesarea (Greek Kaisareia), where the back is called 'Mt. Argaios' or 'Mt. Argaeus'. Here are three of them:

1st Coin:
Cappadocia, Caesarea, Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180
AR - Didrachm, 6.73g, 20.93mm, 225°
struck from AD 161 (COS III)
obv. AVTOKP ANTΩNEINOC CEB
Bare head with curly head r.
rev. VΠA - TOC Γ (= COS III)
Mount Argaios, surrounded by flames(?); in the middle a big round object, on
top 8-pointed star; on the lower left rock a stag, on the lower r. rock a tree
ref. Metcalf 130a; Sydenham 327; Sear GIC 1661 var. (drapery on l. shoulder)
Scarce, VF, slightly toned

Note:
Probably from the hoard found in 1983 in Caesarea (Metcalf)

2nd Coin:
Cappadocia, Caesarea, Lucius Verus, AD 161-169
AR - Didrachm, 6.71g, 21.53mm, 225°
struck from AD 161 (COS II)
obv. AVTOKP OVHPOC CEBACTOC
Bare head r.
rev. VΠA - TOC B (= COS II)
Mons Argaios,...