Post the Best 'Cherry-Picks' You've ever Made in Ancient Coins.

This is probably my best "steal", an ugly little Leontius AE4 that was sold as an ordinary Leo I about 15 years ago.

Tiny, little ugly thing but as far as I can tell no coin of this usurper has ever gone to auction. Probably about a dozen known today with the only other type being a unique solidus from Antioch.

In case you find interest in rare wannabe kings you can read the full writeup at http://www.tantaluscoins.com/coins/9102.php

A long time ago on ebay there used to be this Bulgarian guy named Dmitri who listed hundreds of nice coins every week under the name of "Ancient Auction House". Anyway, he had a dreadfully inept assistant who did the coins' descriptions and ID's so it was easy to cherry pick the listings. While I scored a few decent sleepers over the years it just so happened that I went on a trip one fateful week and missed the big one when he listed a 3-ant lot the sort that would usually go for ten bucks because of nominal condition. In that one lot was a Pacatian! Curtis Clay won the lot and when he told me about it I wanted to cry. Oh well, I guess it's just as well since if he saw it had I been paying attention we would have both bid very hard and then... then it wouldn't have been such a story!

Rasiel

 

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Ah, yes. Dimitre Genov. Wonder whatever happened to him.

 

This was 6 bucks from my local coin shop.
Saw similar ones for roughly 40+ USD. Had the info somewhere for it and lost it. Not a MASSIVE score, but still a nice one.

 

Wow - thanks for posting this - never took note of them before!

Have you got an explanation of why its made into a "15 shekel" coin?

As far as I can tell, the Phoenicians used a metrology that emerged around Syria well before 2,000 BC. It was a mina of c. 470g, split into 50 shekels (qedets) of 9.4g.

That mina began to dominate Egyptian weight standards after 2000 BC – often as a deben of 10 qedets thus c. 94g.

That decimal system started to break down in the Hellenistic period, into a kind of binary pounds and ounces system. So still a c. 470g but yielding an ounce of c. 29g, from which today we tend to derive a “tetradrachm” of c. 14.5g and a "stater" of c. 7.25 g.

It looks to me as if this copper is being read as being 15 of those staters as part of the binary system, with a reduced standard of c. 6.4g?

I am inclined to suspect whoever made that judgement was confused. This copper looks to me much like the giant Ptolemaic coppers, and thus was sticking to the old decimal splitting.

Thus a deben of 10 qedets – 1/5 of the old Syrian/Phoenician mina……

Thoughts anyone?

Rob T

 

Sorry, Rob... I have merely assumed that the name of "15 shekel" is a modern appellation born from a desire to label everything and for ease of discussion.

As @Alegandron mentioned earlier, these coins were likely produced at a time when Carthage was scrambling to pay war reparations to Rome without having access to their silver mines, hence the expediency of an unusually large bronze coin. Alegandron, do you have any references for this? I'm not sure I've seen any primary sources or research.

 

Agree. This is something we see far too often which makes me hesitant to accept anything unless I have seen the reasoning. All it takes is one 'expert' (not even a recognized expert but someone my level) who decides to tack on a name for convenience sake and small silver coins become obols no matter what the people that made them thought they were. Are there enough of these large coins recorded to make us certain they were a 15 rather than a 16 denomination? I have no problems with theories presented as such but readers interested in labeling their collections show a great preference for names like Centenionalis to terms like AE2 or simple measurements like 22mm bronze.

It is inappropriate for me to question carefully considered scholarship which I have not read or do not understand. It is also wrong to give life to wild guesses based on scanty evidence.

 

Plumbata, That 1955 DD is more than a CHERRY, it's a CHERRY PIE !

 

Agreed. I have learned such "labels" are only reference points assigned. Due to usage, then it becomes "gospel".

I am NOT a scholar, nor an expert. Rather, I enjoy ancient histories as a hobby (ancient coins are placemarkers of the histories I read.) My personal readings on Hannibal AFTER the battle of Zama (becoming Chief Magistrate of Carthage), showed that he did many things to keep Carthage from folding under the enormous weight of indemnities imposed by Rome. Please note that Spain was controlled by Hannibal's family, whom developed the silver mines. Rome took all of these territories and mines, depriving Carthage of food and precious metals.

Whether they are "15-Shekels", or another denomination, only illustrates that this is a LARGE coin (my heaviest STAMPED / STRUCK coin in my collection.)

An everyday example for me as I travel a lot, and am astounded that our language "creates" new words naming a peoples' country name (ie, Wales for Cymru; China for Zhongguo; Finland for Suomi, etc.) This same process is arbitrarily applied naming coins, and those names STICK to them: Stater for a Didrachm, etc. WHY do we do this?

My "BIG AE HANNIBAL as Chief Magistrate of Carthage FUNDING COIN from after the Battle of Zama":

(maybe I call it a "ZAMA")

Carthage 1-Zama:

I posted this as my largest coin of 2017. However, @TIF has the most gorgeous version of the Carthage 1-Zama!





