Today the planet Mercury crosses the sun in an eclipse of sorts called a transit. This happens every 13 years. The next occurrence will be November 13, 2032. You may read about it here. In honor of the day, here's a coin of Mercury! Gallienus, AD 253-268. Roman silvered billon antoninianus, 4.25 g, 21.3 mm, 11 h. Antioch, AD 267. Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: FIDES AVG, Mercury standing right, holding marsupium (purse) and caduceus; PXV (=TR P XV) in exergue. Refs: RIC 607F; Göbl 1667k; Cohen 219; RCV 10212; Hunter p. lxx. Post your coins of Mercury or Sol in honor of today's celestial event!
I bought this for the obverse and reverse. I have been Mercury online under one name or another since the late 1980s. Now, I am mike49mercury@gmail. When I was a citizen of Nova Roma, I was Gaius Marius Mercurialis. (I have several ancient Greek Hermes coins, also. The bronze is harder to capture and, really, Hermes is not Mercury, only an analogy, as is the Egyptian god Thoth.)
SEVERUS ALEXANDER AR Denarius OBVERSE: IMP ALEXANDER PIVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right REVERSE: P M TR P X COS III P P, Sol, radiate. standing left with raised hand and globe Struck at Rome, 231 AD 3.4g, 20mm RIC 109 AURELIAN Antoninianus OBVERSE: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate cuirassed bust right REVERSE: ORIENS AVG, Sol standing left with hand raised, foot on one of two bound captives, XXIP in ex. Struck at Serdica, 274 AD 3.4g, 23mm RIC 63f, Venera 1008, C 145
@Roman Collector an interesting idea for a thread. While I have no Mercury to show - Edit: I do have a Sol: Gordian III AR Antoninianus, Antioch AD 243-244 Obv: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG - Radiate bust right, cuirassed. Rev: ORIENS AVG - Sol standing left, right hand raised in salute and left hand holding out a globe. Size: 4.97g 22.5mm Ref: RIC IViii, 213 On the planetary theme, here's a tiny bit, ~8mg, of another planet in the form of primitive Mars volcanic magma aka light-grey, olivine-basaltic shergottite, from a meteorite, NWA 4468. and my favorite depiction of Mars on a denarius: Roman Republican, Cn. Lentulus Clodianus, 88 BC, AR Denarius, Rome mint Obv: Helmeted bust of Mars (Corinthian Helmet) seen from behind, wearing balteus (legionary sword belt) over right shoulder with parazonium, vertical spear behind left shoulder Rev: Victory in biga holding reins in left hand and wreath in right hand, in exergue, CN LENTVL, border of dots. Size: 4.03g 18mm Ref: Crawford 345/1; Sydenham 702; Cornelia 50
Nice coin and the meteorite, Mars (the god of war) nonetheless being somewhat opposite in intention to Mercury (merchants and travelers). Mardi Gras Doubloon Krewe of Mercury 1985. Einstein on a 5 pound Israeli 1968 because his special theory of relativity explained the precession of the perihelion of Mercury. Mercury on a 1 Gulden from Curac,ao Mercury French Commerce Medal Silver Mercury by Stan Lee (for those who collect comics)
MERCURY RR Anon AE 19mm Semuncia 217-215 Mercury Prow Sear 620 Craw 38-7 RR C Mamilius 82 BCE AR Den Serrate Mercury caduceus Ulysses Dog Argos Sear 282 Craw 362-1 WAY COOL, @Sulla80 ! Here is mine:
Mercury: ROMAN REPUBLIC, M. Piso M.f. Frugi 58 BCE (redated from Crawford's 61 BCE by Hersh and Walker, 1984) AR denarius, 20 mm, 3.94 gm Obv: terminal bust of Mercury right, wearing winged diadem; calix below chin; to left, star above wreath; dotted border Rev: M·PISO·M·F / FRVGI above secespita (sacrificial knife) and patera; all within laurel wreath Ref: Crawford 418/2b; Sydenham 825; Calpurnia 23 formerly slabbed, NGC The Greek counterpart of Mercury: THRACE, Sestos (sometimes spelled Sestus) c. 3rd-2nd century BCE AE 16.6, 2.35 gm Obv: Head of Hermes left, wearing petasos; dotted border Rev: chelys; ΣH downward in right field; dotted border Ref: von Fritz, Nomisma 1, 15 (coin 29 on plate 1 in that book) ex x6 Collection
Here's a Mercury and a Hermes: Anonymous Sextans, Roman Republic - Sicily, 211 - 208 BC, 5.78g, 20mm Obverse: Head of Mercury right, two pellets above (undertype of Hiero II Zeus or Poseidon visible in hat) Reverse: Trireme right, ear of wheat above, KA monogram on right, ROMA below Istros, Thrace - 250 - 200 BC. 7.6g, 24mm Obverse: Bust of Demeter (?) right, countermarked with oval incuse containing bust of Hermes wearing petasos Reverse: Sea-eagle carrying dolphin
My two favorite hobbys, astronomy and numismatic, in one thread ! Two coins I’ve never posted here : Gordian III Sol raising right hand in salute & holding globe RIC 83 Gallienus Sol draped and holding globe RIC 611
You can talk about it all you want, but better to see it for oneself Got it cited in on my scope.... Here's the sun finder. Sadly I don't have a camera for this telescope so I will not be able to take an actual photo of what I'm seeing... What I saw: The transit ended at around 1:00PM, and there are currently no sunspot activity, and only a small prominence at the 2 o'clock position. The transit was visible as a tiny dark dot on the face of the sun. Very small but quite visible on the solar telescope. I continue to be disappointed that despite my $1200 investment in solar observation, the sun has remained unremarkable for the last year. Hardly any sun spot activity, and only slight prominences. But that is to be expected as we are between Solar Cycles.
