Another octopus!

You may remember the thread with this octopus coin of Tarentum:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/post-your-octopodes-ancient-greek-plural-of-octopus.259334/



I just acquired another octopus for my aquarium from CNG's latest electronic auction. It is an earlier type of Tarentum and the dolphin rider is dragging the poor octopus in the opposite direction!



Tarentum, Calabria, AR stater, c 490-480 BC, 18mm, 7.97 g, 10h. OBV: Phalanthos riding dolphin right, holding octopus in right hand, left hand extended / REV: Hippocamp right; cockle shell below. Fischer-Bossert Group 3, 52 (V23/R40); Vlasto 123 (same dies); HN Italy 827.

 

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Wonderful companion Anut. Let's have an octopus salad, or grilled octopus. Yum.

 

Each more wonderful than the other!!!

 

Great coin, the octopus has eluded me so far

 

Congratulations! That's a fine pair.

 

Are you really doing an aquarium themed collection? That would be great, really. In any case, another excellent addition!

 

Spectacular coins in every way A-N!!!

It seems I only have a few dolphins and absolutely no octopi....but there's still six months left of this year and (hopefully) a few more after that to start my own 'aquarium of coins'....

 

That is so cool! I wonder if they had octopus in their cuisine, yet. Seriously.

 

Totally cool. I own no ancients and know virtually nothing about them. Yhey may be among the coolest coins I've seen. As an obsessed boater, I'd love to add one to my collection. Sorry if this has been covered a million times before, but how to I start with ancients and how can I find a similar coin?

 

That coin is pretty old nearly 500 yrs BC, neat coin. Fortunate for you, you got the coin, unfortunate for the octopus.

 

If you are interested in this particular type, take a look at these coins for sale:
http://www.vcoins.com/en/Search.asp...ype=0&searchMaxRecords=100&SearchOnSale=False

 

These coins are usually mondo expensive, ranging from $500-$2000. Years ago I passed on a decent one for $200 because I kept seeing them everywhere. Lately it seems bidding is going bananas for the Calabria coins. There are quite a few variations, and many people have one type or another. Take a look at Bing's fixed price link, there seems to be no shortage of them, they are cool coins and certainly have collector interest.

 

Magnificent coins!

 

Some should make a thread called "Post your octopus" because I would enjoy seeing them

 

Very cool addition => man, we almost got into a scrap, for I was eyeing-up that baby as well (great coin => cool octopus, my friend!!)

... I scored twice in today's show as well ... "Romans" again (I know, eh?)



again, that's a very sweet addition (congrats)

 

Oh, I have an octopus to add into your thread (hope that's okay?)

Syracuse, AR Litra
466-460 BC






SIDENOTE MEMORY => 30 years ago, when I used to live back home on Vancouver Island, I would occasionally go "crabbing" off of the wharf .... man, when those fricken octopus would get into the crab-trap it was mayhem!! (kinda like a fish-hook => they could slime-in, but they couldn't escape ... so I'd merely abort the whole attempt and FREE the whole trap!!)

... good times

 

Okay, that sounds like a good idea

Here are a couple of bronze octopi from Syracuse.

Sicily, Syracuse. Dionysos I
390 BCE
Æ tetras, 14 mm, 1.8 gm
Obv: head of nymph facing slightly left, wearing necklace
Rev: octopus
Ref: CNS 29; SNG ANS 385


Sicily, Syracuse. Second Democracy
c. 425 BCE
Æ tetras, 13 mm, 1.9 gm
Obv: Female head right; XXX before
Rev: Hippocamp right, octopus below
Ref: CNS 30; SNG ANS 1382
Roma Numismatics, 2 November 2013

 

Excellent!

 

Dammit! Now I need one or two. Thought I finished my expensive collections! Lol.

 

Excellent pair! I saw it when browsing through the auction as well, noticing it primarily because of how nice your original coin is, which brought the variety to my attention.