Coin Talk

The world is currently witness to the plague of COVID-19. The USA is under quarantine for the first time in my lifetime. People are looking for a scapegoat; was this virus created by scientists in a lab in Wuhan funded by billionaires, or is Donald Trump a tyrant for threatening to re-open parts of America?

Most of us realize these plagues unfortunately frequently occur throughout history.

Trajan Decius was also forced to deal with a plague during his reign as Roman Emperor. The Plague of Cyprian in 250-262 almost led to the fall of the Roman Empire. The fever was felt to be a filovirus similar to Ebola. Cyprian of Carthage described the symptoms as follows:

"This trial, that now the bowels, relaxed into a constant flux, discharge the bodily strength; that a fire originated in the marrow ferments into wounds of the fauces; that the intestines are shaken with a continual vomiting; that the eyes are on fire with the...

Nope this thread is not about Khusro ll (or however you would like to spell his name). Though I do have a coin of the scourge of Byzantium! Nor about Ardashir l, wish I had one of those guys coins.
This is about a coin that I won from Frank Robinson’s last “bargain list” auction that showed up broken, he did his best to package in a capsule with styrofoam, and still got banged around in transit by usps (who I am a huge fan of and really appreciate despite shattering what I feel is a really lovely coin).
As always, Frank was a stand up guy and said not to pay for that coin. But I let him know the check was already in the mail.
It showed up With some really cool pals looking like this:


With some spare time I set it to put together an ancient jig saw. So, today I broke her open:

and for better or for worse did my best with some super glue and a lot of patience:

...

The history
Autumn of 316 AD. We are right in the middle of a civil war in the Roman empire. After Verona, in September, Constantinus had just conquered Licinius' capital, Siscia. The battle of Cibalae took place in October, and the result was disastrous for Licinius and his troops. He had to run away quickly, and planned to continue the fight in the east. But he needed to win time to reorganize his army ; so his secret weapon was Valerius Valens, the Governor of Dacia Ripensis (northern Balkans). He used a diversion in naming him co-emperor ( Despite the fact that Zosimus mentioned Valens as a Caesar, the numismatic evidence indicates he had the rank of Augustus). It was almost certain that Valens will try to keep the power and so a struggle between him and Constantine will appear, helping Licinius. The war continued and after another terrible defeat, Licinius and Constantinus agreed to negotiate. With the help of Licinius' wife (and...

Rather than necromancing an old thread, I figured I'd start a new one. My collecting interests are always pretty broad, but for the past several months I've been accumulating some silver karshapana coins of the Maurya Empire, as well as their Magadha predecessors. I'm not sure whether anyone else here is really interested in them, but I wanted to share a few of my favorites, and I'd love to see some examples that my fellow CTers might have. I'm also happy to try and ID any examples anyone might be wondering about, since I have purchased the excellent Punchmarked Coinage of the Indian Subcontinent by Gupta and Hardaker.

These are pretty enigmatic and might not appeal to the aesthetic that most coin collectors are used to, but with a little research they can be very interesting. They can be visually pleasing for their symbols as well as for their toning and/or shape,...

Here is an interesting, though by no means rare or valuable, 1986 note from Iraq full of historical references and symbolism. Many who lived through that era will doubtless recognize Saddam Hussein, the fifth president of Iraq, in office from 1979 until 2003. An imagined scene from the ancient Battle of Qadisiyah appears to his left, in an apparent attempt to associate it with the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, which still raged when this note was issued. Qadisiyah supposedly occurred around 636 and led to the Arab conquest of modern day Iraq over the Sasanian Empire. The 1980s wartime Iraqi government appropriated this battle for their own purposes at the time.



The front top center of the bill reads, in very elaborate Kufic script:البنك المركزي العراقي or "Central Bank of Iraq."

The note's denomination appears in both numeric and...

Davissons Ltd had an auction finish on April 1st. They always have a few items that I am interested in and this auction was no different. I only picked up one piece on the day of the auction. I already posted it on the "newest acquisition" thread but here it is again.

A nice Teutonic Thaler of 1614. It arrived this past week and I must say it looks even nicer in hand. It will be one of the centerpieces of my German States collection.



