Coin Talk

A Chronicle of the Revolutionary War in Medals ...

The Comitia Americana (American Congress) Series is a group of 13 medals that honored heroes and marked major events of the American Revolutionary War. The American Continental Congress authorized eleven medals that were awarded to military heroes. Two other pieces, the Libertas Americana medal and a Benjamin Franklin medal, were financed privately.

The French initially made all but one of the medals. During the late 18th century the French artists produced the finest medals in the world. Proof of their preeminence is showcased by the beauty and superb execution that marks all of these pieces. It would be many years before the United States Mint would be able to rival the artistic merits of the French medallists.

Those who collect the Comitia Americana series have several options and face great challenges if they decide to acquire the earliest mintages of these pieces. The original gold or silver medals that were awarded to...

WARNING: A long, rambling, artistic treatise on a couple of old coins follows.

My last coin purchase of 2018 was this stater of Kelenderis. There have been a number of these on the market over the last year and I like the type, so I have been looking for the right one. Many of these have very ragged flans that lose part of the design. Many are poorly struck with flat spots in the high points. They vary between an archaic style and a more classical style. I picked this one because of its good classical style. Even though it is somewhat corroded, it is still very attractive in hand. In person you don’t notice the rough surfaces as much that the photo highlights. I am very pleased with this as my last coin of 2018.


Cilicia, Kelenderis.
Circa 420-410 BC, Stater (Silver, 21 mm, 10.34 g, 9 h).
Obverse: Youthful nude rider seated sideways on horse prancing to right, preparing to jump off and run alongside the horse.
Reverse: ΚΕΛEN Goat kneeling right,...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Once again a typical Roman legend: The story of the pious brothers of Catania. And an introduction into the meaning of Roman pietas.

The coin:
AR - Denarius, 3.91g, 19.22mm, 0°
Rome, ca. 108-107 B.C.
Obv.: Head of Pietas, diademed and with necklace, n.r.
under the chin .X (control mark)
behind PIETAS (AT ligated)
Rev.: One of the Catanian brothers (Anapias or Amphinomus), naked, walking r., wearing his father on his shoulders; he, in himation, has raised his right hand and looks back.
in ex. M.HERENNI (HE ligated)
Ref.: Crawford 308/1a; Sydenham 567; Herennia 1; RCTV 185
About EF

Note:
The Herennia were an Oscan family. Herennius is the Latinized form of the Oscan first name heirens. For example, the Samnite commander who defeated the Roman army at Caudium in 321 BC was called Heirens. In 121 B.C. the Haruspex Herennius Siculus was imprisoned for his friendship with Gaius Sempronius Gracchus and...

Anthony Wayne, Francois de Fleury and John Stewart

The Battle of Stoney Point

July 15, 1779

Stony Point was the site of a fort on the Hudson River 30 miles north of New York City. A large marshy area to its rear and imposing cliffs 150 feet high made it seem like an impregnable position. In 1779 the British were looking to capture the American fort at West Point. The fall of West Point would have given the British control of the Hudson River and would have isolated New England from the rest of the colonies. To relieve the British pressure on West Point and open the transportation lines from New England, George Washington ordered Anthony Wayne to take the British held forts at Stony Point and Verplanck’s Point.

After a long, forced march, a select group of 1,300 American troops, penetrated the marshes behind the fort and scaled the cliffs in front of it. They surprised the British and captured the fort using only bayonets....

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...