Coin Talk

Here's a recent inexpensive coin purchase that led me to a surprising realization about Parthian coinage:

Parthian Kingdom. AE chalkos (12 mm, 1.20 g). Artabanos* (c.10-38 AD). Obverse: Diademed bust left with square beard. Reverse: King on horseback right. Sellwood 63.21, Shore 575. This coin: Pars Coins Auction 3, lot 173 (2019), $30 final bid.

Artabanos* took the Parthian throne about 10 AD, during an unsettled time for the region. Vonones I had spent much of his life in Roman territory and proved too Hellenized/Romanized for the Parthian nobles- he didn't like hunting, feasting, or (the real deal-breaker) horseback-riding. The nobles induced Artabanos to give up his job as king of the Parthian dependency Media Atropatene (Azerbaijan) and fight Vonones for the throne. Vonones was forced to flee back to the Romans, and Artabanos took up the Parthian crown. During a later dispute with the Romans over Armenia, Artabanos was forced from the...

I thought I would post some positive news on our local coin show. The 71st street coin show is located at 2100 E. 71st street, Indianapolis. The show is hosted by fuba coins. Last Sunday was packed with dealers and visitors. 55 plus tables of all types of Numismatics were available. This show keeps growing year after year. I went to the Indiana State coin show the day before. The 71st street show is as good or better. The best part of the show is that a breakfast buffet is served in the hall next door and is delicious. It’s a donation breakfast with the proceeds benefiting different groups thoughout the year. If you are going to be in the Indianapolis area in 2020, checkout the schedule attached.

Some weeks ago, I tried my luck on a new auction on Biddr. Although I have maybe already too many Roman Provincial coins, I decided to go now for a few large Provincials with unusual reverses (@dougsmit inspired me to look this way, branching off from my standard Go for Portraits, Best Condition drive) on Zeus Auctions Nr. 1 (in Britain).

This is the first of them, a 32 mm coin from Anazarbus, Cilicia. It’s about 20 miles east of Adana, in the armpit of nowadays Turkey, not far from Tarsus, that other great city of Cilicia, where Paulus was born.

It’s a Koinoboulion type, that represents voting in a community council: the personification of the vote, a female holding a cornucopia, seating on a chair behind a flowering branch, tosses a pebble in a vessel. The surrounding text says something like ‘The metropolis of Anazarbos/ the freedom of the council’ and the year: ET Gamma-Xi-Sigma = 263, that’s 244/5, the first year of the emperor Philip the...

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian Hemidrachm 136-37 AD Pharos lighthouse

Reference.
Dattari-Savio Pl. 95, 1935 (this coin). RPC 6233/; Emmett 1103.21

Issue L KA = year 21

Obv. ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙС ΤΡΑΙΑΝ - ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟС СƐΒ
Laureate draped and cuirassed bust of Hadrian, r., seen from rear

Rev. L KA
Pharos lighthouse surmounted by two Tritons, each blowing a trumpet, between a lantern surmounted by a statue, holding situla and scepter; entryway below.

11.31 gr
30 mm

Note.
From the Dattari collection.


Pharos was a small island located on the western edge of the Nile Delta. In 332 BC Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria on an isthmus opposite Pharos.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria
contemporary Koine Greek pronunciation, was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 280 and 247 BC which was between 120 and 137 m (394 and 449 ft) tall.

In 1968 the lighthouse was rediscovered. UNESCO sponsored an expedition to send a team of marine...

I wanted to share this medallion I once picked up at a flea market I frequently visit. I like to search for exunomia.


This is a similar medallion with the engravers name found underneath the bust - Kettle


England. Death of King George IV Brass Medalet

Title: England. Death of King George IV Brass Medalet

Attribution: BHM 1379; Mitchiner 6290-1; Fauver 1830-17b

Date: 1830

Obverse: Dies by Kettle. GEORGE IV KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, bare head left, KETTLE in small letters below

Reverse: BELOVED & LAMENTED around, BORN 1762 DIED LAMENTED JUNE 26 1830 within laurel wreath

Size: 25 mm

Weight: 5.32 grams


King George the fourth -
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and king of Hanover following the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his...

