Coin Talk

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

I'm sure many of you have already seen coins from Caesarea (Greek Kaisareia), where the back is called 'Mt. Argaios' or 'Mt. Argaeus'. Here are three of them:

1st Coin:
Cappadocia, Caesarea, Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180
AR - Didrachm, 6.73g, 20.93mm, 225°
struck from AD 161 (COS III)
obv. AVTOKP ANTΩNEINOC CEB
Bare head with curly head r.
rev. VΠA - TOC Γ (= COS III)
Mount Argaios, surrounded by flames(?); in the middle a big round object, on
top 8-pointed star; on the lower left rock a stag, on the lower r. rock a tree
ref. Metcalf 130a; Sydenham 327; Sear GIC 1661 var. (drapery on l. shoulder)
Scarce, VF, slightly toned

Note:
Probably from the hoard found in 1983 in Caesarea (Metcalf)

2nd Coin:
Cappadocia, Caesarea, Lucius Verus, AD 161-169
AR - Didrachm, 6.71g, 21.53mm, 225°
struck from AD 161 (COS II)
obv. AVTOKP OVHPOC CEBACTOC
Bare head r.
rev. VΠA - TOC B (= COS II)
Mons Argaios,...

Just received this coin in the mail. Starting in 250 Herennius Etruscus was Caesar under his Father Trajan Decius before being elevated to Augustus in May of 251. The Goths under King Cniva invaded the Empire, Etruscus was sent by Decius with an advance force to crush the invaders, after which Decius resolved to meet the enemy with the rest of his legions.

At the Battle of Nikopolis ad Istrum the Romans were victorious, however the enemy was able to leave the field with some of their forces intact, and ambushed the Romans at the Battle of Beroe and again at the Battle of Abritus.

Early in this battle Etruscus was killed by a Gothic arrow. His father, seeing the panic of the troops, rallied them by saying that the loss of one soldier was of little significance to the Republic. The battle continued and Decius also was killed - the first time a Roman emperor had died in battle against barbarians. Following their deaths, the troops in Moesia acclaimed Trebonianus Gallus augustus, and he...

I only have a few Greek coins, and do not have much context for these coins beyond the names of the legendary kings they display. This coin of Philip II is a favorite for its hard to photograph, perfect, dark green patina, and sharp portrait and obverse. Philip II of Macedon reigned 359–336 BC.


AE18
Obv: Diademed head of Apollo right
Rev: ΦIΛIΠΠOY, Youth on horseback right; thunderbolt before.
Ref: SNG ANS 880
Size: 17.5 mm (7.41 gm)

A veteran of many battles, in 355-354 BC, while attacking the city of Methone, Phillip’s right eye was injured by an arrow and had to be removed using a Spoon of Diocles. This device was invented by Diocles, a Greek physician from Carystus a city on Euboea, and in the article below we can read: “Celsus says this instrument was developed to remove wide barbed missiles”. This survey of medical implements in ancient Rome – helps to illustrate the torment that medicine offered in...

Just wanted to share a little bit about the history behind coin:



During May (172,000) and June (102,000) 1923 was 274,077 coins that were minted at the San Francisco Mint. 77 coins were sent to the Assay Commission and nearly all went into circulation at face value (per U.S. Mint records). Chester Beach designed and modeled this issue. Distributed by W. L. Halberstadt, Director of Coin Distribution of The American Historical Revue and Motion Picture Industrial Exposition. Image courtesy of CRO, a coin in my collection.

Approved by Congress on January 24, 1923 and issued to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the enunciation1 of the Monroe Doctrine.

Design:

Obverse: Depicts James Monroe and John Quincy Adams with the names MONROE and ADAMS under the images. Around the rim it states UNITED STATES OF AMERICA –...

After giving a presentation about this piece some time ago, I thought I most post it here since the facts are still fresh on my mind.

I believe that this was the first U.S. coin that was issued for circulation. It is not a pattern as some have claimed over the years. I’ll defend that position momentarily, but first I’ll put a hole in a couple of myths.

First, these coins were not made from melting George Washington’s silverware, but the real story is almost as good. Thomas Jefferson provided the silver, and he distributed most of them.

Second, Martha Washington was not the model for the lady on the obverse. That story got started in the 1850s, more than 50 years after these coins were made.

