Coin Talk

(Edit: I originally titled this story "A Christmas Wedding", because that's when Vesta McCurry and her soldier sweetheart were married. But read on - the story developed some interesting twists after I originally posted this!)

WW1 trench art engraved on 1918 France 2-franc coin: ("Souvenir [of] France") [for] "Miss Vesta McCurry, Hartwell, Ga"

I've had this World War 1 trench art piece in my box for a year or two. Was just photographing it and getting it ready for listing on eBay when I decided to do a little sleuthing on its backstory, which, as often happens, proved to be interesting.

This literally unique piece tells the story - a love story - which led to a Christmas wedding 99 years ago.

...

As I have been collecting coins of Septimius Severus, I have wandered into the provinces as I have noted in my posts about Nikopolis ad Istrum and Markianopolis in Moesia Inferior. I have also bought some interesting coins from Antioch in Pisidia in the last few months.

Ruins of Antioch in Pisidia:



Antioch in Pisidia is located in modern day Turkey. The western two thirds of modern day Turkey was known as Anatolia. Anatolia has been continuously inhabited as far back as the 24th century BC. An important center of trade and sandwiched between the Black, the Mediterranean and the Aegean Seas, there was good reason for many cultures to inhabit the area. Hittites, Assyrians, Egyptians and Persians all tried to wrest control of the area...

Hi everyone,

Are you ready to celebrate?!

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the Top Ten lists and Secret Saturnalia threads, some of my favourites!

I wasn’t able to participate in the Secret Saturnalia. But, one of our friends sent me a wonderful gift that is especially meaningful to me at this time of year.

Deacon Ray sent me this amazing Star of Bethlehem AE Trichalkon with Zeus on the obverse and a ram looking at a star on the reverse. This has always been in the top 5 coins on my wish list and I’m so so happy to have it. Thank you, Deacon Ray!



He also sent me an awesome card that I’ll post a picture of tomorrow.

This is a great coin with a fascinating theory behind what is commemorated on the reverse. You can read more about it here: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/data/cartwright/Star of Bethlehem Coins.pdf

A lot of...

I have obtained two more Epeiros additions which I am really happy about. First coin is a diobol from the Epeirote league. I have a drachm of this and a diobol is a great addition since it is a quite scarce denomination. The second coin is a rare municipal mint from Ambrakia during the Epeirote League.

Epeirote League Diobol (234–168 B.C.). Mint ?
Obverse: Head of Zeus Dodonaeus right wearing oak wreath, monogram behind.
Reverse: ΑΠΕΙ - ΡΩΤΑΝ; thunderbolt, oak wreath around.
1.41g; 14mm

The mint of these Epeirote League coins is a bit of a mystery. In what city is it minted? Is it Dodona, is it Phoenice or is it Kassope, or who knows another city?

Phoenice is the capital of the Epirote Republic and makes known municipal bronze coins and it is thought that the federal mintage occurs there as well, because after all it is the capital...

By edge of the world I mean for the areas of interest I collect in the Greek world. I'm trying to collect all rulers of the Seleucid kingdom for which I have 25. I also am interested in getting as many mints as possible for which I have 24 currently. My latest comes from a remote corner of the known Greek world.
As Alexander was conquering the territories of the former achaemenid empire he renamed as many as 60 or 70 cities after himself. He made it as far as present day India before returning to Babylon. After his death in 323 BC, wars were fought amongst his generals and his territory was eventually divided among them. The furthest reaches to the East went to Seleucus. One mint in particular was established by him around 285 BC now known as AI Khanoum, some also believe it is the site of Alexandria on the Oxus.
It is a very remote mint indeed being some 2500 miles from Athens. Located in Northern Afganistan near the border of Tajikistan, foreigners are forbidden to enter without...

