Coin Talk

The Eid Mar coin was voted the most famous coin of all time. In Harlan J. Berks book’s « 100 greatest Ancient coins », the denarius is rated number one in his category. Why ? First it openly celebrates an act of murder ; the bloody execution of the dictator Julius Caesar in the Senate house on the Ides of March of 44 BC. It is one of the most important event in the history of the western world. Secondly it is the only and unique Roman coin to mention a specific date. And thirdly it is one of the rare specific coin to has been mentioned by an ancient authority : Cassius Dio, the Roman historian ( 155-235 AD ) wrote about it in Historia Romana ( XLVII.25, 3 ) :

Now let’s analyse what’s on the denarius. The obverse of the coin features a portrait of Brutus, himself, and the legend : L PLAET CEST BRUT IMP. L Plaetorius Cestianus is the name of the moneyer who minted the coin ; Brutus...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Another article about a Republican coin.

The Coin:
Roman Republic, R. Renius, gens Renia
AR - denarius, 3.92g, 15.33mm
Rome, 138 BC
Obv.: Head of Roma,wearing decorated and winged Attic helmet, r.
X behind
Rev.: Juno Caprotina in goats biga galloping r., holding reigns and sceptre in l. hand
and whip in r. hand.
beneath C.REN
in ex. ROMA
Ref.: Crawford 231/1; Sydenham 432; Renia 1
VF, toned, small, struck on small flan

Caprotina (= wearing goat's skin) is an epithet of Juno in her aspect as a fertility goddess. As Juno Caprotina she is associated with goats (Latin capra, "she-goat", caper, "he-goat") and with figs, both of which are symbolic of fertility: the fig fruit bears many seeds (and the well-known obscene meaning of fica), and goats are well-known for their randiness. Her festival was called the Nonae Caprotinae, or the "Nones of Caprotina", held on the nones or 7th day of July, and it...

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The clothing of the Roman matron remained remarkably constant, remaining essentially unchanged from the Republican period until well into the fourth century, when the stola and palla were supplanted by the dalmatica, a tunic with sleeves worn by both men and women.

The Roman woman's costume began with a tunica intima, a simple chemise undergarment with or without sleeves, depending on the weather or fashion statement desired. Over this, she wore a stola, the feminine equivalent of the toga. The stola was typically made of wool or linen and was longer than the body, and was slit at the top on both sides so it could be placed over the head. The stola was often white, but could be dyed or have colorful borders along the neck and around the edge for decoration. Coins sometimes depict stolae with decorations over the breasts. Clasps called fibulae...

I have had a fascination with the early half dimes since I was in high school. I could not get over the fact that the same beautiful Draped Bust design that appeared on the Bust Dollar was also on such a tiny coin. The trouble these coins are so scarce, as a group, that I didn’t see my first one until I was a junior in college. A coin dealer, who had a shop in northern Delaware had an 1800, the most common Draped Bust, Large Eagle date, in what I remember to be VF. The asked price was $300. I added up all the money I had, as a college student, and could have bought it … if I decided that I didn’t want to eat.

After I graduated from college and landed my first job, I got my first early half dime, an 1800 “LIBEKTY.” This Red Book variety was created when Robert Scott, who probably made the dies, used a broken letter punch for the "R" in "LIBERTY" that had an open spot at the top. It is moderately scarce with perhaps 275 to 325 examples known. Here it is....

The traditional interpretation of one of the major works of Greek statuary, the so-called Apollo Sauroktonos, is that it depicts a young Apollo about to slay a lizard climbing on a tree. The earliest reference to the sculpture is by Pliny, who attributes it to the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles, and describes what the piece looked like: “[Praxiletes] also made a pubescent Apollo with an arrow watching a lizard as it creeps up with the intent to kill it; this is known as the Sauroktonos.”[1] Sauroktonos is typically translated as “lizard-slayer.” Art historians date the work to c.350-340 BC.

The sculpture was well-known by Roman times and numerous copies and variants in virtually all media are known. The most famous are the Roman copies in the Louvre and the...

I read many post talking about the famous forger Becker lately. Was he a skilled artist or a crook ? Before you answer, let’s examine who he was and what he did.