And here's a coin of Mercury to comply with OP's request. Roman Republic, Second Punic War, 215 - 212 BC AE Sextans, Sardinia (?) Mint, 17mm, 2.37 grams Obverse: Head of Mercury right wearing winged petasus. Reverse: Prow of galley left, ROMA above, two pellets below. Crawford56/6 Also, pleas note that regular telescopes are not made for solar observation (without special solar filters). You should never use a telescope or binoculars to look at the sun. It will mean instant blindness. I'm using a specialized solar telescope that is 100% made for that purpose. Using improper equipment for solar observation is dangerous. Do not try what I did without proper certified purpose-built equipment and always carefully follow instructions. Also, never look at the sun directly with your eyes either.
Well, I tried to watch it through some cheapskate diy solar eclipse glasses made from layers of old photographic film, but mostly failed to see anything... @Sallent 's approach is much safer and more viable. A Herennius Etruscus with a Mercury reverse from AMCC 2 is on its way. Until it arrives, I still have these two Republicans: Roman Republic, anonymous issue, AE semuncia (post-semilibral standard), 215–212 BC, Rome mint. Obv: head of Mercury r. Rev: prow r.; above, ROMA. 20mm, 6.97g. Ref: RRC 41/11. Ex Artemide, eLive Auction 6, lot 307 (their picture – I don't quite manage taking a decent picture of this coin). The second one arguably shows Mercury. And Apollo. And Neptune. All as the same person... Roman Republic, moneyer: L. Iulius Bursio, AR denarius, 85 BC, Rome mint. Obv: male head r., with attributes of Apollo, Mercury and Neptune; behind, control-mark (grapes). Rev: L.IVLI.BVRSIO; Victory in quadriga r., holding reins in l. hand and wreath in r. hand; in field, controlmark (FI). 21mm, 3.76g. Ref: RRC 352/1c.
Yeah, that won't cut it. What I'm using is barely adequate to see solar prominences and other solar storms. It's a Coronado PST 45MM H-Alpha solar telescope. I can see the sun the size of a golf ball. Although sun spots stand out beautifully, solar prominences are quite small and require careful observation. I sometimes use a Barlow x2 lense, which helps make out the details of solar prominences a little better. Don't expect NASA quality photos. Everything is small and requires a good eye and patience to resolve properly, but seeing your patience rewarded with a glimpse of a solar storm is thrilling. Still, that's as good as you can do for solar observation for under $1000. The telescope typically runs $750. I do have a $500 filter extension that helps to just resolve solar filaments, but that was not necessary for the observations I did today, plus if you buy it all at once the entire package is $1,200 instead of $1,350 if you buy them separate. A better H-Alpha solar telescope will run around $1,600 ($2,100 if you add the additional filter for shorter H-Alpha wavelength) and at that price you'll be able to see the sun the size of an orange, and it will be a lot easier to make out filaments and prominences... but you probably have to invest another $300 just to get a proper stand for it....and $1,900 (or $2,400 with additional filter) was not in my budget at the time. Sadly H-Alpha solar observation is expensive. As an alternative you could always try a $50 solar filter on your regular $200 or $300 astronomy telescope, but all you'll be able to see with that is the visible light spectrum, so its only for sunspots. It won't let you see any prominences or filaments, or any other solar storms, so you'll miss out on 2/3 of the fun of solar observation.
..i'm using an old fellow Missourian's telescope meself...Hubble........ya know, i never paid too much attention to my ancient coin reverse's till i got here with you all in Cointalk....before then, i totally bought the coin for the obverse emperor/ruler...i believe this to be Sol on this Gordian lll..plus a bonus bronze ring with Sol and cross( and it's leaning against a vintage Minvera table lighter i'm working on as added irony)...and there's supposed to be great balls o fire tonite from a the remains of a comet too..
That's one telescope I'm going to miss when it stops working in two or three years. Probably the best bang for our buck mission that NASA ever did when you consider that the telescope was a leftover CIA spy satellite repurposed as a space observatory.
i'm with ya on that...i think we should save it...maybe start a go fund it... for that jewel...it's opened up the universe for us....it should stay in orbit forever i think...
Hubble is to home telescopes (including the $multi-thousand ones) as the British Museum is to my collection 50 years ago. Sometimes I think I should sell my collection and spend the rest of my life looking at pictures of coins I'll never see. Mark you calendar. There is a Transit of Venus in 2117. I became aware of them while collecting old photos and saw some of the expedition to Tasmania in 1874. That was when I lost all interest in astronomy. What those people went through was amazing.