Regrettably, I haven’t been around on CT as much lately nor have I had as much time to spend on my coin hobby in general as I would like. For one, I generally like to complete my study of a coin before I post to the forum. However, considering I am running out of year I figured I’d share a coin that I bought recently hoping to dive deeper into the question of the chronology…

Well, it’s becoming plain that it will be quite some time before I will be able to acquire the necessary references, and more importantly, find the time to read them. In the meantime I figured you all might enjoy seeing my newest acquisition along with the handful of facts that I do know about it.


Greek Colonies in Illyria
Dyrrachion AR Stater, struck ca. 450-350 BC
Dia.: 21.5 mm
Wt.: 9.78 g
Obv.: Cow suckling calf
Rev.: ΔΥΡ around star pattern within linear square; club in field
Ref.: BMC 22, SNG Copenhagen 421
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica sale 641...

Have you ever looked at a coin and asked yourself who has held this? Have you ever asked yourself if maybe one of your ancestors held this coin? Well I decided to dive into my past a little and collect some coins from the era of one of my more famous predecessors, John Wallace.

Now you've probably never heard of John Wallace. But I'm sure you've heard of his much more famous older brother, Sir William Wallace. Not much is known about these two characters of history beyond a few battles and their deaths. But I am sure that for every step that William took, his brother John was close beside him.

The Wallace's foray through history begins with the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The bridge itself was a narrow, wooden thing only wide enough to fit two horsemen abreast. The English numbered around 9,000 men under the command of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and Sir Hugh de Cressingham who was the Kings treasurer in Scotland at the time. The Scots numbered...

The last time I did this, it was fun, so I thought it would be fun to do it again. I used a random number generator to pick a coin for me to post today. It chose:


Diadumenian, Caesar AD 217-218.
Roman provincial Æ 16.5 mm, 4.63 g, 11:00.
Syria: Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch ad Orontem.
Obv: ΚΑΙ Μ Ο ΔΙA ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟC CЄ, bare-headed and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: Large SC, Δ/Є above and beneath; all within laurel wreath interrupted by star above.
Refs: SGI 3017; BMC 20. 201,408; SNG Cop. 235; McAlee 745a.
Notes: Reverse die match to McAlee plate coin.[1]

What is so interesting this coin?

The main mint of Syria was Antioch, which produced vast numbers of bronze coins with the letters S C in a wreath on the reverse. These issues begin with Augustus and continue down to Philip I (244-249). There is scholarly disagreement as to what the abbreviation S C means on the reverse of these coins. Wayne Sayles believes this abbreviation "is probably for the same...

Hello everybody!

I present here my newest acquisition. It's a very rare hemidrachm of Antinous, struck in Alexandria, Egypt.
After I had seen a few threads here in CT, associated with my interest in Antinous' history, and reading Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian, I got carried away and started looking for something that would fit into my numismatic budget.
Unfortunately, the eye-appeal is far far from the acceptable minimum. Well, that's what we have for now.
Antinous here looks more like Roger Waters. Truly a Greek tragedy, especially considering the beauty of the boy and the ugliness of the other.


The coin has had better days. It was visibly tooled, treated of a probable bronze disease, which must have been quite aggressive on the reverse. That is, all the adjectives for many here pass far away...
But it's still an Antinous. I would not content myself with having a tessera. My numismatic focus is really in ancient...

What do you do when your purchase turns out to be not what you expected? What do you do when finding out you won't be able to use the item you bought? Bummer...right? Return it? Look for another one?

Not in this case, though.

What appeared to be just another damaged item, turned out to be not that! Why on earth did someone glue that coin there, thus damaging both pieces? Could it be removed and at least salvage the main piece? The coin was obviously a goner. Answers to these questions became clear as the investigative work continued..

What did the engraving mean? Maybe the seller could shed some light? Could Google help? Turns out it could!

First, seller provided name and little history.

Turns out this is not a damaged piece. This is an award, a golfing award, from the 1970's. The coin is supposed to be glued there. Why?

This is not just any award -There's more, the award was given to someone who made friends with...the King of Belgium. Makes sense that a coin depicting the...