THE CROOK
Carl Wilhem Becker is born June 28 1772 in Speyer , a town located beside the river Rhine. Founded by the Romans, It is one of Germany’s oldest city . His father owned a vineyard and was in the wine business, and also occupied the position of Syndic, probably similar to what we call a mayor today. In his youth, Carl was not interested in wine trade, but would rater study in art and become a sculptor. He was sent at Bordeaux for his training in the wine making profession. He married a woman of Mannheim in May 1795 and opened his own wineshop in this city. From 1798 to 1803 he set up there as a draper but became bankrupt. His personal diary indicates that by 1796 at the latest he dealt with coinage. There is a (...

Most numismatists believe that the 1907 High Relief $20 gold piece is the most beautiful U.S. coin. This piece was the “pet baby” of President Theodore Roosevelt who started the “Renaissance of American Coinage” which extended from 1907 to 1921.

In 1905 President Roosevelt met with Augustus St. Gaudens who was viewed as the greatest American artist of his era. Roosevelt was very dissatisfied with the designs of the coins which were then in circulation and wanted to introduce a series of U.S. coinage designs that would be on a par with America’s emerging greatness. The president asked St. Gaudens to redesign every U.S. coin from the cent to the double eagle. St. Gaudens had more assignments than he could complete, and he was also becoming progressively ill with terminal cancer. Therefore he drew up the designs and assigned an artist, Henry Herring, who worked in the St. Gaudens studio, to execute the models.

St. Gaudens...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Romulus has been depicted on coins not before Augustus. It was said that Augustus was flirting with the idea to take the name Romulus for himself. But as we know he has abstained it. Romulus indeed was the founder of the city, but as first king definitely not a good example for the Republic. Quite the opposite to it he was seen as tyrant and Cicero compared some of his adversaries like Sulla, Lepidus or Caesar with Romulus. At Horaz the mythological fratricide became the original guilt ('Erbschuld') which was responsible for the misery of the Civil War. And that was the reason why Augustus quit the adoption of the name Romulus. It was not until the Flavians when Roman mythological themes occured on coins again.

The Coin:
Hadrian, AD 117-138
AR - denarius, 20mm, 3.33g
Rome, AD 134-138
Obv.: HADRIANVS - AVG COS III PP
Laureate head r.
Rev.: ROMVLO - CONDITORI
Romulus, bare-headed, in military cloak, walking tip-toed r., holding transverse...

I am pretty geeked out over this one, ugly as it may be. This is an AE from Cilicia issued by Tarkondimotos, a king with Roman sympathies who died at the Battle of Actium fighting for Marc Anthony. Tarkondimotos spent his entire career supporting Rome, but always the wrong guy - Pompey against Caesar, then Cassius, then Marc Anthony. The Battle of Actium put an end to this, and the coin was countermarked shortly thereafter with an anchor by his son Philopator I, who was hoping, probably, for another royal pardon from Octavian (nope).

In addition to being fairly unattractive, this coin puzzled me at first and I wasn't planning on bidding on it - a "Seleucid" anchor countermark on a coin issued this late seemed flaky to me. I doubted there'd be much information. The day the auction was closing I did a halfhearted search online and found that this issue was somewhat abundant, with several examples on FORVM and elsewhere. It was the FORVM listings...

A long-term goal of mine is to collect coins from all of Spain's history up until 1500. Still missing pre-Roman Iberian, and high medieval, but I can happily announce that I achieved a milestone very recently by acquiring, not one, not two, but three coins of Muslim Spain, or in Arabic, al-Andalus (الأندلس). I was not too confident in being able to identify whether a coin advertised as from al-Andalus really was the real deal, but after some research recently into Andalusian coins I decided to take the plunge.

Al-Hakam I, Emirate of Cordoba
AR dirham
Obv: (center, in Arabic) "There is no God but Allah. He has no equal"
(in margins, in Arabic) “In the name of Allah. this Dirham was struck in al-Andalus in the year six and ninety and one-hundred ” (AH 196)
Rev: (center, in Arabic) "Allah is One God. The eternal and indivisible, who has not begotten, and has not been begotten and never is there His equal"
(in margins, in Arabic)...