Coin Talk

All heads up, facing the same way. I threw in some foreign coins, errors, altered coins, some counterfeits, Indian Head Cents, counterstamp cents, a Flying Eagle cent, 1943 steel cents, and a couple tokens.

What do you guys think?

~Joe Cronin

I admit this coin is not very pretty, but it is scarce and of historical interest:

Sasanian Persia. AE Unit (2.44 g, 18 mm). Vahram V (420-438 AD). Obverse: King's bust right, name in Pahlavi script before. Reverse: Zoroastrian fire-altar and two attendants. This coin: Pars Coins Auction 10 (November 16, 2020), lot 145.

Vahram (also spelled Vahrahan or Bahram) V was born around 400 AD to the Sasanian king Yazdegard I (399-420) and his wife Shushandukht, the daughter of the Jewish exilarch (leader of the Jewish community in Mesopotamia). As his mother was Jewish, Vahram would therefore be considered Jewish under Jewish tradition, even though there is no evidence that he ever practiced the Jewish religion. Young Vahram was sent off to be raised at the court of the Lakhmids, an Arab dynasty that ruled part of southern Iraq and northern Arabia. In 420 AD, a conspiracy of nobles and Zoroastrian priests murdered Yazdegard and placed one of his sons...

Asia Minor is full of Gods and Goddesses. Here I want to share an age-old Goddess who was known in Greek-Roman times as Artemis Perasia.

1st coin:
Cilicia, Hieropolis-Kastabala, 2nd-1st century BC
AE 21, 7.02g 21.09mm, 0°
struck under Antiochos IV Epiphanes
obv. Head of the City Goddess (Tyche), wearing mural crown, r.; monogram behind
rev. [ I]EPOΠOΛITΩ[N] (in r. field , top down)
[TΩ]N ΠPOC TΩ / [Π]YPAM[Ω] (in l. field, top down)
Artemis Perasia, in long garment and wearing kalathos, sceptre in l. arm, std. l. on
throne with high back; beneath eagle stg. l.
ref. SNG Levante 1564; Lindgren 1507; SNG Paris 2208
VF, dark-green Patina

2nd coin:
Cilicia, Hieropolis-Kastabala, 2nd-3rd century AD (?)
AE 24, 8.71g, 23.82mm, 0°
obv. IEPOΠOΛI - TΩN
Bust of City Goddess (Tyche), draped and veiled, wearing mural crown, r.
rev. [TΩN ΠPOC TΩ ΠYPAMΩ]
Bust of Artemis Perasia, draped and veiled, wearing mural crown, r.; burning torch before
ref. not in...

My first 50 Roman Republican coins were all denarii. But I've seen a lot of people post very appealing examples of the quinarius (half-denarius) in the year-plus I've been here, and recently I saw two of them that I really liked and decided to buy. From what little I know, they're among the most common types of the denomination issued during the Republic. The dealers' photos don't really do them justice, but I couldn't manage any better.

First:

Roman Republic, M. Cato, AR Quinarius [half denarius], 89 BCE. Obv. Head of young Liber (or Bacchus) right, M•CATO (AT ligate) downwards behind; below, control-mark star/ Rev. Victory seated right, holding patera with outstretched right hand and palm branch over left shoulder; in exergue, VICTRIX (TR ligate). Crawford 343/2b, RSC I Porcia 7 (ill.) (type with symbol as control-mark), BMCRR 662, Sydenham 597(c), Sear RCV I 248 (ill.), RBW Collection 1298. 15 mm., 1.58 g., 6 h. Ex. Numismatique Louis Brousseau Auction 1, Aug. 24, 2019,...

Humans have been making images of cattle for many millennia - this painting from Lascaux caves depicts aurochs (wild ancestors of domesticated cattle), horses and deer. The Magdalénien people of the Upper Paleolithic in western Europe that produced these paintings are estimated to have lived 12,000-17,000 years ago.

Image from Prof. Saxx of a Lascaux cave painting, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

My latest ancient coin has a beautiful image of a bull facing on the obverse and Artemis on the reverse. Recently, I have been reading a book by Jeremy McInerney about cattle and the Greeks. The book covers many aspects of the relationship between cattle and the ancient Greeks.

