I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all the U.S. citizens a very happy Independence Day. AEOLIS, KYME AR Hemiobol OBVERSE: Eagle's head left, KY to left (M beneath the head, nearly off flan) REVERSE: Quadrapartite incuse square of mill-sail pattern Struck at Aeolis, 450BC .46g, 7mm SNG Cop 32
Hell yes! Here's another eagle! Ptolemy III Euergetes, Egypt, AE 17, 3.00g, ca. 246-221 B.C. Obv: Zeus facing right within dotted border. Rev: Eagle standing left, ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ; around border. Dark green patina.
Vespasian AR Tetradrachm Antioch mint, 69-70 AD RPC 1954 (20 spec.) Obv: AYTOKPA OYEΠACIANOC KAICAP CЄBACTOC; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r. Rev: ЄTOYC NЄOY IЄPOY B; Eagle with wreath in beak standing, l. on club; in l. field, palm branch Happy Fourth everyone!
Looks like a LOT of Ancients celebrated The United States' Independence Day with an Eagle: Ptolemy I Egypt Amyntas III Makedonon Marc Antony Roman Republic Sextans 217-215 BCE Roman Republic AR Denarius Plaetoris 67 BCE Roman Imperial Licinius I Roman Imperial Romulus Roman Provincial Nero Tet Messana Mamertini Pentonkion 288-278 BCE
Happy Independence Day! A few more ancient eagles: ELIS, Olympia. 95th Olympiad, 400 BCE AR hemidrachm, 16 mm, 2.6 gm Obv: head and neck of eagle right; F below Rev: thunderbolt, volutes above, wings below, F-A across fields Ref: BCD Olympia 85/84 (same dies); SNG Copenhagen 372 ex Frank James Collection EGYPT. Ptolemy III Euergetes 246-222 BCE AE35, 35.53 gm Obv: head of Zeus Ammon right with ram's horn, wearing taenia diadem Rev: ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ BΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ; eagle with closed wings standing left on thunderbolt, filleted cornucopia left; XP monogram between eagle's legs Ref: Svoronos 965 Formerly slabbed; NGC ChVF*, strike 5/5, surface 4/5 EGYPT, Alexandria. Gallienus year 13, CE 265/6 tetradrachm, 21 mm, 9.1 gm Obv: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right Rev: AVTKΠΛIKΓAΛΛIHNOCCEB; eagle standing right, holding wreath in beak, palm over shoulder; L IΓ across field Ref: Emmett 3806(13), R1 Ex Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 88.203 (accessioned 1888); Benjamin Pierce Cheney Collection Ptolemy I tetradrachm
In this country, we frequently overlook the real reason for this holiday and focus instead on having a picnic. Kroton AR stater Akragas AE trias rabbit with shrimp and crab on the (back) side Akragas AE21 picnics are more fun with a friend
Thus I choose to name this thread "Independence Day" rather than 4th of July. Although a picnic is nice. Nice coins all.
I never thought about it until now, but it's very rare to hear someone call it 'Independence Day'. Most folks think of it as a holiday to see fireworks and have a BBQ, perhaps not thinking about the true meaning at all.
I saw a reporter on the street news cast the other day asking passersby what they knew about the Fourth. I was surprised (I shouldn't have been) at how ignorant our citizenry really is about Independence Day or what we celebrate on the Fourth of July.
I just finished a book and thought this quote might be appropriate for today: Douglas MacArthur, at the age of 82, after receiving the highest honor bestowed by the academy, spoke to the 1962 graduating class at West Point: “Duty-Honor-Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn… You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the nation’s destiny in their hands…The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty-Honor-Country… The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint; they have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the miles of yesterday. I listen vainly for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield. But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty-Honor-Country. Today marks my final roll call with you, but I want you to know that when I cross the river my last conscious thoughts will be of THE CORPS, and THE CORPS, and THE CORPS!...I bid you farewell.” Bob Considine, It’s All News To Me: A Reporter’s Deposition, 1967, pp 360-1.
Great idea Bing. Happy independence Day to all. Was it politically incorrect to include a happy 4th of July wish to a British coin company today when I paid for my latest treasure? Today is a good day to celebrate all kinds of things American like: eagles the right to vote whether you vote Republican or ... Democrat, sorry I do not have a donkey coin so I posted an As golden fields of grain and fried chicken