Unusual Metal for an Ancient Coin

Here's my one and only lead coin. It arrived today and I could feel the difference as soon as I held it in my hand. At 7.01g it's close to the weight of a 9mm slug. Feel free to post your lead coins or coins made from anything other than gold, silver, or bronze.

 

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Didn't even know actual lead coins existed, cool. Don't have anything relevant to share.

 

The potin alloy coins of Alexandria were made of lead, tin, copper and silver. Here's one of them struck under Philip I.

 

kool coin D Ray, i have a few lead seals, but no coins that i know of..

 

This elephant of the Ikshvakus is lead. My best guess is 3rd century AD but there were a lot of kings and I have no idea how to date these coins beyond accepting dealer suggestions.

 

Not lead but not at all common are the nickel coins of Baktria.
BAKTRIA, Euthydemos II. Circa 185-180 BC. NI Double Unit (25mm). Laureate head of Apollo right / Tripod; monogram to lower left


BAKTRIA, Agathokles. Circa 185-175 BC.NI Unit (19mm). Draped bust of Dionysos right, wearing ivy wreath, with thyrsos over shoulder / Panther, wearing bell, standing right, raising left forepaw; vine to right; monogram to left.


The alloy of these ancient nickels is much like that of modern US 5 cent pieces and the surfaces might look familiar to those who have found nickels with a metal detector. If you run across one of these with smooth, non-porous surfaces, I suggest you buy it. Mine are not the worst you will see. There is another (which I lack) of the panther type by king Pantaleon. I am not aware of other ancient nickel coins. Anyone?

 

I am aware of the lead tesserae of Alexandria of the second century. I assume they were used as weights rather than as circulating coinage. The ones featuring Hadrian's lover Antinous can get rather pricey. I also didn't know that lead was an ingredient in the potin tetradrachms so thanks for that snippet of info.

 

This is the closest I have:

 

They can get a bit pricey but not as pricey as the bronze issues of Antinous. This lead tessera will likely remain my sole representation of Antinous for a long time.


EGYPT, Antinoöpolis. Antinous
2nd-3rd centuries CE
PB tessera, 25 mm, 7.63 gm, 11h
Obv: draped bust of Antinous right, wearing hem-hem crown; crescent before, AN behind
Rev: Serapis standing right, head left, raising hand and holding scepter; to left, ЄYC/YBA/[...]
Ref: Peus 386 (26 April 2006), lot 759 (same dies); Milne –; Dattari (Savio) –; Köln –

 

Yeah @TIF I've seen a few drachms of Antinous for sale and they are in the $7,000 plus range, so kind of pricey. I've been to El-Sheikh el-Bada (Antinopolis) so it would be kind of cool to get one of his coins. As I've mentioned before the locals aren't to keen on going to the ruins (Asar) of Antinopolis because there is a belief that the site is occupied by evil jinn.

 

I had one of these as recently as this past weekend, but I sold my entire junk box to one person, so I cant shoot a photo.

Check the archives, you will see many that are not very expensive at all but under $1,000 (some well under). Its not as unobtainable as some may think. Its just they dont come up as often as maybe we would like.

 

Here's my Hendin 1155 along with a write up from several years ago that might still be accurate
Alexander Jannaeus, 103-76 BC. Lead Prutah/Token, Transjordan mint, 79/78 BCE?, 15.6 mm
O: Aramaic legend (King Alexander) in three lines within a dotted circle.
R: Anchor in a circle with Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝ∆ΡΟΥ (of King Alexander) around. Hendin 1155, reverse appears to be a match with Menorah Coins die #1.

This coin is a bit of a mystery and therefore quite interesting. These were at one one time extremely rare and therefore not believed to be a coin at all but rather a trial specimen or a token used to gain entrance to an establishment. As hoards were discovered, it became apparent that this coin was common (although far more rare than his bronze issues) and in general circulation in the Transjordan.

Although the lead coins are not dated, the similar Aramaic inscription found on the dated prutah of Jannaeus (Hendin 1152, shown in my collection, dated year 25 = 80/79 BCE) indicates it may have been minted around 79 BCE. These are the only types of Jannaeus that have an Aramaic inscription.

The appearance of both Greek and Aramaic on these coins may reflect a softening of Jannaeus (a staunch supporter of the Hellenistic Sadducees) toward the Aramaic speaking Pharasees.

 

I am not aware of any other nickel ones Doug. I do not think I have ever seen the third one you mention being for sale. I owe it to you that I even know these existed, (like many other coins). I was lucky the Agothocles that I bought at the same auction as the Euthydemos was as nice as it was. The Euthydemos is about the same as yours, but my Agothocles is the best I have ever seen sold, or in CNG's database. Not that it was any talent on my part, I just got lucky. I have posted them here before, but do truly thank you for making me aware of them. You really are a terrific resource for all ancient collectors sir.

 

Lead coins have been around for quite some time, including recent, more modern coins. The early coinage of the Danish India colony of Tranquebar was minted in lead:

Danish India, Tranquebar: Frederik III (1648-1670) Pb Cash (UBJ-109; KM#81)

Obv: Crowned F3 monogram
Rev: Norse lion left, E



But, for more ancient times, we have the following coinages:

Gupta: Skandagupta (455-480) Pb Unit (Pieper 892-93)

Obv: Facing Garuda standing on snake-line object
Rev: Brahmi legend, with extra Brahmi legend above



Byzantine Empire: Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118) Pb Tetarteron, Thessalonica (Sear-1934L1; DOC Pb.37; Grierson 1035)

Obv: Standing facing figures of John II, wearing stemma, divitision, collar-piece and loros, and St. Demetrius, wearing short military tunic, breastplate and sagion, holding swords and between them, labarum on long shaft.
Rev: Alexius and Irene standing facing, both wearing crown, stemma, divitision and loros and holding between them cross on long shaft

 

See Subrahmanyam, R., A Catalogue of the Ikshvaku Coins in the Andhra Pradesh Government Museum, The Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1979

 

Struck in 1463 under king James II of Cyprus, the following coin reveals the cross of Jerusalem and is believed to be composed of several undefined metals. Denomination is Sizain, I think.

 

Same series as QG posted above but this is from Constantinople mint. Minted around 1092 AD.


1916 ALEXIUS PB Tetarteron S-Unlisted DOC 32 Constantinople mint
OBV Half length figures of John II beardless on r., and Christ holding between them labarum on long shaft. Emperor wears stemma, divitision, collar piece and jeweled loros of a simplified type. Christ wears tunic and kolobion.

REV Half length figures of Alexius on l. and of Irene, holding between them cross on long shaft. Both wear stemma, divitision, collar piece and jeweled loros of a simplified type.

Size 19.29mm

Weight 5.8gm

These lead Tetarteron are coronation issues of John II and believed to be the origin of the series of tetartera.
DOC lists 6 examples with sizes from 17mm to 20mm and weights 4.22gm to 4. 74gm

 

I've been on the fence as to whether or not to purchase one of these for some time. None of the ones I've seen show much detail. I liked this one as much for the ancient dirt stuck to it as for the coin itself—LOL. Seriously though it was the provenance of having once belonged to David Hendin that sealed the deal for me.

 

David Hendin provenance is pretty sweet.

I’ve always thought these lead tokens were really cool.

Awesome find, Deacon Ray!

Erin

 

Related to Doug's Ikshvaku lead type, and from about the same time, this is a lead horse coin of the Hiranyaka dynasty from India.