My New Non-Classical Beauties

I found these amazing bargain coins and couldn't resist both, as I adore mainly non-classical/non-popular coins.
I took the photos from the seller due to my horrible coin photography.

Apollodotus II, AR Drachm of Taxila
110 - 80 BC
Weight: 2.06 gm. Diameter: 16 mm.
Bare-headed, diademed bust of king right, Greek legend around:

BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣΩTHPOΣ KAI. ΦIΛOΠATOPOΣ / AΠOΛΛOΔOTOY
(of King Apollodotus, the saviour and the father-lover)

Seen from behind, Athena Alkidemos standing left, holding aegis on outstretched left arm, hurling thunderbolt with right hand, monogram at right side with Kharoshthi legend around: maharajasa tratarasa / apaladatasa
Reference: MIG 424a, Bop 2I



Elymais Dynasty, Phraates
2nd Century AD, AE Drachm
Bust of King facing left with star with crescent above anchor.
Series of dashes (some claim the dashes are an attempt of immitating greek/other ancient script)



I know I know, get your pitch forks away, but I received both coins from Zurqieh. I purchased them a day before I found out he glues his coins with sand. These specimens I ordered seem completely fine and unaltered at least. I received both for 40 $ shipped with registered tracking.
Ironically Zurqieh has been a better seller than Newgate Numismatics (who cancelled my purchase after 3 days out of nowhere) on Vcoins.
Thanks for looking and post familar ones from these rather obscure kingdoms.

 

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Me too. Nice additions there...congrats!

 

Cool!! That seems a VERY reasonable price... Congrats

 

Well, they certainly ARE classical. But our western ethnocentric predilections consider them to be 'someting lesser'. Its just a matter of education. The bi-lingual inscriptions should be clear to the Hellenistic influence. How could that possibly not be classical?

 

I agree. I find them amazing, fascinating and as equally important as any other ancient culture.

 

Some "non-classical" from my collection:



ELYMAIAN KINGDOM: Kamnaskires-Orodes55 viewsElymaian Kingdom: Kamnaskires-Orodes. Early-mid 2nd century A.D. Æ tetradrachm (29 mm, 15.18 g). Bearded facing bust, wearing diadem with tuft of hair on top of head; in right field, star-in-crescent above anchor; small pellet between anchor and hair / Dashes. Van’t Haaff 12.1, subtype 1-3D; Alram 481. Brown patina.



AE Drachm, 3.88g, Kamnaskires-Orodes, 2nd Century AD, Obv: Crowned bust facing with various symbols about field. Rev: Series of dashes, aXF. V.H. 12.3, subtype 1-1B.

And this new guy, Orodes II (I think):



Really sharp obverse I couldn't resist.

 

nice to see some coins from the east, even though i'm trying to focus on the "classical" roman stuff currently!

my AII drachm....



I need to pick up some more elymian coins, here's a little AE i picked up on ebay for cheap.

 

the multi lingual coins fascinate me. I am happy to carry on such linguistic treasures into the future. Next goal is to get a phoenician coin with their script..

 

Stay away from non-Roman and non-Greek ancients. They are absolute garbage. Whatever you do, don't bid on them at auction. Focus on your Roman-only or Roman and Greek coins, and leave these no-good coins all to me. Let me do that and suffer ownership of those coins so you don't have to.


Azes II


Apollodotus I


Nahapana




Artabanos II


Vologases III


Osroes II


Mithradites III

Trust me, stay away from these coins. They are no good. You do yourself a favor and leave the eastern junk for me.

 

Yep, what @Sallent said, leave all that worthless Eastern stuff alone. Definitely don't go looking for anything like these:

 

ACHAEMENID - Non-Classical: I have them running from the beginning until Alexander took them out...

Persia Achaemenid Empire Darius I 510-486 BCE AR 0.11g 5mm 1-32nd Siglos Persian hero-king in running incuse Klein 758 Rare


PERSIA Achaemenid Daris I-Xerxes II 485-420 BCE AV Daric 14mm 8.3g LydoMilesian Sardes king wearing kidaris kandys quiver spear bow Incuse Carr Type IIIb Group A-B pl XIII 27


Persia Achamenid Type IV dagger quiver running Darius I to Xerxes II 455-420 BCE AR QUARTER-Siglos 1.35g 8mm Incuse rev


Achaemenid Xerxes II to Artaxerxes II 420-375 BCE AR siglos 16 mm 5.14 g Persian king running spear bow - incuse Carradice Type IIIb C pl XIV 42) Sunrise 25


Persia Achamenid Type IV Artaxerxes II to Daris III 375-336 BCE AR siglos 15.2mm 5.45g running stance r daggar bow incuse BMC 172ff rev

 

I agree, especially anything from the Xin dynasty. Leave all those cool....uhm, I mean terrible...coins of Emperor Wang Mang to me. No need to raise market prices on these coins anymore, as they are not worth your time collecting. Leave them all to me.

