Uranopolis or in present day Ouranoupoli was founded by the brother of Cassander of Macedonia, Alexarchus in the late 4th century B.C. They were also a mint in the Kingdom of Thrace. The village is located in the northwest part of Athos. I tried to find some more info. but there doesn't seem to be too much out there. Macedonia, Uranopolis Circa 300 B.C. O: Eight-rayed star, representing the sun R: OYRANIDWPOLEWS Aphrodite Urania seated facing on globe, holding long sceptre Moushmov 6909 The coin is pretty worn but yeah there is supposed to be a globe down there. The globe is meant to represent the Celestial Sphere and not Earth.
Acquiring a coin from an uncommon city is always a good thing I can see it but it's not a globe. It's a Unicorn Hippity Hop (anyone remember Hippity Hops? Good times )
I was thinking the star was close to that of a widows mite, but after comparson maybe not. Old photo was thinking I took newer ones but don't see the file.
I'm always looking to add lesser known coins to my collection. Unfortunately some of those are rather expensive. ... say do they have ancients with unicorns on them? great, now I got to do a search lol.
I really like these affordable Greek bronzes. The 8-rayed star on yours is really nice! My Uranopolis... Some think that the rayed star was used as the royal symbol of the Argead dynasty (Alexander the Great's family), but I believe there's no consensus. It's a common enough symbol in Greek art, and the 8-rayed ones seem particularly so on coins. Here's one from Thymbra, Troas, circa 4th century BC. TROAS, Thymbra Circa 4th century BC. AE17. 5.0g, 16.9mm. SNG von Aulock 158; BMC Troas pg. 89, 4. O: Head of Zeus Ammon left. R: ΘΥ, star of eight rays; HP monogram below. And another one from Pontos, Amisos. PONTOS, Amisos Circa late 2nd century BC. AE18. 6.0g, 18mm. cf. SNG BM Black Sea 981f; cf. SNG Stancomb 640. O: Rose bud. R: Eight-rayed Star.