Teutonic Order. Maximilian of Austria. 1588-1618. AR double thaler. 56.75 gm. 46 mm. Hall mint. 1614. Master of the Order standing, holding the hilt of a grounded sword in his right hand, a lion holding a shield to left / Maximilian on a horse moving right, a circle of shields of arms around him. Dav. 5854. KM 30. Near Extremely Fine; light wear on highest points, lightly toned, flan flaw at 11' obverse; pleasing surfaces and overall a fresh and pleasing coin.

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

To distract you in this sad time of the corono-virus, I will tell you today something about the history of Ganymedes.

1st Coin:
Troas, Dardanos, Hadrian, AD 117-138
AE 21, 4.53g, 20.66mm, 0°
Obv.: AVT KAI CEBA[CTHC] TPAIANOC AΔPIANOC
Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r.
Rev.: ΔAPΔAN - ΩN
Eagle facing, head l., carrying Ganymedes, wearing chlamys and Phrgian bonnet,
holding lagobolon in raised r. hand
Ref.: unpublished?
very rare, about VF

Note: This is the companion piece to Bellinger T136 from Troas-Ilium and Bellinger describes the reverse as "Remarkable in the presentation of a scene of Trojan mythology anterior to the Homeric story".

2nd Coin:
Thrace, Hadrianopolis, Septimius Severus, AD 193-211
AE 26, 9.96g, 25.62mm, 45°
Obv.: AV K Λ C[EΠ - CEVHPOC Π]
Bust, draped and cuirassed, seen from behind, laureate r.
Rev.: AΔP - IANO - [ΠOΛEITΩN]
Ganymedes, with Phrygian bonnet, stg....

Antiochus III was born in 241 BCE to Seleucus II and Laodice II in Susa. Antiochus III grew up in a troubled time; the Seleucid empire was losing much of it's periphery territory to rebellious satraps and rival warlords. Not much is know about Antiochus's early life except that he wasn't in line for the throne, with him being the youngest son of Seleucus II. All that would change with the death of Seleucus II in 246 BCE and Seleucus III's death in 223 BCE.

Both Seleucus III and Antiochus III had a minister named Hermeias who was universally hated and feared by most people, including the Kings themselves. Around 222 BCE in the province of Media two brothers named Molon and Alexander revolted against Antiochus III, based on fears of being executed by Hermeias. Molon and his brother managed to take control of all territory east of Mesopotamia by the time that Antiochus sent troops to crush their rebellion. Hermeias insisted to the young King that the rebels should be ignored and that...

Greetings fellow shut-ins!

My wife is really depressed. Easter is usually the time when the family got together. Not this year. My father in law is locked down in a retirement facility, and everyone else is at home.

So it's time for another archives articel.


November 22, 1963, “A day that will live in infamy.” For many Americans that phrase, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to describe the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, aptly applied to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the wake of that awful event, streets and boulevards were renamed, state and federal buildings were rededicated and even Cape Canaveral was briefly changed to Cape Kennedy. Of equal significance was a change in our nation’s coinage that would have a profound effect upon the half dollar as circulating coin.

Plans for a new Kennedy coin were in the works only days after the assassination. By November 27 it had been determined that a Kennedy design would...

Hadrianopolis (Ἁδριανούπολις in Greek; modern Edirne, Turkey) was re-founded by Hadrian (Duh!) at the site of a Thracian city once known as Uscudama[1] but then subsequently renamed Orestias or Odrysus.[2] The city was situated in Thrace, at the point where the river Tonzus joins the Hebrus.[3]



Hadrian developed the city and made it the capital of the Roman province of Thrace. Military historian John Keegan identifies Hadrianopolis as the site of no fewer than 15 major battles or sieges, the first in AD 323 and the last in July, 1913, and attributes this to its geographical location.[4] Licinius was defeated there by Constantine I in 323,[5] and Valens was killed by the Goths during the Battle of Adrianople in 378.[6]

I have four coins minted in this city. Let's see your coins of Hadrianopolis in Thrace!


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman...