Coin Talk

Let's see your coins of Faustina I with veiled busts or anything you feel is relevant!

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Specialist collectors know that it makes no sense to hold out for "a better example," when a certain coin comes up for auction that is the only example. Such was the case with this dupondius of Faustina I when it recently came up for auction.


Faustina I, AD 138-141.
Roman orichalcum dupondius, 16.5 mm, 10.61 g.
Rome, AD 147-161 (probably AD 150/51).
Obv: DIVA FAV-STINA, diademed, veiled and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS S C, Fortuna standing left, holding globe and rudder.
Refs: RIC 1160b; BMCRE4 1557 var. (bust); Cohen 9; RCV 4640 var. (bust); ERIC II 356.
Notes: Beckmann (Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the provinces. American Numismatic Society, 2012, pp. 63-69) makes an argument, based on die-linkage studies of Faustina's aurei, that a massive issue of coins in all denominations bearing the reverse legend AETERNITAS took...

Austria-Hungary Paper Money, Hungarian Paper Money & Hungarian Inflationary Paper Money: 1915 - 1989

I am pleased to share with the forum my small but growing collection of large and fascinating Hungarian notes that I have collected in recent months.

To my knowledge, I have no personal lineage or heritage to the country of Hungary and have never visited the country in my travels, although I would like to see the united twin cities of Buda and Pest that are bisected by the Danube but connected by bridges and timeless cultural influences. The history of Budapest is long and complex, yet it is only a fraction of the greater nation, and the diversity of the past and current culture that tie the country together means there's a rich woven fabric of life, history, visual art, design and architectural histories...

As you know, I actively collect the coins of women of the Antonine dynasty and my focus of late has been on Faustina I. Here are a couple of coins of Faustina I acquired this month, each with Vesta on the reverse.

Vesta is the Roman version of the Greek goddess Hestia. She was the goddess of family values and domestic life (i.e. the hearth). Vesta was considered by the Romans to be a role-model for women and as such, she appears frequently on coins of the Roman empresses. She is always depicted wearing the stola and holding some combination of a patera, simpulum, scepter (hasta), torch, or Palladium. The maintenance of her cult was carried out by six Vestal Virgins who sometimes are depicted on coins sacrificing before her circular temple

Post your coins of Vesta, Faustina I, the Temple of Vesta, or anything you feel is relevant!

New acquisition #1:...

TROAS, Dardanos
c. 450-420 BCE
AR obol; 9 mm, 0.56 gm
Obv: cock standing left
Rev: cross-hatch pattern
Ref: Nomismata 3, 303; Demeester 98; SNG Ashmolean 1119 (all references unverified; I do not have copies of these reference books/catalogs)

Clearly this is the ancient inspiration for a classic dish of the US South


image source

Obvious joke aside, there is a reason these coins caught my attention several years ago (took me a while to win one; they are rare). The reverse type-- this cross-hatching design-- seems to be found only on this type of coin. Who really cares, you say? Probably no one. However, it made me wonder a couple of things about incuse punches used for the reverse of so many archaic and...

A scale weight arrived today from an interesting selling country: Cyprus. The price was modest, so I was not too worried about it being lost in the mail. I was interested to see what paper work would accompany an ancient item. Pics of the weight and package are below. You can see not much was said on the paper work.



Bronze Barrel Shaped Weight with I B
Late Imperial or Byzantine Commercial Weight, 500 -700 AD
Weight : 13.16 grams
Size : 15mm diameter x 10mm tall
VF, the weight has a brown patina with desert patina in the letters, both top & bottom have centering holes
References:
Ancient Scale Weights by David Hendin - # 335; IB = 12 scripula
Scales and Weights by Bruno Kisch
Table 5, Late Imperial Rome; IB = ½ ounce = 12 scruples
Table 6, Byzantine; IB = ½ ounce
Byzantine Weights by Simon...

Hey Folks,
I just purchased this book: Standard Price Guide to World Crowns and Talers 1484-1968 As Cataloged by Dr John S. Davenport. I have been bitten by the Taler bug, and while the only whole Taler I own is a Maria Theresia restrike, I hope to own more of these beauties. @micbraun and @Rheingold have been helping me look for one solid Taler to buy. Seems I’m pickier than anticipated and pickier than my budget allows. After sifting through over 5,000 Talers on Ma-Shops (@ma-shops love the Website), I decided I needed to buy the book and learn. Unfortunately, most of Davenport’s actual hardcover works are going for $100+, so I decided to start small with this 1984 2nd and final price catalog. I’m not sure what to expect, but I hope it’s a good start and for it being like new and $30 shipped, I felt I couldn’t go wrong. I made a list of “wants” and it seems my taste falls generally in the 16 and 1700s. Feel free to post any...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

The coin:
Kingdom of Bithynia, Prusias I., 183-149 BC
AE 20, 6.38g, 45°
obv. (anepigraphic)
Head of Dionysos, with ivy-wreath, r.
rev. Kentaur Cheiron, stg. r., holding Lyra with both hands, waving chlamys behind
him
Monogram in lower r. field
ref. SNG Copenhagen 639; BMC 9; SG 7266; Waddington, 226, 26
about VF, Brown patina


Mythology:
Cheiron, or Chiron, was the son of Kronos and Philyra. When Kronos approached Philyra he was surprised by his wife Rhea. For fear of her he turned into an horse. When Philyra after the birth of Cheiron saw his shape as horse she was so ashamed that she was finally transformed into a linden tree. But it is told too that Cheiron like all other Kentaurs has Ixion as father.

So Cheiron was a kentaur, a creature mixed of horse and man. But he is said to have been such a good physician, musician and astronomer, that he was the educator of Herakles, Asklepios, Jason and...

Drachm. 14 mm. 3.70 grams.
Persian Satrap of Caria, Mausolos, 373-353 BC.
Apollo 3/4 facing right. Zeus Labraundos standing right with labrys (double ax) and spear, wreath in left field.
Sear Greek II 4956. SNG Danish V Caria 591-593. SNG von Aulock 2361-2365. SNG Finland Keckman I 276. SNG Turkey I Kayhan 874-879.
Minted at Halikarnassos, Caria, now Bodrum on the southwestern coast of modern Turkey.

We spell his name "Mausolos," but he spelled it with a double S and double L: MAYΣΣΩΛΛO
Take a look at the legend:


From Wikipedia under "Mausoleum": "The word derives from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (near modern-day Bodrum in Turkey), the grave of King Mausolus, the...

This is my third coin from last weekend’s coin hunt. I don’t normally go after Roman coins but this nice Republic spoke to me through the dealer’s glass case. Both the coin & the price were attractive. I'd like to learn why Victory is seated rather than the normal standing/flying/crowning postures.
Gaze away from the photos as the extremely sharp details might cut your eyes.


Roman Republic
M. Cato
AR Quinarius
ca. 89 B.C.
2.25 grams
Obv: Liber right
Rev: Victory seated
Grade: Pretty much as originally struck FDC(?).
NGC label states MS with 5/5 strike and 4/5 surface.
Other: Relatively common RR in unusually high grade of preservation.
Gaze away as the extremely sharp details might cut your eyes.

Please show your examples! Do you have something that looks today like it did the day it was struck? Do you have a seated Victory or maybe...