Ancient Tiny Pianist

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by S. Porter, Aug 9, 2018.

  1. S. Porter

    S. Porter Active Member

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  3. S. Porter

    S. Porter Active Member

    I just purchased this unattributed ancient. Should be easy to attribute, with the tiny pianist performing under a dragon while an ear of corn dances appreciatively. Or maybe Sicilian mercenaries.
     
  4. Deacon Ray

    Deacon Ray Artist & Historian Supporter

    Welcome to the Ancients Forum, @S. Porter ! Cool coin. If you rotate the coin 90 degrees clockwise, the ear of corn resembles a grasshopper.
     
  5. Ed Snible

    Ed Snible Well-Known Member

  6. S. Porter

    S. Porter Active Member

    Other side is horse left with 8 ray star above. Thank you Ed Snible for the attribution!
     
    Ed Snible likes this.
  7. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    Don't let @Ed Snible lead you astray-- you were on the right track. Not Sicily though... my tiny pianist dragon dancing ear of corn bronze is from Sestos. You forgot to mention it but yours also has a sword and the tiny piano player is a frog.

    CT-SestosTinyPianoCornDragon.jpg
    THRACE, Sestos
    c. 3rd-2nd century BCE
    AE 16.6, 2.35 gm
    Obv: frog playing a piano; dancing corn ear above right; dragon above left; sword upright in left field, all within dotted border.
    Rev: chelys; ΣH downward in right field; dotted border
    Ref: SNG Tiffily 19

    ;) :D

    Welcome to the ancients board, @S. Porter :)
     
  8. Andres2

    Andres2 Well-Known Member

    I agree with TIF although I think the corn ear is actualy Mister Peanut himself.

    peanut mister.gif
     
  9. Ken Dorney

    Ken Dorney Yea, I'm Cool That Way...

    This is a bit mean. Unless of course he is a troll. I have no idea. @TIF your attribution is incorrect. It is not a 'dancing corn ear', but the very well known 'Korn Man' (and not to be confused with the 'Screaming Monkey Skull Man". He is distinguished by the evident appearance of two legs crawling the wall, the left arm reaching towards the dragon.

    How can any of you possibly not see the difference? And to clarify, it is not a frog playing that piano, but the enigmatic Billius Joelius. He is remembered for his association with Daviuus, what was part of the Imperial Navy.
     
  10. chrsmat71

    chrsmat71 I LIKE TURTLES!

    Is it a grasshopper and a griffon?

    https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5043357


    Please let me be wrong and it be dancing corn, piano frog, and dragon...because that is AWESOME! :woot:

    How did I miss @Ed Snible 's post???? He nailed it, dang it. Oh well, thanks for brightening my day frog pianist.
     
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2018
  11. S. Porter

    S. Porter Active Member

    I have a new avatar, bowing to your brilliance. Thanks!
     
    ominus1, TypeCoin971793 and TIF like this.
  12. Theodosius

    Theodosius Fine Style Seeker

    So this is how Internet rumors get started.

    Now everyone will need a frog playing the piano bronze from Sestos.

    :)
     
  13. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    And an elusive Iguanasus from Tiphonia.

    [​IMG]
    TIFFILY, Tiphonia
    c. 5th century BCE

    AR18, 7.4 gm, and AR 17, 7.4 gm
    Obv: Forepart of winged iguana left
    Rev: Monogram within dotted square, incuse
    Ref: SNG Tiffily 2, respectively
    This, and one other of similar size and weight, are puzzling. Metallurgic analysis shows them to be 99.9% silver yet they are somewhat porous. Perhaps the copper leached out over the centuries. Some scholars believe this exemplar to be a contemporary counterfeit.

    [​IMG]

    TIFFILY, Tiphonia
    c. 5th century BCE

    AR 16, 6.0 gm
    Obv: Forepart of winged iguana left
    Rev: Monogram within dotted square, incuse
    Ref: SNG Tiffily 4
    This coin is missing from the research lab and it is feared that an unscrupulous member of the archaeology team has sold it on the black market.

    [​IMG]

    TIFFILY, Tiphonia
    c. 5th century BCE

    AR 16, 7.5 gm
    Obv: Forepart of winged iguana left
    Rev: Monogram within dotted square, incuse
    Ref: SNG Tiffily 5
    Most of the coins, including this one, are of terrible workmanship. One would probably be correct in thinking these mint workers had no idea what they were doing. Clearly there was no quality control. Testing shows this coin to be 90% silver and 10% copper.

    [​IMG]

    TIFFILY, Tiphonia
    c. 5th century BCE

    AR tetradrachm (Rhodian standard), 15 gm
    Obv: Forepart of winged iguana left
    Rev: Monogram within dotted square, incuse
    Ref: SNG Tiffily 10
    This coin is also missing and feared sold.
     
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  14. Andres2

    Andres2 Well-Known Member

    modernday issue of the silver Iguana , Tiffily - Tiphonia - Fuji
    not missing but crawling around on eBay.

    iguana.jpg
     
  15. zumbly

    zumbly Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana

    Can’t believe I still haven’t scored myself one of those @TIF-fily coins :rolleyes:.
     
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  16. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    I won't believe these coins until they are slabbed an awarded CACA stickers. :bag:
     
  17. Bert Gedin

    Bert Gedin Well-Known Member

    The piano-playing frog couldn't possibly be our furry frog, could it ? And Mr. Peanut former president Jimmy Carter ?
     
  18. ominus1

    ominus1 Well-Known Member

    ..i'm on a Mexican radio.... mexican radio.jpg
     
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  19. Bert Gedin

    Bert Gedin Well-Known Member

    I never knew Iguanas could, together with all else, also play the piano !
     
  20. TypeCoin971793

    TypeCoin971793 Just a random guy on the internet

    I always smile when you post these. You have top-notch Photoshopping abilities. :)
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2018
  21. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    No photoshop on these. They are genuine fake ancient coins hand-struck from hand-carved dies :)

    [​IMG]

    At first I tried heating the flans to red-hot but it was very difficult to move the flan to the striking set-up before they grew too cold, so I made a Sledge-O-Matic Hammer of Hephaestus:

    HammerOfHephaestusSideView-Ed.jpg

    That didn't work out well either. The dies and flans go flying every which way upon striking with the trip hammer. Also, I had to be very careful to move my head out of the way too... yikes!. The first Iguanasus coin was lost in the shrubbery, left for some future generation to find and ponder :D. I need a heavy solid anvil. Maybe an engine block would serve the purpose?

    Eventually I saw a Big Strong Man wandering down the street and he was recruited to do the sledging. Next time I make these I'm going to just strike cold flans. Heating them probably isn't necessary.

    Alas, these dies were victims of hurricanes Irma and Maria.

    The first Iguanasus in that post was made from fine silver precious metal clay (PMC), using the metal dies as a mold. Fun stuff! The coins in the subsequent three pictures were struck. Some were from fine silver flans and others were from junk US silver. Glad to have found a use for that pile of melt-value silver coins!

    Here's another made from PMC. Since this picture was taken Ive fiddled with the patina and it's bit better.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2018
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