Coin Talk

Post your coins of Side, coins with die damage, or anything you feel is relevant!

Background:

Side (modern Selimiye)[1] was the principal city and port of ancient Pamphylia, originally situated on the Mediterranean coast west of the mouth of the Melas (Ancient Greek: Μέλας; now Manavgat) River, in southwestern Turkey. (The site is now inland.)



Though the city was founded by Aeolian Greeks, the Sidetic language[2] was spoken there. According to Arrian, when settlers from Cyme came to Side, they could not understand the dialect.

Having a good natural harbor and two artificial harbors for larger vessels, it was the most important port in Pamphylia. Alexander the Great occupied the city (333 BC), and the Rhodian fleet defeated that of the Seleucid king Antiochus III there (190 BC). In the 1st century BC Cilician pirates made Side their chief slave market.

The consul Servilius Vatia...

Working on a research article on a “rediscovered” counterfeit early copper, the (1694) Elephant Token; this “preview” will present some of the images and thoughts on these for discussion in this forum.

I had the opportunity at the end of the EAC 2019 Convention in Dayton, Ohio (which I chaired with my better half) to discuss some initial research of a friend and EAC Dealer on several examples of this token, attributed as “Hodder 2-B” (both thin and thick planchets), the most common variety of the type. My friend showed me his TPG certified example and the issues with it; I agreed to keep it under wraps until we could both conduct additional research. The following example is his “discovery” piece and now in my collection:


Writer's TPG certified example (cert now inactive)

As a point of reference I include this image describing the dies and die combinations known for the series according to Michael Hodder:...

TL;DR: A cheap clip-on macro lens improved my simple iPhone coin photography.

This is a post for people like me who use their cell phone to photograph coins. True photography aficionados should avert their eyes. TIF and Doug Smith should not even be reading this post. It will just depress them.

I use my iPhone for coin photography and editing. About a year ago, I upgraded to the iPhone X. While the camera was better in many ways, it was actually worse than my iPhone 6 for close-up photography. I saw a set of Godefa cell phone lens attachments on Amazon for about $20 and suggested it offhand as a Christmas gift. Lo and behold, my wife got it for me (https://www.amazon.com/Fisheye-Telephoto-Kaleidoscope-Starburst-Compatible/dp/B07DHHXLXF ). I was skeptical that these cheap attachments would work, but I have been pleased with the 15x macro lens, which is the only one from the set I really use.

You just take your iPhone out of its case and clip on the...

SILVER 10 SOLS - UNITED STATES OF BELGIUM
Year: 1790



Obverse: Brabant lion standing right - MON NOV ARG PROV FOED BELG / 1790 (mint mark)

Reverse: Two hands shaking, arrows behind - IN VNIONE SALVS / X-SOLS

Verenigde Belgische Staten - États-Belgiques-Unis - United States of Belgium / Insurrection Coinage / Belgian Revolution of 1789-1790 or Brabant Revolution, Revolt against Joseph II (HRE) / designed by Theodore Van Berckel, engraver at the Brussels Mint. The bundle of 11 arrows representing 11 provinces: East Flanders, West Flanders, Brabant, Hainault, Tournai, Namur, Luxembourg, Liège, Limburg, Antwerp and Mechelen.

The obverse of this coin shows the Brabant lion standing (rampant) facing right with the inscription MON(eta) NOV(us) ARG(ent) PROV(inciae) FOED(eratus) BELG(ica) / New Silver Money of the Federated Provinces of Belgium. Below the lion is the date 1790 with the face of an angel in between the 7 and 9. This is...

I purchased a tetradrachm of Antiochus II several months ago when I was just dipping my toes into Seleucid coinage. The coin is nice and shows healthy wear consistent with a large demonation that circulated in Asia minor and the Middle East. However, I did not delve much into Antiochus II's reign as King. Initially I thought he was a mediocre King who had no notable achievements in life. However I was wrong. Sources are notoriously difficult to find for the time period, hence why so much of his life's achievements can be written on a postcard, but it seems Antiochus II was a strong ruler who along with Antigonus II managed to successfully check Ptolemaic power.
Here is what we know of Antiochus II Theos

• Born in 287 BCE to Antiochus I Soter and Stratonice I

• 268/7 BCE-Became heir apparent after Antiochus I had his older son, Seleucus, put to death for treason.

• Became King in 261 BCE after the death of his father Antiochus I, he begins...