Seller write-up:
Carthage.
Circa 201-175 BC.
Æ 15 Shekels
45 mm. dia. 7.5 mm. thick. 102+ gm.
Obv: Wreathed head of Tanit left
Rev: Horse standing right; uraeus above.
Ref: MAA 104 ; SNG Copenhagen 400.
Comment: Original green patina.
Note: The largest Carthaginian coin and likely one of the largest coins struck in antiquity.

This extraordinary large bronze coin was likely issued under the administration of Hannibal, who, following defeat at the battle of Zama, was appointed as chief magistrate of Carthage. Hannibal worked effectively to restore the finances of Carthage. The annual payment of 10,000 talents to Rome as reparations for the war, and the loss of control over the silver mines in Spain made the issuing of a silver coinage impossible. The immense thickness of this coin also precluded any significant relief of the die's impression.

 

@Alegandron, that is a great coin! a witness to one of the greatest struggles which the early Roman Republic ever faced. Hannibal, Scipio Africanus...

Like you, I am a fan of history, and for me, coins are an extension of that.

I was fascinated by the history of the Punic Wars already as a 14 year-old foreign student in a British Boarding School in 1971.....(brrr!!! the mere memory of that school still makes me shudder - the food...!, the weather...).
I wrote a paper for my history class on the Punic Wars. (The headmaster liked it enough to write to my parents about it.)

 

I share the same passion for this time in history! Would love a copy of your paper... and LOL, we are virtually the same age!

I wasn't a foreign student in Britain, but my kids were when I was an Expat for my company. We put them into the local British system as opposed to the option of sending them to an Anerican School in the UK. Much greater life experience for them.

 

I'd actually describe most of my collection as a series of cherry-picks; I'll share a few as time allows.

Some of the best that I would describe as a true "cherry pick" in the sense of picking rare coins out of a group lot would be my Indo-Sassanian coins. Lots of very rare types came up late last year, most of which I am about one of maybe six people obsessed enough to care about.

First are some Omkara type drachms - these have an "eye" symbol, a letter behind the head (Ja or Ma) and one of three reverse types - Fire altar, Om, or Sri Omkara. Maheshwari's illustrations:


Eye types 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8/11/12 (I'm not convinced these aren't variants of the same type) are common with Ja and Sri Omkara. Eye type 2 with Ja and Om is rare-ish, but is a popular type in high demand. Type 8 with Ma and Om became available in large numbers with a recent hoard.

These types are very rare:

Maheshwari 8/6, Cross, MA, Sri Omkara


Maheshwari 1/6, Dot, MA, Sri Omkara


Maheshwari 5/3, Crescent, Ja, Sri Omkara


A new variant of the rare eye type 9

Six-pointed star, no dot


Compare vs 8/3, Eight-pointed star with central dot



An unpublished type that was abundant when I first started but has since dried up; no eye at all! This one is also exceptionally off center on the obverse, showing the Gadhaiya style ear behind Ja.


An exceptionally nice 4/3, showing the obverse front ribbon


And the coveted 2/2


This one shows the moon still above the fire altar - the only coin I have seen to do so!


E: The majority of these coins came in mixed ebay lots, averaging $2-5 per coin

 

I think most of us, if we have been collecting for a long time, come across many wonderful picks. Probably half my collection falls into that category, either by price or rarity. This is one of the more recent examples which is both types of pick:


Lucius Verus, 161 - 169 AD
Æ Drachm, Egypt, Alexandria Mint, 31mm, 23.03 grams

Obverse: Λ AVPHΛIOC OVHPOC CEB, Laureate and draped bust of Lucius right.

Reverse: Semasia on horseback galloping left wearing elephant skin headdress and holding palm frond and reins. LENATOV on left, CHMACIA below.

References:
Emmett 2433.9 // Dattari (Savio) 9508

Cost:
$25

Provenance:
Chris Donaldson, Santa Clara Coin Show, April 2019.

Notes:
Extremely rare. From CNG Coins: “Σημείονmeans ‘signal,’ as σημείαis a military standard, which signals the location of an army. Semasia, therefore, is the herald that brings news of a military triumph – in this case the news that the Parthians had been routed by the Roman army, losing Seleuceia and Ctesiphon in the wake of the Armenian War. This very rare and interesting depiction of Semasia also occurs on Alexandrian drachms of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior, further recanting the military exploits during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.”

 

Haha, thanks! Obviously too shamefully modern and outside the scope of this thread, but I don't anticipate ever dipping my toes into the fetid morass that is the US coin forum here, and since it is an heirloom circulation cherry-pick I thought it would be fun to share.

