I really don't like asking for help but after hours trying to figure this out I'm asking (begging) for some help on this 19mm Greek bronze. I'm a Roman/Byzantine collector and after purchasing a collection of about 500 Greek coins, most with no identification, I'm starting to get an appreciation of the magnitude of varieties in this area of ancients. Have no idea what the obverse is; the best I can tell it's either a winged cap or a goldfish. Of course I may have it upside down. The reverse is certainly Poseidon kneeling on maybe water or a wave or something, holding a trident.
i have a few coins of this nature.. mine tend to morphize into whatever i'm thinking it is at the time.. ( i see a tadpole on yours.. @ the moment )
Hmm, that's a stumper! The pose of Poseidon, with the free forearm resting on his thigh, reminds me of various silver coins of Demetrios Poliorketes (Macedonia) but I'm not finding anything like that in bronze. Despite rotating the other side every which way, I have no idea what it is. A helmet is as good as guess as any. In one rotation it sort of looks like a 3/4 facing head of Athena wearing a triple crested helmet (like some Klazomenai bronzes and others). I've searched a number of key words and scoured CNG, AsiaMinorCoins, and to a lesser extent ACsearch and Wildwinds but haven't even had a near-hit yet. Maybe it's not a coin but a token or tessera? I'm going to bookmark it and keep it in mind. A nice puzzle
@TIF : Many thanks for taking a look at it, but if our resident Greek expert couldn't figure it out I guess it's going into the hopeless pile. Just in case, here's a little better (and larger) pic of it. Who knows, maybe this will help one day.
Could it be an overstrike? A helmet obverse over a horsehead obverse? I feel like I see some horse ears at the top. Usually when I can't recognize a coin design it turns out to be a griffin. I don't think that is true in this case but...
Oh dear. I'm flattered, but: Looks like @arnoldoe and @Ed Snible have this coin in the bag Edit: CNG's archives have several of these which are clearly overstruck.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=279307 If the type was overstruck on earlier coins, we open a whole new avenue for confusion.
I agree that it could be an over-strike (man, I love over-strikes) BOEOTIA, Federal Coinage (Overstrike), Æ18 Circa 220s BC Diameter: 17.5 mm Weight: 5.11 grams Obverse: Head of Demeter or Kore (Persephone) three-quarter face right, wearing corn-wreath Reverse: Poseidon, naked, standing left, resting right foot on rock and leaning on trident; to right, ΒΟΙΩΤ[ΩΝ] downward Reference: BCD Boiotia 108 (this coin); HGC 4, 1182. VF, dark brown patina. Overstruck on Æ of Antigonos Gonatas of the type SNG Cop. 1214-1221 Other: 12h … the overstrikes are reversed on this coin, which is quite rare Ex BCD Collection (Triton IX, 10 January 2006), lot 108
Here is one of the overstruck examples from CNG: https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=75329 Someone has determined the undertype of that example. I suspect it will be possible to determine the undertype for your specimen as well. I see what looks like a curved wheat ear and an inscription. I recommended David MacDonald's book _Overstruck Greek Coins_ for those who like looking at this kind of material.
I don't have an example of the coin. I bid on one at an Aegean Numismatics auction but didn't win. When @arnoldoe identified the type and I saw a clear obverse I was surprised because that type had not occurred to me at all. I do have an example of MacDonald's book! I recommended it. I don't have it handy but recall a lot of great color pictures and discussions about what specific patterns of undertype/overtype tell us about ancient economies. I do have some overstruck coins where I have identified the undertype. Here is an AE16 that I don't know if it was overstruck or counterstamped: The undertype is this: https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=51927 Obscuring that is a 7mm helmet/gorgoneion impression. However, there is no gorgon/helmet 7mm coin! Gorgoneion countermarks are known but usually the countermarking was done against a blank anvil. I found it quite difficult to figure out the host coin!
Many thanks to all. Definitely a Boeotian type overstruck on a coin of Antigonos Gonatas. I guess it wasn't a goldfish after all.