If one studies the coinage of Trebonianus Gallus and Volusian, it becomes apparent that certain issues of the Rome mint feature reverse types with and without a star in the field. This phenomenon appears to be limited to the Rome mint and such varieties are not to be found on the issues for the branch mint (traditionally attributed to Mediolanum) or for Antioch. Three reverse types issued for Gallus and three for Volusian feature stars. Those for Gallus are: FELICITAS PVBLICA, LIBERTAS AVG, and PIETAS AVGG. For Volusian, these are: CONCORDIA AVGG, PAX AVGG, and VIRTVS AVGG. This thread only deals with those of Gallus; my collection of Volusian issues remains much too incomplete to illustrate them.

In an analysis of the Dorchester hoard,* Mattingly notes that the issues with the star (71 examples for Gallus, 83 for Volusian) are uniformly underrepresented compared to those without the star (200 for Gallus, 195 for Volusian) by about 2-1/2 to 1. On the basis of the portraiture and...

SILVER COIN - 500 Krónur - 1100TH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST SETTLEMENT
(KM 20) Date: A.D. 1974



Obverse: Maiden walking with cow and the dates 874 in front and 1974 behind

Reverse: The four traditional protector spirits (Landvættir) of Iceland - 500 FIMM HUNDRUÐ KRÓNUR - ISLAND

Engraver: Throstur Magnusson

This is a stunning silver 500 krónur coin minted in 1974 commemorating the 1100th year after the first settlement of Iceland in 874. The coin was designed by the Icelandic artist Thröstur Magnusson and was struck by the Royal Mint of Great Britain. When a major reform of the coinage in the early 1980s resulted in a complete re-design of the circulating coins of Iceland, the new obverses were all taken from Magnusson's highly distinctive treatment. A variety of aquatic life was portrayed on the reverses, including dolphins, cod and northern shrimp. Magnusson has also designed about 180 stamps, and his stamp designs have won "The Most...

So, last week I bought this silver medieval penny, which was identified by the seller as "an English penny with a king". It was @AnYangMan who identified this coin as a silver penny of
Diederik van der Ahr, Bishop of Utrecht (the Netherlands) in 1197–1212.

The coin had some issues, but the price was right (€32, including postage), and as I was looking for medieval coinage of the Netherlands (which is where I live), I decided to buy it regardless. Also, as some of you may know, I enjoy restoring silver coins.

So, the coin:

This is a difficult combination of a nice patina (silver sulfide; Ag2S), with some copper oxides (the dark green parts) and beneath that, iron oxide. Also, there are some spots with metal-like horn silver. Care should be taken not to remove the patina.

Red arrows: horn silver >> dissolves in sodiumthiosulphate
Green arrows: copper oxides >> dissolves in synthetic citric acid...

Here's another coin I bought at the November 2019 Baltimore show, a scarcer Nabataean bronze:

Nabataean Kingdom. Damascus mint. AE 19. Aretas III (87-62 BC). Obverse: Diademed head of Aretas III right. Reverse: Tyche of Damascus seated left, holding cornucopia, river god below, Greek legend around "Basileos Aretou Philellenos" (Of King Aretas, Friend of the Greeks). SNG ANS 1421-1424. This coin: Purchased at the Baltimore coin show, November 2019 from Ephesus Numismatics.

The Nabataeans ruled a kingdom centered on the famous city of Petra in what is now Jordan, spending much of that time as a Roman client state until they were finally absorbed as a province by Trajan. Many here on the CoinTalk Ancients board are familiar with the later bronze coins that feature jugate busts of the king and queen together, however this type features just a "very Hellenistic" bust of the king, and is also notable for being struck at Damascus rather than at...

Greetings, fellow shut-ins! I decided that is time to dust off another old article to help pass the time. I hope that you enjoy it.


In January of 1848 James Marshall, who was an employee of John Sutter, discovered gold in the race of a sawmill that was under construction on Sutter’s property near Coloma, California. (Coloma is located about 36 miles northeast of the state capitol, Sacramento.) The men soon discovered additional gold deposits further upstream, and it was found that there was more gold in the area. Sutter and his men tried to keep their discovery a secret, but that was impossible. By spring dozens of prospectors were looking for gold with tools that ranged from a simple metal pan to a primitive trough-like device called a cradle.

In Monterey, California Colonel Richard B. Mason, who was the military governor of the U.S. territory, viewed the developments with concern and interest. “Gold fever” had prompted many of the enlisted men in his unit...