I was thrilled to receive the item in the photo below as a gift from my late friend Roger Bickford-Smith over 25 years ago. Roger was not a collector of Alexandrian tetradrachms but we both were very interested in the denarii of that mint so he gave this to me. He had another just like it. The problem is I have misplaced his gift and only now have a photo I took of it soon after receipt. I know it is in a box somewhere but I have not seen it since my last move 16 years ago. This week I found the photo I shot of it shortly after I got it. This is a scan of two black and white prints made back then. I hope someday to find the item itself and see if I can improve my photo. I do not have a color photo of it. Can you ID it? I will give the answer shortly if no one gets it but will ask that you not post other than answers to this thread. If you do not want to try to ID it. Go to another thread. If you don't like games, go to another thread. If you think this is unfair, ignore it. If you like to ID things you may not have seen before, enjoy. One more thing: Don't ask if it is real. The photo was taken from a plaster cast of the real coin as was the common practice in many coin books 100 years ago. Roger was very good at making plaster casts including making them from other plaster casts. This is a digital scan copy of a film photo I shot (my lighting) of a three dimensional plaster object made by pressing Roger's plaster object in clay creating a void into which liquid plaster was poured. How real do you want?
Interesting! I'm at work and don't always carry Alexandrian references with me ( ) but have some ideas. If no one has nailed it by the time I get home I'll take a stab.
I'd switch the order of photos because generally speaking, and for this presumed era, the dated side would be the reverse. The woman has a Severan hairstyle and some version of the word Augstus. The other side, showing a young man, has the title Caesar spelled out in full which is unusual. Whether or not it fits with any known Alexandrian coins, I don't know but will search my books immediately upon arrival home . Do I see a Π on the young man side of the coin? I could believe that as a Philip II, sort of, but the reverse woman doesn't belong with him.
Too easy. I agree it should be Titiana on the reverse due to the LA on her side. I have seen metal fakes of this type but they were terrible in style and not deceptive. This is the British Museum specimen. Roger was from the UK and known there. His best coins are there now.
Well, not too easy I'll have to dedicate some time to actually learn the Greek alphabet. That being said, simply amazing coin! I wasn't aware that there were images of Pertinax's family like that of Didius Julianus. Pertinax is one of my favorites. A Good man cut down by the greed of men.
Yes, if you are looking for New Years resolutions that will make collecting Greeks more enjoyable I might suggest the following: 1. Learn the Greek alphabet but add in the archaic letters that were retained as numerals long after they stopped appearing in literature. Those are stigma S (6 - often with the lower curve smaller) and qoppa :Greek_Koppa: (90 - also handy as the first letter in Corinth). There are a couple others that show up but those two are most common. Also learn that omega Ω was often made W and the Greeks sometimes liked to run letters together in ligate groups. Learn those as you experience them. 2. Learn a bit of Mediterranean geography. It would be nice if you knew all the subdivisions in what is now Turkey but that is asking a lot. 3. Learn the popular names used by the various regions so you won't waste time looking in Egypt for kings with Syrian names etc. I'm not saying you have to get comfortable with the differences between Ptolemy I and Ptolemy X right now but printing out a king list of the major regions might be a handy cheat sheet. 4. Realize there is more to learn than you have time to cover so don't sweat the details until you see a need to add to your knowledge bank. Don't fight it; have fun with it.
I scrolled down really fast as a way to not see any guesses or answers yet... my guess it Faustina Sr. with Antoninus Pius. Edit: ok, nope... didn't get it. But that was fun!
That is all excellent advice! I have been working on my ancient geography a bit. Kinda like as you stated, on an as needed basis. The more I learn the less I realize I know. Or something to that effect. Any good books or sites you might recommend?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-lis...ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1543462641&sr=8-23 Be sure to get both volumes since some aresold separately. Spend time with the maps.