Can't go wrong for 6 bucks! What you have there is a bronze of Seleukos I Nikator, with a winged head of Medusa on one side and a butting bull on the other. Your reverse is worn but would have read "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ"

Here's a 15mm, 3.42g example I overpaid for because of the excellent rendering of Medusa's wild serpent hair:

 

I got this 5th century BC Thebes stater for $180 from CNG not including the buyers fee and shipping. I favor sharpness of detail in coins and don't care as much about minor flaws or poor centering. To me the price seemed like an absolute steal!

 

1. Here is a quite rare crusader coin I found in a $10 ebay lot consisting mostly of worn late Roman bronze coins. This happened just when I began collecting ancients.


Baldwin of Bourcq, County of Edessa, AE Follis, 1110–1118 AD. Obv: Baldwin in conical helmet and chain-armor, standing l., sheathed sword at hip, holding globus cruciger, BA[Λ] - ΔOI[N] around. Rev: Ornamented cross in Byzantine style. 20mm, 4.01g. Ref: Schlumberger I,9; Metcalf 109–112; CCS 10.

2. This one I got for €7.50 – the seller had misattributed it as Diocletian.


Severus II, Roman Empire, AE silvered Follis, 305–306 AD, Heraclea mint. Obv: FL VAL SEVERVS NOBIL CAES; laureate bust of Severus II r. Rev: GENIO POBVLI ROMANI; Genius of the Roman People standing l., holding patera and cornucopiae; in exergue, HTS. 28mm, 11.24g. Ref: RIC VI Heraclea 25,S.

3. A Celtic cast "potin" from a lot of four coins that I bought for $7 shipped. The other three coins in the lot were a Tetricus I, a worn Augustus Quadrans, a Postumus antoninian. The latter two have moved on, and I broke more than even.


Western Celts: Senones, cast AE ("potin"), ca. 80–50BC, north-western Gaul, region of Sens. Obv: head with six braids r. Rev: stylized horse l., two pellets in fields. 19mm, 4.66g. Ref: De la Tour 7417; Castelin 701M BMC 389.

 

I thought this story was worth resurrecting this old thread, LOL!

 

Man, dont give me ideas! Reeses' are my kryptonite.

Just realized that I never showed any of my many, many Roman cherrypicks over the past few years

First, the Roman coins I got for super, duper cheap (let's say from a $10/coin lot or cheaper)

"Quinctilius vare, legiones redde!"
Augustus, Berytos Phoenicia with Quinctilius Varus as Legate
From a Triskeles lot via Vcoins, $1.30/coin


Galba AE drachm of Alexandria, Year 2 with Isis reverse
Ebay lot, $0.82 / coin


Thrace, Rhoemetalkes with Augustus
Ebay lot, about $5/coin


Tetricus II as Augustus, barbarous but in quite good style and thus rare
Ebay individual purchase for under $5 shipped


DIVO CLAVDIO antoninianus, muled with a Quintillus reverse
Ebay lot, $4/coin


Theodora AE4
Ebay lot, $1.50/coin


Unpublished Constantine muled with a Constantine II or Crispus PROVIDENTIAE CAESS reverse from Arles... at an officina that didn't strike for Constantine! Mintmark T*AR
Ebay lot, $1/coin


Procopius
Ebay lot, $2/coin


Flavius Victor
Ebay lot, $1/coin


Marcian AE4, common enough but rarely seen this nice
eBay lot, $5/coin

 

Not really a cherrypick (unless you can accidentally "cherrypick" a coin), and not ancient, but the story recently had a happy ending so I might as well post it here for the enjoyment of my coin buddies. A couple of years ago I decided to fill the last few slots in my old Canadian Cents album, and needed an 1859/8 (wide 9), so ordered one from Frank Robinson's world coins list (no photo).

When I got it, I noticed something odd... normally these have a 12h axis ("medal axis"), but this one was 6h ("coinage axis"). I got pretty excited when I discovered the coinage axis version is an official catalogue entry, and very rare. I contacted Frank and, good guy that he is, he was very pleased for me. But there wasn't much info on what I could expect to get for it if I sold it. So I kept it for a while.

Recently I decided I couldn't justify it any more. Probably it was worth decent money, and I could have a nice ancient instead, right?!

To cut a long story short, it just sold at auction this past weekend.

My cost: $25.



I was pleased. (Slight understatement.)

But I now I don't have a wide 9 over 8 again...

 

Snagged a rare Ostrogoth-countermarked early imperial As for $50 when they usually retail $200+

Domitian, Roman Empire
(later revalued in the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy)
AE as / 42 nummi
Obv: CAESAR AVG F DOMITIAN COS II, laureate head left, countermark XLII (42) in left field
Rev: VICTORIA AVGVST, Victory advancing right, standing on prow, holding wreath and palm branch, S-C across fields
Mint: Rome
Date: 73-74 AD (struck); 498-526 AD (revalued)
Ref: RIC 677

 

OMG!!!! Talk about a cherry-pick!