On July 10, 1792 Thomas Jefferson withdrew $100 in silver from his personal account at the Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The bank was located in Carpenters’ Hall at that time because it’s permanent home, which...

One game that professional and amateur historians like to play is rate the presidents. Abraham Lincoln gets the top spot in many polls, but the bottom spots have changed over the years. When I was junior high school, Warren G. Harding and Ulysses S. Grant got the bottom spots because of the scandals that marked their time in office. Today Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan get the lowest marks because of their inability to deal with the issues that lead to the Civil War.

Here is a rare campaign piece that was isued on behalf of candidate "General" Franklin Piece. This piece is made of white metal and there are very few original examples like this one. This variety is most often find as in bronze. Those pieces, which are scarce, were made for collectors in the 1860s



Franklin Pierce was a political "boy wonder" in his youth. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1833 when he was 28 years old. He moved up to Senate...

Show your coins depicting altars or altar enclosures -- real or imagined. Comments and anything you feel is relevant are most welcome.

~~~

Researching the supposed subject of this coin, an as of Faustina I depicting an altar enclosure, uncovered one of the great misconceptions in the history of classical art -- that the temple enclosure depicted on this coin actually existed as the Ara Pietatis Augustae (The Altar of Augustan Piety). I wish to share some of what I've learned. But first, here's the coin:

View attachment 900370
Faustina I, AD 138-141.
Roman Æ as, 9.21 g, 26.5 mm, 11 h.
Rome, AD 141-142.
Obv: DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA, bust of Faustina I, draped, right, hair elaborately waved and piled in bun on top of head; a band of pearls round hair in front.
Rev: PIET AVG S C, rectangular altar with door in front; no flame on top.
Refs: RIC 1191Aa; BMCRE4 1464-65; Cohen 259; RCV --; ERIC II 294.

A NUMISMATIC MYTH

Phillip Hill[1] fell prey to the...

This year I am not focusing on collecting, but intent on photographing my coins as best I can. I have a very small dark side collection, and no real goals for a specific set. Rather I am eclectic in this and will eventually maybe find my way to a particular grouping.

Although I have photo'd some of my coins already and shared them, my goal is to systematically go through and re-photograph as best I can, and then update and create an album. In the end, I may re-do some if I feel I can represent them better as to what they actually look like as far as color, depth, etc.

Any I post with info you thing is not quite right, let me know. I really do want to also know my coins and find out what I should be learning about them to really appreciate these.

My first one for 2019 photographing on Ancients in this endeavor:



Philip I (Feb 244- Aug or Sep 249 AD)

Ref Philip I AR Antoninianus, RIC 52, RSC 239, SEAR 8974
Philip I AR...

While following a live auction with my little son, we saw a shiny coin with a hole in it.
As it was coming up for a minimum bid of just 10 Euros, we decided to bid on it for fun or as possible present for grandma´s birthday, so maybe by her wearing it as jewelry the family could see some practical use in ancient coinage .

It was labelled as uncertain imitation by an uncertain mint with no indication of who or what was shown on it.
I tried a little research on this "mystery purchase" and this is what I came up with:

Fourée Aureus, gold-plated AE, Chernvyakhov culture, Ukraine, ca. 295 a.D.
19 mm / 2,57 gr



IIIEIT (alliterate legend) - Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Diocletianus left

The left facing obverse bust is obviously inspired by Diocletian´s Aureus RIC 308 (Antiochia, 290-292, but not draped or cuirassed), which would mean the inscription originally read DIOCLETIANVS AVGVSTVS.
A specimen from the same pair of dies has been interpreted...

In the earlier years of our nation, cents and nickels were much more important than they are today. The main reason for that was that they actually had buying power, unlike today. You could buy something for a cent and the old time five and dime stores actually had goods that were priced at five and ten cents.

This made me wonder, why didn’t the branch mints strike cents and nickels until well into the 20th century? The Readers’ Digest answer to this is that the branch mints were all set up specifically to strike gold and silver coins. There was either no legal authorization for them to strike base metal coins, or tradition forbid them to do it.

In 1906 Congress voted to given the Director of Mint the power to authorize the coinage of cents and nickels in the branch mints. He started to exercise that power in 1908 with the 1908-S Indian Cents.

The 1908-S Indian Cent is sort of the "little brother" to the 1909-S which...