Coin Talk

When I was a kid, collecting US pennies and the like, and poring over the 1964 "Redbook" I would come upon coins that were so rare that instead of a price, all I would see is a line. To me that meant something mysterious, a coin I would never be able to buy, forgetting of course that something like 99.9% of the coins in the book were beyond my means - in those days collecting was going through hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pennies - assuming I was lucky enough to find the pennies to go through.

Of course for ancient coins the "line," meaning price, for an extremely rare coin is kind of meaningless - even a collector of modest means is quite capable of owning extremely rare, even unique coins. However, until I ended up with the coin that is the subject of this article I did not own a coin that would I ever call "line worthy" - even if its value doesn't approach the US coins in the Redbook whose price is designated by a line.

This is an As of Clodius Albinus, as Augustus,...

For more info on the photo and balloon rides see https://cappadociaballoonflights.com/

With the evolving global pandemic, it seems unlikely that much leisure travel will be part of my near term plans. The phrase, "may you live in interesting times", has come to mind too often in recent months. I find this photo of balloons in Cappadocia uplifting and spectacular. Cappadocia, at least from travel websites, sounds like a great vacation with balloon rides, Mt. Erciyes (Argaeus), hiking, carved rock dwellings of troglodytes and Christians, or a recently discovered underground city, reported to be larger than Derinkuyu, about 1.5 hours from Kayseri, Turkey, aka Caesarea.

A coin from Cappadocia...

Early Life
Antiochus IV was the youngest son of Antiochus III Megas and Laodice III and was born in 215 BCE. Antiochus's early life isn't well documented; after the Seleucid defeat by the Roman Republic he was exchanged as a political hostage by his father. After the death of Antiochus III in 187 BCE, he was exchanged for his nephew, Demetrius I, and spent his time in Athens. It appears that during his brief stay in Rome Antiochus grew fond of Roman customs and traditions, he notably spent a lot of time at gladiatorial games.

King of the Seleucids
In 175 BCE Seleucus IV was murdered by his minister of finance, Heliodorus. Antiochus immediately traveled to Syria and deposed Heliodorus, who at the time was acting as a regent for the younger son of Seleucus IV. Antiochus IV ruled jointly with his nephew until 170, where the boy disappears from history. It is unknown if he was murdered or died of natural causes.

Antiochus IV...

Friday, June 12, 1366
The village of Tourves (France) was in shock. Around nine o'clock in the morning, children came to play waking up a young shepherd who was grazing his sheep. They suddenly saw silver coins emerging from the ground through a hole at first so small that one could barely pass their fingers through it, in such a quantity that the inhabitants of the village carried it in their purses, their pockets and even in their aprons.There were so many pieces that it took 20 mules to transport them. An estimation of the weight of this considerable amount of coins is about 5000 pounds. This is probably the oldest discovery of a hoard which we have a written and official record.

The Romans did not know the banknotes, the checkbook, or the deposit banks. A soldier received as salary 1 aureus per month (the equivalent of 25 denarii or 100 sestertius). So if he wanted to put away his savings, the best solution would be to dig a hole in the backyard and hide the money...

1 CENT COIN - SARAWAK - RAJAH VYNER
Date: A.D. 1930



Obverse: Portrait facing right - C.V.BROOKE RAJAH

Reverse: Wreath of olive branches with ribbon tied at bottom - SARAWAK ONE CENT 1930

Minted by: Ralph Heaton & Sons - Birmingham

This one cent coin was minted By Ralph Heaton & Sons of Birmingham in the thirteenth regnal year of Charles Vyner Brooke. He is the third and last 'White' Rajah of Sarawak, a state on the island of Borneo ruled for about 100 years by the Englishman James Brooke and his family.

Borneo, located in South East Asia, is the third largest island in the world. It has been known for its abundant natural resources by China and India as far back as the 6th century AD and its coastal settlements served as lucrative trading ports. By the time the adventurer James Brooke arrived in Sarawak it was a part of the Sultanate of Brunei in decline.

The Brunei Islamic Malay Sultanate saw its golden age from the 15th...

(My first instinct was to call this thread Republican Snakes, but I didn't want to be accused of being political.)

I think we're all aware that snakes had generally positive connotations in Ancient Greek and Roman culture -- for their association with good health (Aesculapius and Salus), and for their religious associations with various cults connected with the earth, as well as domestically with the concept of venerating the "house snake."

I have four Roman Republican denarii showing snakes, and three of those portrayals of snakes are almost certainly intended to be perceived positively.

1. I just received the first one, and am very pleased with it (despite the clear evidence of a double strike around Salus's nose and chin on the obverse.)

Roman Republic, Manius Acilius Glabrio, AR Denarius, 50 BCE (Harlan and BMCRR) or 49 BCE (Crawford), Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head of Salus right, wearing necklace and earring, with hair collected behind in knot ornamented with jewels,...

Parthian Kingdom. Margiana or Aria. AE drachm. Vardanes I (?)(c.40-45 AD). Obverse: Bust left, short beard curved on back side, before face star and crescent (?). Reverse: Archer seated right, below bow mintmark (resembles pi), uncertain two-line legend behind. Cf. Sellwood 64.37, Koch Group 5. This coin: Frank S. Robinson Auction 112, lot 130 (2020) (sold as "Sanabares").

Vardanes I and Gotarzes II were brothers from different mothers, though both were legitimate offspring of their father Artabanos II (or IV, by the most recent research). Artabanos died in 38 AD. Details of the succession are unclear, but it appears Gotarzes may have taken the throne briefly, only to be overthrown. Gotarzes tried to reclaim the throne, aided by Dahae and Hyrkaneian nomads, but the brothers were temporarily reconciled and agreed that Vardanes could retain the throne, while Gotarzes withdrew to Hyrkaneia (a region southeast of the Caspian Sea). Vardanes went on...

From Wikipedia: A bracteate (from the Latin bractea, a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Vendel era in Sweden). The term is also used for thin discs, especially in gold, to be sewn onto clothing in the ancient world, as found for example in the ancient Persian Oxus treasure, and also later silver coins produced in central Europe during the Early Middle Ages.

I was kind of surprised to see that there wasn’t a single thread on CT dedicated to bracteates. At least none that mention them in the title. There are only a handful of times that they are mentioned...

Recently @Eduard posted pictures of a very nice group of early U.S. dimes. I mentioned that the 1797, 16 star dime had hash marks under the stars. The die maker etched these small marks into the die face so that he could position the stars on the coin properly.

In the early days of the U.S. mint, an additional star was added to the obverse of the silver and gold coins each time a new state was added to the Union. When Tennessee joined the Union on June 1, 1796, the number of states reached 16. At that point, Chief Mint Engraver, Robert Scot, came to the conclusion that there was not enough room on the coin to add more. He cut back the number to 13 in honor of the 13 original states on the last half dime die he made in 1797. The 1797 half dime is the only coin that had 15, 16 and 13 star varieties on the obverse in a single year. Here are examples of the three coins in the order in which they were issued:

The 15 star coin was issued first...