Coin Talk

Since I posted a photo of this coin yesterday, I guess it's time for me to do a proper write-up:

Saffarids. Shiraz mint. AR dirham (3.25 g, 28 mm). Tahir ibn Muhammad (288-296 AH/901-908 AD), dated 289 AH (902 AD). Album 1402, Wilkes 1444. This coin: Stephen Album Auction 37, lot 2393 (June 2020).

The Saffarid dynasty was founded in 861 AD by Ya'qub ibn al-Layth as-Saffar (saffar means "coppersmith" in Persian) who originally practiced the trade for which he is named, before turning to warlordism in Sistan province of eastern Persia. He soon expanded out from his capital at Zaranj city to control most of what is now Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, plus some territory in Central Asia. His brother Amr ibn al-Layth succeeded him in 879. In 900, Amr ibn al-Layth was captured in battle by his enemies the Samanids to the north. Although Amr officially remained Emir of the Saffarids until the next year, the Saffarid army proclaimed its allegiance...

Here I am again ... "locked down" (Not officially, but actual none the less) in Florida. It's going on five months now, and there is no end in sight. So, let's pull another article out of the archives. I have not bothered to revise it from its 2014 origins, but I have purchased a lot of coins. I will add them in where it seems appropriate. I hope you enjoy it.


Last fall I had the pleasure of visiting England for the first time. One thing that really struck me was the age of the buildings that are still standing there, and the length of English history. Americans think of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, which opened in 1753, as "old." Paul Revere's House in Boston, which was built in the 1680s and is oldest structure still standing in a major American city, almost seems "ancient." Yet buildings of that age in England are almost "modern" given that there are structures like the White Tower of London, which was built prior to 1100.

My trip to England...

Not even a horse!

I know nothing about boats -- it's probably been 15 years since I've even set foot on one (a whale watching trip off Cape Cod) -- but I found this coin so appealing, and so detailed, that I couldn't resist buying it:

Roman Republic, C. Fonteius, AR Denarius, 114-113 BCE. Obv. Laureate, Janiform head of the Dioscuri, control mark N under left chin [mark of value * (= 16) under right chin is worn off] / Rev. Galley left with three rowers, gubernator (pilot) at stern, anchor beneath galley, C • FONT above, ROMA below. Crawford 290/1, RSC I Fonteia 1 (ill.), Sear RCV I 167 (ill.), Sydenham 555. 20 mm., 3.90 g. Ex: CNG Auction May 2012 Lot 293, Ex: Bruce R. Brace Collection.*




* According to H.A. Seaby in RSC I (at p. 48), the Janiform head on the obverse relates to the origins of the Fonteia gens -- which claimed as its founder Fons or Fontus, supposedly the son of Janus -- and the galley on the reverse...

BRONZE 10 CENT COIN - FRENCH COLONIAL - LOUIS PHILIPPE I KING OF THE FRENCH
Paris Mint
Date: A.D. 1843



Obverse: Portrait Laureate head left - LOUIS PHILIPPE I ROI DES FRANÇAIS (TIOLIER ET BARRE)

Reverse: Denomination 10 CENT within wreath with date 1843 below (A) and inscription COLONIES FRANÇAISES above

Engraver: Jean-Jacques Barre

This is a bronze 10 cent coin of France minted in 1843 to be used in the French colonies depicting Louis Philippe d'Orléans known as King Louis Philippe I of the House of Orléans The obverse depicts a portrait of King Louis Philippe I laureated head left with the inscription LOUIS PHILIPPE I ROI DES FRANÇAISES (Louis Philippe I King of the French) with the inscription TIOLIER ET BARRE below the portrait denoting the engravers Nicolas-Pierre Tiolier and Jacques-Jean Barre. The reverse shows the denomination of 10 CENT.(Centemes) encircled by a laurel wreath with the date 1843 below. At the...

Base of a funerary kouros, Athens 510-500 BC, with wrestlers – National Archaeological Museum Greece

There are coins from Nicaea, Bithynia, showing the games of “Severan Botherly Love” or “CЄOVHPIA ΦIΛAΔЄΛΦЄIA” with prize crowns highlighting “IEPOC AGWN” or “Holy Games” – perhaps wishfully promoting good relations between the two princes. CNG Article here and here. Knowing the end of the story, it is hard to see anything other than irony in games of "Brotherly Love" associated with Caracalla and Geta.

