Coin Talk

A couple of years ago, on an April 1st morn, I posted some silly mash-up’s of coins that included the following:





This morning there was a thread over at CCF concerning a rather manly looking rendition of Tyche on a Provincial AE. It reminded me of an actual mash-up on a coin from Parthia. Thought I’d repost my contribution to that thread here:

On the Parthian tets of Phraates II (138-127 BC), die engravers referenced the Tyche reverses of Demetrios I Soter and the Zeus reverses of Alexander I Balas, both of the Seleukid Empire. The Parthians had supplanted the Seleukids in that part of Western Asia but, at least early on, tried to copy the regional Greek archetypes for the coinage. The models for the reverse are:




Well, note what happened on the unique reverse of Phraates II's tetradrachms:





As Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis points...

I recently purchased this coin from Forum:

Parthian Empire. Fourree drachm (3.35 g, 21 mm). Orodes II (57-38 BC). "Kangavar" mint. Obverse: Diademed bust left. Reverse: Seated archer, K below, surrounded by standard seven-line Greek legend. Sellwood 45.21v., Shore 230v. This coin: Purchased from Forum Ancient Coins, September 2019; ex. Maxwell Hunt Collection.

(Note: Historical section on Orodes II and Kangavar is recycled; new text about fourrees follows.)

Orodes II was a son of the Parthian king Phraates III. Around 57 BC, he teamed up with his brother Mithradates III to murder their father and seize power. The brothers soon quarreled, and after a couple of years Orodes II was able to defeat and kill his brother and claim the throne uncontested. He fought several times against Rome, most importantly the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC where the Roman Triumvir Crassus was killed. In 38 BC his favorite son and heir apparent was killed fighting in...

I always enjoy the "why we collect what we collect" posts on CT, for they help clarify my rather incoherent thoughts on the subject.

And so here's how I got my very first Kushan coin, which I bought on eBay from a seller describing it as "BYSTANTINE (sic) JUSTIN 1 - ANCIENT COPPER" I knew it wasn't Byzantine, but I was not really sure what it was, so I just watched it for months (it was a "buy it now"). Finally, after a little digging, I figured out the Kushan Kingdom part and pulled the trigger. I had no idea what size it was beyond the seller's "thicker than a nickel", and when it arrived I was slightly disappointed - I figured it was a tetradrachm, since they are the most common AE denomination. But this one is a di-drachm, which appears to be scarcer.

After my size-disappointment, I found myself being impressed as heck with it - lovely workmanship, very "eastern" with the caftan and trousers, humped bull, etc. Nice greenish-black patina too. And so I found...

I recently added 2 new tetradrachms from Alexandria...I've just started getting into these this year after seeing so many posted here, and I really like these two new additions.

The first coin is of Commodus from the Dattari Collection, and it has a very interesting reverse.


Commodus, Alexandria, BI Tetradrachm,(24.2mm., 10.19g), circa 183-185 (RY 24 of Marcus Aurelius), Laureate head of Commodus, right/ Rev. Commodus, in priestly attire, standing left before bust of Serapis set on low cippus, sacrificing and dropping incense over lighted altar, L-K-Δ. RPC Online 16005, Dattari-Savio Pl. 207, 9553 (this coin)
From the Dattari Collection

I especially like the image of Commodus making a sacrifice to Serapis. It's interesting to see Commodus worshipping anyone other than, uh, himself. For political reasons, he may have been trying to show off that he was down with the trendy Eastern gods, and that he had their protection. I was also very...

Cappadocia, an ancient region that lies in the central heartland of Asia Minor, a plateau of atleast 1000m high, pierced by volcanic peaks, with Mount Argaeus being the tallest.



The Kingdom of Cappadocia was ruled by a prosperous family, the House of Ariarathes. The Kingdom however, was mostly under subject of two empires, first the Seleukid Empire until 250 BC when Ariarathes III (c. 255-220 BC) proclaimed himself king and afterwards it had been under the influence of the kings of Pontos since the reign of Ariarates VI (c. 130-116 BC).



However, his successor, Ariarathes VII (c. 116-100 BC) soon came to resent the intervention of Mithridates VI of Pontos in the affairs of the kingdom and prepared for war.


Ariarathes VII Philometor (c. 116-100 BC)

In c. 100 BC, the Cappadocian...

Canada
The Royal Canadian Mint for investment grade bullion. High security and standard designs. Excellent for full ounce gold and full ounce silver.

Australia
I have also grown to like the Perth mint for its variety: Lots of WWII stuff and lots of animals. Two of my favorites. Gold WWII stuff in 1/10 oz size and the animal stuff (Kookaburras, Kangaroos, Koalas, Spiders, Crocodiles) in 1 ounce silver size. Perfect.

UK
I tried to like the Royal Mint. But even though the Queen's Beasts designs are excellent, I have no desire to get 2 ounce silver bullion pieces or 1/4 ounce gold pieces. And for collecting, I can't afford full gold ounce size. So that means I'm skipping the series. I would have gladly purchased 1/10 gold pieces and 1 ounce silver pieces.

US
US Mint: Sorry, I just don't care for the Eagles or Buffaloes. I do love the gold Mercury and the gold JFK, but these enter a little bit more into numismatic territory with their premiums.

Austrian: boring

China: they use...

I purchased a 18x micro lens to attach to my Samsung Galaxy S10 just to see how well the camera performs. I'm impressed. I've spent a couple of hours this afternoon playing with lighting and angles and think I have a good handle on it. However, I wanted to ask the opinion of my CT family before I decide to keep the lens.

Below are two images. The first one is the image I showed when I first purchased this coin. To me it lacks depth/color. My wife likes it best. The second image was taken using my cell phone and macro lens. It may not be perfect, but I like that it is not all washed out like the first. The coin is shiny like a new dime, but there is some slight coloration in the fields. My wife says it is just dirty while I say it is just toning.

I would most appreciate input from the CT members.

Since I have been posting comments about Franklin Pierce, I thought that you might be interested see a few of the campaign pieces for man most historians rate as the worst United States president in history, James Buchanan. Here is one of his more humous tokens when you consider him in the context of history. The slogan on the reverse reasons, “The crisis demands his election.”



Along came James Buchanan, the man who had the perfect resume. You might say that the reverse of this token was like the perfect job application.



Every claim here was true. Buchanan had served in Congress and the Senate, had been the Minister to Russia and Great Britian and had served as secretary of state. Few presidental condidates have had such an impressive list of positions held. The trouble was he was an empty suit. He had held the positions but had mote done much of note during his...

This coin had been misidentified by the auction firm as being RIC 59 from the Rome mint. It is properly attributed as RIC 75, from what was previously considered to be the Mediolanum mint. Sear (RIC 5, vol. III, p. 227) notes there is considerable uncertainty about not only the location of the mint traditionally attributed to Mediolanum, but its actual operation during Gallus' reign. He writes,


I don't believe the coins...