A couple of years ago I managed to acquire a fairly decent and nicely toned half Siglos from Byzantion. You know the Constantinople of Greek times. Out of the blue I spotted a very inexpensive full siglos being sold on the 'bay with a Gitbud & Naumann provenance. Reviewing the little funds that remained in my paypal account, I was able to acquire the this lovely full Siglos. Most people here are familiar with the "Surfer Cow." The iconic obverse of depicting a cow riding on the back of a dolphin. (Only on ancient coins, eh?) The coin itself is nicely centered on the obverse and the reverse is off center to a degree where " it's still good." Received today and the coin is certainly better than the pictures I bought it from, I did my best to capture the beauty of the strike and color, with the coin in hand I can hardly begin to describe how happy I am with the example, and how much my photo falls short of the beauty. In the photo you can see small scratches in front of the face of the cow. but in hand this is all but impossible to see. Good enough for me. Thrace, Byzantion Persian Standard (BC 340-320) AR Siglos 21 mm x 5.31 grams Obverse: Bull left on the back of a dolphin left. Arachic Greek Script - BY above. Reverse: Quadrapartite incuse punch with textured "mill sail design" Ref: SNG BMC Black Sea 21ff Note: Cheap. Nice.
Fabulous! I love these coins and remember the first time I saw one. I think it was a coin of yours, perhaps one someone gave you or that you traded for?
Yes, many moons ago, I was trying to procure a pair of Byzantine Justinian Follii and they got lost and were never mailed and the seller allowed me to pick this up at no charge. I think in hind sight I paid the same for the half as I did for the full. I see far more halves than I do fulls. I dont know why, I dont think either are particularly scarce.
Very cool OP-addition, Noob (congrats) ... oh, and your dark-photography makes your examples seem even "more cool" Ummm, I only have the hemidrachm version with the dolphin ... but I have a very sweet Full-Siglos version on a grain ear ... wanna see 'em? (again) Byzantion, AR Hemidrachm Bithynia, Kalchedon AR Siglos Bull
I only have one from Chalcedon on the other side of the Bosporus, with the cow surfing a grain ear. Can I still hang out with the cool kids?