 

India: A few...


India - Shakya Janapada
AR 5-Shana
6th-5th Century BCE
25mm x 21mm, 7.05g
Obv: Central Pentagonal punch plus several banker's marks
Rev: Blank
Ref: Hirano Type I.8.29
Coinage from the Ghaghara Gandak River region.
"Prince Guatama Siddhartha 563 BCE to 483 BCE, the son of the king of the Shakya people (Republic). Siddhartha reached enlightenment, becoming the Buddha at the age of 35."
RARE 19 known


India Gandahara AR Bent Bar 11.3g 650-600 BCE RARE two dots - also have on BOTH sides VERY RARE


India Maurya ser VIB AR Karshapana punchmark 270-175 BCE ASHOKA


CHINA: A few...

Just got this from the @Ken Dorney collection via @John Anthony ... it is just
Cool!

China Song Dynasty 10th-12th C CE AE Gaming Token 29mm 6.42g Zhui Feng Zhi Ma-horse following wind- - Horse galloping left - Classic Chinese Charms Vol I 2149


China Zhou -Chou- 1000-200 BCE Dynasty Bronze cowrie - VF - Rare; from the @TypeCoin971793 collection


China Shang Dyn 1766-1154 BC Ant Nose Ge Liu Zhu 2-6g 19-5x11 very scarce H 1.10


CHINA - ZHOU Dynasty, 1122-255 BC square foot spade 350-250 BC AN YANG - 3 lines rev bronze 31x52mm 7.45g H3.184 S13+


China Qin 220-180 BC AE 12 Zhu Ban Liang Blank H7.7
First Emperor to unite China...

 

If you tire of the one in the middle of the right column, let me know!

 

Should Celtic be considered classical? Personally, I don't think so. I use "classical" for Greek, Roman, and Byzantine.



GAUL, Northwest. Senones. Circa 100-50 BC. Potin. Helmeted head left; pellet to upper left / Horse standing left; pellet to left, three pellets to upper right. D&T 2646; Depeyrot, NC VII, 27 (Remi); CCCBM III 379-87.

I need to reshoot this.

 

Sassanian:

Persia Sassanian Ardashir III 628-629 CE AR Drachm 36mm 3.85g Zoroastrian Fire Alter Gobl II-1 yr 2 Delta RARE


Sassanian Shapur I 240-272 CE AE Tetradrachm 10.78g 27mm Ctesiphon mint phase 1a mural crown korymbos - fire altar type 2 SNS IIa1-1a


PARTHIA:

Parthia 177-138 BCE AR Drachm Diademed draped bust Mithradates I left bashlik - archer seated on omphalos Sellwood 10.1


Parthia Mithradates III 58-55 BCE AR Drachm 3.9g 20mm Rhagae mint star archer bashlyk throne bow Selwood 41-12


PARTHIA Orodes II 57-37 BC AR Drachm 18mm 3.3g - killed Cassius poured gold - Ekbatana mint bust l stars cresent Arsakes I r on throne bow anchor Sellwood 48.9

INDO-SKYTHIA:

India Indo-Scythian King Azes I 57-30BCE AR Drachm


HUNS:

HUNS Nezak Huns - Spalapati Deva AR Jital 750-850 CE Horseman-Bull Tye 5


SRI LANKA:

Sri Lanka 1st C BCE PB Lead 1/8th unit Lakshmi excavated in Anuradhapura RARE


CELTIC: (OK, thanks @Nicholas Molinari !)

Celtic Britain Iceni Boudicca 61 CE 1.03g Celt Hd r Celtic horse galloping Scarce

 

If you guys are going to pull out your Sassanians, I have to throw in here the coolest Sassanian portrait I've ever seen...and I don't just say that because it's my coin.


Kavadh I

 

Ohh yea. Iceni:


Britain, The Iceni, 65 – 1 BC
Silver Unit, 13mm, 1.25 grams
Obverse: Celticized head right, two trefoils before, triple pellets below.
Reverse: Horse rearing right, pellet below tail, wheel above, lozenge shaped box below.

Cost:
£15

References:
Van Arsdell 794 // ABC 2567 // SCBC 434

Provenance:
Purchased at the London Coin Fair, mid 1990’s

Also. I too have a Wang Mang Qi Dao Wu Bai. Most are broken below the circular, mine carefully finished. I posted if before, cant find it in the archives. If one wants a photo I will take one.

 

KILLER PRICE! Great capture!

 

Well, look at the note. It was in the mid 1990's and there was a big hoard going around. And I paid the premium (at the time there were no discounts for a bottom feeder such as myself), not really wholesale (though I was a dealer then as now).

But....I did find my Qi Dao. Crappy and super quick phone photo, but hey, what do you want? I wish I had a complete one, but most are not. And to boot I stopped collecting Chinese about 10 years ago (and sold most, a few dozen cool ones still remaining).