New Tetradrachm

Yes, and most of these 500 from the 2nd and 3rd century, a huge number of good quality Alexandrian tetradrachms to be absorbed by the collectors’ and sellers’ community.

 

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I'm not sure that is so many. Just counting those of us here on Coin Talk who collect the series, 500 could be absorbed if only we had the free cash. I know we have at least that many on our collective want lists if we are allowed to count all denominations and not just tetradrachms.

 

Well, I had the impression most coins of the Hermanubis collection were 2nd and 3rd century Alexandrian tetradrachms. But I would like to see a complete overview of the collection - that will not be possible probably. Or can one recognize older collections in the Hermanubis?

 

There are two good questions here. 95% of all Alexandrian coins are 2nd or 3rd century (Trajan through Tetrarchy) and there are more tetradrachms than other denominations. The write up I saw said Nero through Philip suggesting the collection slid forward half a century on both ends but the real question is how all came to have the same gray-brown surfaces making them look like a hoard rather than a collection.
What is online: http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n27a11.html
Alexandrian tets always look a bit odd gathered together since some are silvery billon and some are darkly toned depending on how and when they were cleaned and toned.
I imagine there are some fully natural surfaces in the corpus but I don't know what color that is. Are we to believe that the Hermanubis collector only accumulated coins of one color and refused to buy any that were too light or slightly encrusted? There are many nice coins in the bunch but it is strange to see so many spotlessly clean coins in one color called a 'collection'. Are none listed as having come from a previous sale (e.g. Dattari)?

Years ago I bought a Alexandrian coin (certainly below Hermanubis quality) that had been harshly cleaned since its previous sale that turned out to be ex Dattari. Perhaps there is something about these coins that makes people want scrub them.

 

Well, I'll be expecting the coins I won in the next few days, so I can finally see them with my own eyes. (Plus my earliest bronze Parthian).

 

I'll try to make some pics tomorrow by daylight. These coins must have been collected with an eye for classic style and good condition. They probably were cleaned and cared for, all in the same way. There probably was some smoothing, but I don't see evidence of tooling. They all have a greyish black color with some brown highlights.
Here's a picture by artificial light of a tetradrachm of Gordian III (with the eagle), year 6. That's 244, or is it 243? 22 mm, 12.71 gr. Feel free to comment, dear Dougsmit.

 

Wonderful obverse; reverse???
Alexandrian years began at the end of August (30th or 29th in leap years). Gordian became emperor in July 238 so year one Augustus coins only cover two months and are all rare. Caesar coins are more common. Year six would start at the end of August 242 and end the end of August 243 when year 7 began. Gordian died in February 244 so year 7 was only a half year. The obverse legend changed with year 5 so your coin could be confirmed without a reverse photo to that late period. Mine is a year 7 Emmett 3402. Year 6 eagles seem to be left facing with wreath in beak (correct?) and Emmett 3401.


I don't have a year 6 eagle but this is year 6 Tyche. To my eyes, he aged a lot in that last year.

 

I don't have many Alexandrian coins but there are several I regret not buying in years past. Here's one that was so difficult to photograph I almost gave up!


Gordian I Africanus, Egypt, Alexandria. A.D. 238. BI tetradrachm (22 mm, 12.47 g, 12 h). RY 1.
O: A K M AN ΓOPΔIANOC CЄM AΦ ЄVCЄB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian I right
R: Athena seated left, holding Nike and spear; in left field, date (L A).
- Köln 2600; cf. Dattari (Savio) 4656 (legend); Kampmann & Ganschow 68.6., Ex Coin Galleries (16 July 2003), 264.

Perhaps the most reluctant of Emperors, Gordian I (Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus Romanus Africanus Augustus) was Roman Emperor for one month with his son Gordian II in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Caught up in a rebellion against the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, he was defeated by forces loyal to Maximinus before committing suicide.

According to Edward Gibbon:

"An iniquitous sentence had been pronounced against some opulent youths of [Africa], the execution of which would have stripped them of far the greater part of their patrimony. (…) A respite of three days, obtained with difficulty from the rapacious treasurer, was employed in collecting from their estates a great number of slaves and peasants blindly devoted to the commands of their lords, and armed with the rustic weapons of clubs and axes. The leaders of the conspiracy, as they were admitted to the audience of the procurator, stabbed him with the daggers concealed under their garments, and, by the assistance of their tumultuary train, seized on the little town of Thysdrus, and erected the standard of rebellion against the sovereign of the Roman empire. (...) Gordianus, their proconsul, and the object of their choice [as emperor], refused, with unfeigned reluctance, the dangerous honour, and begged with tears that they should suffer him to terminate in peace a long and innocent life, without staining his feeble age with civil blood. Their menaces compelled him to accept the Imperial purple, his only refuge indeed against the jealous cruelty of Maximin (...)."

Because of the absence of accurate dating in the literary sources, the precise chronology of these events has been the subject of much study. The present consensus among historians assigns the following dates (all in the year 238 A.D.) to these events: March 22nd Gordian I, II were proclaimed Emperors in Africa; April 1st or 2nd they were recognized at Rome; April 12th they were killed (after reigning twenty days); April 22nd Pupienus and Balbinus were proclaimed Emperors; June 24th Maximinus and his son were assassinated outside of Aquileia; July 29th Pupienus and Balbinus were assassinated and Gordian III proclaimed as sole Augustus.

 

Spectacular coin!!! I love the portrait. (And the photo is great too - no evidence of whatever it was that was causing you the frustration.)

 

Here's the missing reverse, together with the obverse. Wreath in beak. Sorry it's no daylight pic, I haven't had the opportunity. Thanks for your information! I always thought Gordian III Caesar coins were the rarest of rarities.