Steve may like this one....

So, no, not my collecting area. I do not collect Greeks, I do not collect this city, or this island, this time period, or anything about this coin. I just thought it was unnaturally pretty. Also, my Greek coin friends in my coin club, who do specialize in Sicily, have never seen it before, so I bid on it:


Massana Sicily, Mamertines Bronze 278/270 v. Chr. The head Adranos with Corinthian helmet / dog in the field F. Calciati I, S. 100, Em. 20 4.95 g. Black Grey patina, very rare.

Oh well, sometimes a pretty coin just catches you off guard.

 

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Oh nice, thats a pretty coin, wouldn't mind adding that to my collection.

Who is Steve?

 

Sorry, @stevex6 , he has a thing for animal ancients it seems. I have never seen a prettier dog on an ancient coin. You would think they would be more common, but not really.

 

Sweet. It's the sort of coin I have to check all the forgery databases for before I can click "like" - yours passed.

 

Gorgeous coin! One I wouldn't mind adding to my collection

 

I think he is only into lambs... and sometimes road runners.

 

Weird. I just Googles Mamertines and came up with this article from Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamertines

So I guess these idiots pretty much started the first Punic war. Makes the coin even more interesting now. Maybe I will throw the coin in with Punic ones, and see if I start a fight.

 

I know absolutely nothing about it, but I really like it!

 

I thought @stevex6 was into Pans, and I don't mean the kind you cook stuff in

 

I cannot agree more. This is the type of coin I look for all the time. One's that are in good condition, but more importantly, ones that are different from the common. This is a beauty.

 

same here, every thing is nice about this coin.

 

Wow medoraman ... you're 100% correct!!

=> I "love" that OP-hound!!



Yup, I'm totally jealous over that cool pooch-coin (I love the obverse as well)

congrats

 

Not just Steve-- I think most of us are jealous of this fantastic find!!

 

....so jelly!

 

I'm not a dog person so can not judge the animal but that is a strange coin in a condition sense. The fields seem perfectly smooth and beautiful but the body of the dog and a swipe across the obverse look pealed and rough almost like we see on fourrees that have core exposure but here both metals seem to be the same bronze. It is still a very nice coin but I am having trouble explaining the perfection of the fields and the textures on the dog at the same time. What is the use of the Phi? On the common Mammertine coin type below with horse there is a Pi left of the horse which we take to mean Penta or five.



The one coin on acsearch appears to be a die duplicate which suggests a rarity.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&currency=usd&thesaurus=1&order=0&company=
CNG once sold a similar coin listed as having minor smoothing but still the same die. Most Mamertine coins seem to have been smoothed or could use some surface help if you are into such corrections. I suspect the volcanic soil of the Etna region might be hard on bronzes.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=138546
I'd say this was a good coin to buy now rather than waiting for another in some future decade.

 

That is a very cool hound!

 

All good points. A friend at the coin club had a discussion of the coin. He thought it was a brittle patina. Look at the edges and see the chippiness of the patina there. He simply thought a couple of hits happened on the obverse and reverse to "chip" the patina there as well. Since he was a collector of Sicily I accepted his explanation. I am happy he was wrong on the hammer price. He thought it would go for much more than I paid for it, (though I still paid a fairly good price for this one).

Edit: Btw, I highly respect your opinion as well Doug. My comment about my friend who collects Sicilian coins and his opinion that I accepted was simply due to his familiarity with the coins of the area. He said he had some "chipped patina" coins as well. I didn't mean to say I was trusting his word over yours sir.

 

That's a wonderful coin @medoraman !!!

I purchased a different type a while back but it grabbed me in the same way yours did to you-----it simply has incredible eye-appeal and terrific devices....and the historical background fascinating.

 

Hmmm, in the OP's defense ...

=> I have a modern example with a "flaky" thinga-mabob



... yah, this baby is sweet, eh?



man, it's funny how "modern flaws" are worth big bucks .... but unfortunately, ancient flaws are merely that

 

This coin isn't fake, right?







It maynot be ....but this is a pretty darn close match ....from forgery network.