Coin Talk

Just won a coin of Macrinus from Hierapolis Castabala last week-end. Where is that city? I had to do some research :
Hierapolis Castabala was a city in Cilicia (modern Turkey). In Hellenistic times, it was called Hieropolis. During the Roman Empire, the city was part of the province of Capadocia. Since the city lies in the valley of the Ceyhan River, in ancient times known as Pyramus, it was frequently called Hierapolis ad Pyramum. The main communication axis of the city is a colonnaded street, 650 feet long and 35 feet wide, running from east to west.



Many columns have been preserved to our times. Moreover, some of them are still decorated with capitals of Corinthian order. To the east, it is possible to discern the traces of the Temple of Artemis Perasia. On the eastern side, you can also find a theater, with 15 rows of seats remaining....

Law & Order Episode "Survivor" with Karen Allen, about ancient coin collectors,
and "Roman Cleopatras".

This episode is one of the best episodes of the 20-year run of the American
television series "Law & Order".

I posted this writeup originally on a board for fans of the Indiana Jones films.

I was originally interested in it because it involved a treasure hunt for rare
coins. The story also involves coin collectors and historical references to
World War II.

Besides that, another interest to Indiana Jones fans is an uncommon television
appearance by actress Karen Allen.

The broadcast details:
Law & Order, Season 7 Episode 4, Originally aired October 23, 1996

The story:

While investigating the murder of a coin collector, detectives discover the
existence of extremely rare coins that belonged to a Holocaust survivor.

Mr. Stephen Campbell runs an antiques and rare coins gallery in New York City.
Two people passing the store notice something wrong and...

Last year I purchased a rare variant of Domitian's Germania Capta sesterii. It's a decent coin but quite worn. I've always wanted a better example of this iconic Flavian type (i.e. one in which the legends can be read in full) and finally made good on that wish last week. I was able to win at a fairly bargain price this more common variant of the type.



Domitian
Æ Sestertius, 25.24g
Rome mint, 85 AD
Obv: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM COS XI CENS POT P P; Head of Domitian, laureate, r., with aegis
Rev: GERMANIA CAPTA; S C in exergue; Trophy; to r., German captive stg. r., hands bound, head l.; to l., Germania std. l.; around arms
RIC 351 (C). BMC 325. BNC 350.
Ex Agora 96, 10 March 2020, lot 349. Ex CNG E458, 18 December 2019, lot 349. Ex Gorny & Mosch 261, 4 March 2018, lot 700. Ex Shlomo Moussaieff Collection. Formerly in NGC holder #4934009-008, with grade VF, strike 5/5, surface 2/5.

In 85 Domitian struck a fairly impressive issue of sestertii,...

On Monday, my favorite Parisian numismatic shop closed its public office until further notice because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Starting with 2017 they began offering specimens from the Hoard of Puylaurens (Tarn) through their regular auctions and fixed price shop.


Puylaurens in southern France.

This hoard contains 2688 Royal and feudal coins, dating from the 1100s to cca. 1315-1322 (when it seems that the accumulation was hidden and then lost), and is very interesting for many reasons, from which three are close to my main areas of study:

1. the small currencies after the great monetary crisis and the debasement of the early 1300s under Philippe IV le Bel -- the "recovery" of the denier tournois (cca. 1307 and the 1310s) and the possible (probable?) "petits" (tournois and parisii) of the reigns of Louis X and Philippe V;

2. the denier parisis after Philippe II Augustus, mainly the mintage under Louis...

In God We Trust: The American Civil War, Money, Banking and Religion by William Bierly, Whitman Publishing, 2019, 336 pages, $29.95.

This book delivers original research from primary sources ranging from local newspapers to the archives of the U. S. Mint. It also draws on many standards works, including the books of George and Melvin Fuld, Kevin Flynn, Q. David Bowers, and Don Taxay. It corrects some often repeated errors found in the numismatic literature.

The central theme is story of how In God We Trust came to be on our coins and eventually was declared by law (July 23, 1956) to be our national motto. Most collectors of U.S. federal coinage know that the 2-cent piece of 1864 was the first to carry the motto. The Civil War was the cause. That story is the centerpiece here.

The Red Book credits Salmon P. Chase with placing IGWT on the 2-cent coin. Chase was the financial wizard who designed the banking...

Since many of us are house-bound or at least semi-house-bound, I have decided to dust off some my old articles that I write for my local club and post them here. Since I am going to add a fair number of pictures, it might take a few posts to mount the entire article. It may take me a while to post all of this article, but bear with me.


At our February meeting, someone asked about what people used for small change in the Confederate states during the Civil War. That brought up a longer discussion about what Civil War citizens used, both North and South. At that moment I realized that I had never covered this topic during all of the years that I have given educational presentations to the club. Although I don’t have a large collection of this material, I decided that it might be interesting to cover it this month.

At the beginning of the Civil War, most people on both sides thought the conflict would be short. Northern politicians thought that they could put...

Firstly, this may be the last coin shipment that I receive for the next 2 weeks to 2 years, from what I can appropriately judge right now. Interesting time to be farting around. (remember we also just went through some pretty good sized 5.7 and 4.2 earth quakes this week)


(Kidding! I may be as drunk as Homer but I am certain that we will get through this)

And B: I received an archaic coin from what would be considered nearly the beginning of ancient coin. All the way to a medieval crusaders coin at near the end.
Naw, I’ll look at this as a new beginning. Get better photos of my coins, check my identifications and better my learning of the hobby I love so much... while spinning them round in my fingers like Scrooge McDuck!

(Actual footage of Ryro taken in secret by ninjas that hate coins)

Believe it or not, I was able to sustain, leaving the package in the shed for three days, before ripping open this saweet bit of...

I have compiled a list of all denarii issued by Marcus Aurelius for his wife Faustina II and have studied the hairstyles depicted thereon. Excluding various hair ornaments, such as strands of pearls and the stephane, and ignoring whether the bust appears facing right or left, I have identified four different coiffures and have determined a temporal sequence in which they appear. From earliest to latest, they are:

On 21-Feb-1787, The provisional government of the United States, established under the Articles of Confederation, agreed to a resolution to establish a Constitutional Convention:


The Constitutional Convention...

I acquired this for its reverse image



Cilicia. Uncertain mint circa 400-300 BC.
Obol AR

10 mm., 0,56 g.

Facing head of Herakles, wearing lion’s skin

Eagle standing left on stag's head, all within rectangular beaded border.

Göktürk 42; SNG France 472; SNG Levante 229.

Researching the type, I came across this statue in the Getty Museum



This hollow bronze statuette depicts an eagle perched on the head of a stag; both are mounted on a stepped pyramid. The wings of the eagle are closed and its feet are placed between the antlers, which project on either side of the stag’s head. The composition is a well-known variation on the motif of an eagle perched on a quadruped (usually a bull or stag), which was common in ancient Near Eastern religious iconography and can be traced back to the Bronze Age. Most examples of this motif in the Roman period are small bronzes that seem to have originated in Anatolia (present-day...