No, no I’m obviously not talking about the anatomic genital ligament of the human body...Rather, I’m referring to a specific type of iconography found on many roman coins : the rudder.
2000 years ago, ships were steered by a rudder looking like a large steering oar that was pivoted or even held by hand over one side of the boat. Therefore, a rudder depicted on a coin will resemble a large oar or paddle with a reinforcing rib down its central point.




Rudder of a Roman ship

Many deities are depicted with a gubernaculum ; Tritons and Venus, the greek goddess Tyche too, but the winner is certainly Fortuna ( according to Wikipedia : « Fortuna is depicted on around 1000 different Roman coins usually holding a gubernaculum. »)...

This will be a let down compared to all those wonderful coins from the 2019 "best of's" everybody is posting. But I believe us bottom-feeders should throw out some junk now and again to provide contrast to the beauties.

So I stopped by my local dealer on Black Friday. He doesn't like to mess around with low-grade stuff, so his junk bins can be interesting. He handed me the $4 bin and said "I threw some ancients in there." First thing I saw was a very yellow, decaying plastic flip with "Carausius" written on it. And then a Nerva. I got very excited at that point. The rest is a blur - I was in a feeding frenzy.



Well, now that I've calmed down, I'd have to admit that they aren't pretty, but several of them were "firsts" for me (first Carausius, first Nerva, first Berytus, first Jewish Revolt). And the price was right and it took me many hours of fun (mostly) to attribute them.

I'm guessing on the Carausius - I couldn't believe how...

I recently won two small silver coins from the famous East Harptree Hoard, see photos below. The Harptree Hoard was found in 1887 in a small village about 16 miles southwest of Bath, England. The hoard consisted of 1,496 silver coins, 5 silver ingots, and a ring set with a carnelian intaglio of Mars, all stored in a pewter or lead jar about 6 inches in diameter, and buried about 6 inches underground. The coins were all silver miliarense or siliqua dating from the 4th century CE, and issued under 10 different emperors from Constantine I to Gratian. Only 1 example was found from Constantine I, Decentius, and Magnus Maximus, while coins from Julian II numbered 718, coins from Constantius II numbered 340, and coins from Valens numbered 199. The coins were made from 11 different mints mostly located in Gaul. The British Museum took 25 of the best coins, and about 250 coins along with the storage jar were placed on display at the local church where they were later stolen and never...

I have been pursuing a complete set of Ant-nose coins for several years now, which is a very difficult task as some types are known only in the dozens or even single digits and show up sporadically at best. For those who don’t know, “Ant-Nose” coins are so named because the two most common types resemble a face with a giant nose (top left) and an ant (second row, second from right). Ironically, the inscriptions of the most common coins have not been deciphered yet, though I am currently working on deciphering them (and I believe I have a very good idea). Most of the rarer specimens are clear as to what their inscriptions mean.

They are identified, in order of left-to-right, top-to-bottom:

1. “Nose” coin, normal size
2. “Nose” coin, large size (rare)
3. “Nose” coin, small size
4. “Nose” coin with a single bar over the inscription
5. “Nose” coin with two bars over the inscription (scarce)
6. “Nose” coin with a bar dividing the inscription below the “eyes” (very rare)
7. “Ant”...

Green Bay, Wisconsin (Brown County), U.S.A. Obverse: Official Souvenir / Wisconsin / Tercentennial / Green Bay / 1934. Reverse: Thumbnail 300th Anniversary of the coming of the first white man / (Men in Canoe) / Jean Nicolet in ribbon / 1634.

I was born 30 miles from Green Bay in a small town called Kaukauna. My Grandfather and Father both worked at the Paper Mill on the Fox River. That’s why I write this story.

Wisconsin 1934 centennial medal:

1934 Green Bay, Wis., Wisconsin Tercentennial, Jean Nicolet, Bronze 37mm Unc. A bronze medal commemorating the 300th anniversary of the coming of the first white man to Green Bay, Wisconsin, 1634 - 1934.

In 1634 Jean Nicolet crossed Lake Michigan and landed at Red-Banks (near Green Bay), thus becoming the first white man to explore Wisconsin. (Found in Bloomington, IL). The tercentennial (300th anniversary) of Nicolet's landing at Green Bay was celebrated in 1934. ....