My New Non-Classical Beauties

That daric is INSANE!!

Erin

 

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Thank you... I love it as it is actually the first gold issue for major commerce. Later, Philip II of Makedon created his Gold Stater that traveled wide as a major unit of commerce, and was quickly overcome by Alexander III's Gold Stater. Just had to have it... such a cool placemarker of History!

 

That is so cool! My brother has actually been eyeing one. It's definitely not as nice as yours. But, man, they are sweet coins. Bonus that they're mentioned in the Bible.

I read somewhere that when Alexander came along, he melted down the darics he could find to use the gold for his stater.

Erin

 

I missed that you had that. Great coin!

 

I read that too... makes the Achaemenid Darics scarcer? But I would love to have one from Darius III... Alexander KICKED his tail! And he probably melted beau-coup of THOSE AV Darics!

 

Sticking with the OP coins or close...

Apollodotus II:


Elymais, Orodes I c. 100AD:

Kamnaskires-Orodes, c. 180AD:

 

I wonder how scarce they are because a lot of them pop up at auctions. CNG usually has a few at the time. Maybe it is the Darius III daric that were melted down.

Anyway, I can't wait until the bro can get one. There's nothing like holding 8 g of ancient gold in your hand!

Erin

 

If anyone is as anal as I am about being able to read the inscriptions on every coin he/she owns, here's the Apollodotus II rabbit hole.

The obverse legend is always some form of BAΣIΛEΩΣ MEΓAΛOY ΣΩTEPOΣ KAI ΦIΛOΠATOPOΣ AΠOΛΛOΔOTOY. But the letters are stylized, there are occasional misspellings (presumably depending on the literacy of the engraver?), and some of the words are abbreviated. Here's a typical example...



1. BAΣIΛEΩΣ is spelled BAΣIΛIΩΣΣ, with an I as the 6th letter and two sigmas.

2. MEΓAΛOY is abbreviated as MHΓO. Omegas are spelled as dots, a convention borrowed from Seleucid coinage. E and H are interchangeable.

3. ΣΩTEPOΣ is abbreviated as ΣPO.

4. The K of KAI is missing.

5. ΦIΛOΠATOPOΣ is completely spelled out in proper Greek.

6. AΠOΛΛOΔOTOY is completely spelled out, but retrograde to the rest of the inscription (in blue from 8 to 5 o'clock).

 

Don't get me started on the non-classical. Excellent pick ups!

 

Approx 1/4 TOZ Gold is a nice feel... modern or Ancient. I agree that it is probably the Darius III Darics that may be a bit harder to find. Hmmm... a target...

 

HOLY KOW! OFF with the Celator's HEAD!

 

I also have one of these AE drachms of Phraates, recently acquired from Ken Dorney. This page at Parthia.com traces the progression of the coin types of Elymais - definitely worth a look. We don't know what the dashes signify, but an abstraction of writing is probably as good a guess as any.



Elymais, Phraates, Early to mid 2nd Century AD
Æ Drachm, 15mm, 3.18g.
Obv.: Bust of Phraates left with star and crescent, trident behind.
Rev.: Regular pattern of dashes.
Reference: van'tHaaff14.2, 2-1; Sear5902
ex Ken Dorney

 

This has got to be non-classical...

Burma, Beikthano, Pyu City States
(AD 200-350)
AR Full Unit (96 Ratti)
33 mm x 9.22 grams
Obverse: Sun rising over the ocean dots in between rays solid border around.
Reverse: Srivatsa, sun and moon above - uncertain ancillary symbols.
Ref: Wicks Class A early transitional type.
Note: Minty fresh
Prov: Old Private Collection, Tochigi, Japan

 

great post !! I will research mine..

 

I actually enjoy the feel of the dashes. I don't own too many coins with clear 3D features if that is the right term, that you can feel, etc.

 

Your example has a lot of the obverse letters, which is nice, and the reverse has all of the Karosthi letters, which is great.

Yeah, they remind me of braille.