While my coin, doesn’t explicitly mention the Holy Games or the Severan Games, it is from local Nicean games of Severus celebrating the royal family if not more specifically the elevation of Caracalla and Geta to...

When people describe ancient coins depicting "panthers," I suspect that they don't think very much about the fact that the panther is not a separate species, and that all or most of such animals were probably simply leopards. Even so-called "black panthers" are simply melanistic leopards or jaguars. (Obviously, jaguars weren't known to the ancient Greeks and Romans!) For whatever reason, though -- and maybe I'm just not looking in the right places -- almost all "panthers" that I've seen on ancient coins are depicted without spots or any other body markings. (I'm not counting the striped big cats on some of Gallienus's zoo coins with legends naming "Liber Pater" [associated with Dionysos/Bacchus], traditionally identified as panthers, that are actually tigresses. See the article at https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Liber Pater .)

One possibility is that most...

Last month we had a thread about who was the most decent of the Roman emperors and not surprisingly Antoninus Pius came in as the number one nice guy emperor. There were a number of runner-up's but, surprising to me, one of them was not the one I would have picked after Antoninus as a very decent emperor, who managed in his brief reign do some pretty good things for the Empire but who is remembered, if at all, for the one act of choosing his replacement. Of course many readers have figured out who I am writing about, Marcus Cocceius Nerva, a ruler who, by both our standards (more or less) and those of the Roman people, was a capable and thoughtful person and ruler.

Nerva was born into an upper class family in a town about 50 miles outside Rome with some moderately successful relatives and ancestors and who entered the imperial service as a youth. The one notable gap in his education was a lack of expertise, or interest in, military matters, which almost terminated his already...

These two pieces were on the PCGS site this morning. I am posting them here to warn collectors NOT to depend on the holders for detecting counterfeits. This first one is a poor counterfeit in a deceptive holder.

BAD 1915 $10 gold in a fake slab.



Here are close-ups of the bad coin. These were supplied by the seller. Note that they are dark for a reason.



Counterfeiters get the serial numbers from real slabs by looking them up on sites like Heritage. Here is the the real coin. The photo is from the Heritage site.



Here is a bogus 1903 $20 gold. Note that the fake logo on the back of the slab has bled over to the front. The "3" in the date does not match the other digits in the date which is a dead give away as to what this thing is.



Here is a genuine 1903 double eagle...

Public Domain Image
Some of my favorite coins have been opportunistic rather than the result of careful planning. This coin is in that category, a quick search for price comparison, the price was right, the look intriguing: a prone wolf, an incuse "A" reverse, light wear, decent strike and great toning. I hadn’t noticed one of these before, and decided to bid. Now I have questions and the hope that CT members will be able to add to my incomplete picture.
Argolis, Argos, circa 90-50 BC, AR Triobol, Hieron (IEPΩNOΣ), magistrate
Obv: Forepart of wolf at bay left
Rev: Large A; I-E/P-Ω/NO-Σ in three lines around; below crossbar, eagle standing right on thunderbolt; all within incuse square
Size: 14mm 2.43g
Ref: BCD Peloponnesos 1177-8

A few things I can share about this...

James Ramsey Ullman wrote a novel in 1945 called The White Tower. The book was made into a film in 1950 with Glenn Ford, Lloyd Bridges, and Alida Valli.

In the novel which is set around October of 1944, Captain Martin Ordway is a US Army Air Force bomber pilot. His airplane is heavily damaged on a bombing mission over Germany, he orders his crew to bail out (leave the airplane with parachutes) and then he bails out.

The story hinges on two coincidences. First Martin lands in Switzerland and discovers that he has landed near a town, Kandermatt, where his wealthy father had sent him before the war to take mountaineering classes from the Swiss guides. He also encounters Carla, a young Austrian woman who he knew from that period who is now working and living there.

The residents start making arrangements to move Martin to France where he can rejoin his unit.

Before the war Swiss guides had made 40 francs per day guiding climbers but the loss of tourists has closed much of...