“The accumulation of experience between cattle – hunted, tamed, bred, nurtured, yoked, milked, killed, eaten, worshiped – fixes...

My first gold coin, and my third coin with dies engraved by Benvenuto Cellini arrived in the mail today from Heritage. This coin was minted after the election of Alessandro Farnese as pope Paul III. Taking advantage of the fact that new popes traditionally issued mass pardons, Cellini had commited murder during the interregnum, after the death of Clement VII, ostensibly to avenge his brother.

Like the other coins I have purchased, Cellini describes this coin in his autobiography (together with requisite drama and bravado) (LXXV):

Ἀλέξανδρος ἦν, καὶτήν τε μνήμην αὐτοῦπαντοίως ἀνενεώσατο, εἰκόνας τε καὶἀνδριάντας ἐν πάσαις πόλεσιν ἀναστῆναι ἐκέλευσε (Herodian IV,8)

He was Alexander. He revived his memory in a thousand ways and ordered that portraits and statues be erected in all the cities.

The history
Emperor Caracalla owes his nickname to a Gallic mantle he wore regularly, but his real name is Lucius Septimius Bassianus. He is the eldest son of Emperor Septimius Severus, and his birth takes place in April 4th 188 AD in Lugdunum. A fervent admirer of Alexander the Great, Caracalla comes to power by assassinating his brother, and he will reign terror during his six years in power. In power from the age of 23, he quickly became a tyrant whose excesses of all kinds seemed bordering on madness.


Metropolitan Museum of Art

However, he is very popular with the...

My coins bigger than yours. I know, I know. It's not the size of the coin but what you spend it on.
Buuuut


Now that we have that over with, UNLEASH THE GORGON!!!


SKYTHIA Olbia - Gorgoneion Proto Money
437-410 BC
Obv: facing gorgon's head. Rev: sea eagle flying right. 65.4 mm, 89.7 grams. Poor. Scarce.
Provenance
Property of a European collector; acquired in 2007; previously in a Dutch collection formed in the 1980s-1990s.
Literature Sear 1682. Purchased from Timeline Auctions Feb 2021


(I lift this bad boy 3 sets of 10 each day and my biceps are looking swole! But seriously, in hand it is a BEAST)
This highly sought after type is the largest coin type for size, period. The reverse is more than likely a love song to Perikles who secured trade with them and democracy for them on his naval expedition the very same year these coins...

Manuel I Komnenos, the last Byzantine ruler to dominate the politics in the Mediterranean world, eager to restore his empire to its past glories as the superpower.



He ruled nearly 40 years, from 1143 to 1180 which makes his coinage quite abundant and complex. Manuel started his reign with his father's very considerable treasury, which he effectively exhausted in 1156 during his failed expedition to Italy fighting the Normands. He had spent an enormous sum of 2,100,000 hyperpyra on this expedition (we are talking here about around 9 tons of pure gold).
The denominations in his reign, which were created in the monetary reform by his grandfather, were the AV Hyperpyron, EL Aspron trachy, worth 1/3 of the Hyperpyron, BI Trachy, worth 1/48 of the hyperpyron and the AE Tetarteron including it's half (and also the Metropolitan issues, which had a couple of percent of silver added to them).

The EL Aspron...

For years I looked for an example. I had only seen one and that was from a fellow collector on Forum Ancient Coins, I helped him attribute it. After that I never saw another Until……..

A collection of coins from Simon Bendall came to market, I bid on this coin and lost and very much regretted it. Well in this case opportunity struck twice and the coin came back to market, I acquired it and received it today.



Andronicus I SBCV-1988 DOC 7

2.57gm

20mm

From the collection of Simon Bendall.

Now the original attribution by Michael Hendy was this was a coin made during the siege of Thessalonica in the month of August 1185 AD, the normal issue from this mint was a coin depicting the Virgin (Type A, SBCV-1987) and this rare coin was considered type B ( SBCV-1988). The tie in is two of these coins were found at the Athens and none in Corinth excavations. One of the 2 coins found was overstruck over type A. I have not seen this overstruck...