@dougsmit has a page on his website where he writes about a coin of his with a "Bavarian Collection" provenance dating to between the 1890s and 1930s. The thing that struck me most was the fascinating tags and envelopes the collector had fashioned from various pieces of scrap paper. So, when a number of "Bavarian Collection" coins came up for sale in a CNG auction a few weeks ago, I was eager to win at least one of them. I bid on a few, but only managed to score one, which was part of a group lot of three provincials. It came with two old envelopes, one which was definitely homemade, but neither near as interesting as Doug's. Thankfully, the coin itself, a bronze of Salonina from Ephesus, is IMHO a real winner. The reverse has Artemis the Huntress holding her bow, standing in front of a tree, next to a somewhat malnourished-looking little stag. The detail I really love here is the elegant engraving of the branches of the tree, rising upwards from behind Artemis's shoulders, framing her like a pair of wings. The positioning of the branches isn't uniform across all coins with this reverse type, so I believe the engraver here made an intentional artistic choice to give Artemis a pair of leafy wings when he was working on this die. The obverse has the interesting feature of the added XPVCOΓONH (Chrysogone, meaning 'begotten of gold') to Salonina's name. This was only done on coins of several provincial mints in Asia Minor, including Sardis, Colophon, and Ephesus. One theory suggests that Salonina may have been born to a Greek Bithynian family of that name (the Cornelii Chrysogonii). Another is that she was originally from the Asian provinces, and she had acquired a Greek familiar name by which she was still known there. Neither of these theories is universally accepted, and with Cornelia's background not very well-attested to, this little numismatic enigma may remain a mystery for some time. Please feel free to share your coins of Salonina, or any coins from the "Bavarian Collection". SALONINA Rare. AE29. 9.26g, 29.5mm. IONIA, Ephesus, AD 254-268. Karwiese 1184 (this coin cited and illustrated). O: · CAΛΩN · XPVCOΓONH · CЄBA ·, diademed and draped bust right on crescent. R: EΦECIΩN Γ N-EΩ-KOPON, Artemis, standing facing, head right, raising right hand and holding bow; tree behind her, stag at her side. Ex N. M. McQ. Holmes Collection; ex "Bavarian Collection" (Numismatic Fine Arts XXXI, 18 March 1993, lot 1141)
All I have seen in hand from the Bavarian Collection were late Romans from the bulk lots bought by Victor Failmezger. The ones I got were his castoffs. Yours is a very nice coin. All I have in Salonina that is at all similar is this AE30 of Side with Apollo. It bears a denomination mark I=10 and spells out the name Cornelia. I bought it when I was accumulating coins with references to Neocourate temples (reverse right).
Cool reverse on that one! Just so happens I had my old Salonina on the clipboard from just posting it in @CoinBlazer's Salonina thread, so here 'tis again. Not that it is much to look at. This was from my first (novice) collection.
I have only two provincials of Salonina, though I have a couple dozen antoniniani. I have the same issue as Doug ... But my favorite is this one from Dium, Macedon, featuring Asklepios in a distyle temple ... Salonina, AD 253-268. Roman provincial orichacum diassarion, 8.96 g, 22.0 mm, 7h Macedon, Dium. Obv: SALONINA AVG, Diademed and draped bust r. on crescent. Rev: COL IVL DIEN-[SIS] D - D, Asklepios standing facing in distyle temple, leaning on serpent-entwined staff in r. hand. Refs: Varbanov III, p. 409, 3571; AMNG III--; Sear GIC --; BMC--; SNG ANS --; SNG Copenhagen--; Lindgren II--; Moushmov--. Notes: Obverse and reverse die match to an example sold at Leu Numismatik Web Auction 2, lot 381, December 3, 2017 and the only other one I could find online:
Super coin and provenance @zumbly ! Interesting Bavarian provenance spanning Franco-Prussian War, WWI, Depression Era, etc. cool. The stories of that collector’s lifetime would be interesting. The Artemis Goddess is always a fascinating story, going back deep into Human History... another big Cool! SALONINA Maybe Zumbly’s Artemis is hunting THIS Deer... RI Empress Salonina wife of Gallienus 254-268 CE AE Antoninianus 3.61g 20mm Rome mint 267-268 CE crescent Deer / Stag Walking delta RIC 15 O-R.jpg Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh !!!!!!..... RI Prv Lydia Hierocaesarea 54-59 CE Capito under Nero Artemis killing STAG RPC 1 2391-2 fin
I don't have the NFA catalog, but may keep an eye out for it. It would be interesting to see the range contained in the Bavarian collector's 3,500-coin collection. This is what came with my coin... the bottom right one seems to have been made from the corner of brown manila envelope. Nice one, RC! Here's my other Salonina provincial, from Ilium in Troas. SALONINA AE22. 4.96g, 22.2mm. TROAS, Ilium, AD 253-268. Bellinger, Troy, T294; SNG Munich 279; SNG Cop 443. O: CAΛΩNINA CEB, diademed and draped bust right. R: IΛ-IE-ΩN, helmeted and cuirassed bust of Athena right, wearing aegis. I have to agree. It's a pity we don't know more about the Bavarian collector. The Celator article by Victor Failmezger that Doug mentions on his page is definitely worth a read. It's on pages 14-15: http://community.vcoins.com/celator-vol-08-no-01/
Salonina. Augusta, 254-268 AD. Side, Pamphylia. AE (31mm, 18.62 gm, 7h). 10 Assaria. Obv: Draped bust right, wearing stephane, I (mark of value) before. Rev: CIΔHTΩN NEΟKORΩ, N in ex. Hexastyle temple, Apollo Sidetes in short chiton, standing within, holding patera in r. hand and scepter (?) in l. hand (BMC says "rests on laurel branch). "A" in pediment. BMC 124; von Aulock__; SNG Cop__.
I do have the catalog. It is about as one might expect from many dealers but few of te coins were up to the standards of NFA sales. Many coins were sold in large lots and only a few of them were illustrated in part. The disappointing part was that the envelopes were not illustrated but no dealer in his right mind would have done any more than NFA did for this collection. I might point out that my collection is almost that size and overall content but no dealer today wants so many F-VF coins and large lots today are at best shown as a pile of coins. I liked NFA as a coin source. I have sold almost none of the coins I got from them. I deeply regret that we lost them to criminal activity and ventures like horses and hockey players that had nothing to do with the coins. If I were to be required to send my coin catalog collection to the recycle bin, their books would be among the last to go. I know there are companies with more spectacular offerings but NFA had more coins that I wanted and could hope to own.
Nice coins! I've owned a bunch of her coins, but never a provincial. I did ultimately narrow it down to just this one; one of the few that shows the beautiful woman the statues depict
Yet another reason I prefer envelopes over flips or 2x2s. I try to add as much valuable attribution info and notes to my envelopes as possible (luckily they make a nice canvas for such things) in the hope that the envelopes will stay with coins long after I'm gone. BTW, awesome coin Z!
