I think I may have found a really really really rare type...

I recently acquired a large lot that included a bunch of Greek fractionals in the mix. Some of them are extremely small. I mean hemitartemorion small. I likely won't be able to start to attribute some of them until I dig out the old microscope that I inherited from my grandfather decades ago. A few of the more worn ones may remain unknown.

A teaspoon full of the coins, are a tad larger (in the 6-12mm range),and those with clear details can be made out with the naked eye under decent light.

So, going through the pile, I found a cool Diobol from Mysia, Lampsakos that features a Janiform female head on the obverse and a helmeted Athena (in an incuse square) on the reverse. It's a pretty nice coin with decent details -- aVF imho. I may post a picture of it later when I get around to it, but that coin is not what this thread is about. I will instead post another example (that is not my coin) for ease to show the type.




Picking through the pile, I noticed another similar coin, but much more worn. At first I thought that it showed a single bust on both the obverse and reverse.

The reverse looked like a helmeted Athena and I couldn't really make out the portrait on the obverse until I tilted the coin a little bit, and then realized that it too was a Janiform head.

Here it is:


It weighs 1.13g, 9mm -- which would put it somewhere in the Diobol denomination?

Ok, so on the search I went. The Lampsakos coin that I have has Athena facing right, and I couldn't find any examples of that type with Athena facing left. It was then I stumbled onto this coin(that there is only one example of (with a picture)that I could find on the internets).



Cabinet W
ISLANDS off TROAS, Tenedos. Circa 490-480 BC

Triton XV, Lot: 1002. Estimate $175000.
Sold for $180000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.


ISLANDS off TROAS, Tenedos. Circa 490-480 BC. AR Didrachm (19mm, 8.94 g, 9h). Janiform head: on the left, a bearded male face to left; on the right, a female face to right; both have archaic, almond-shaped facing eyes, both wear a stephane, and both share a disc earring with a rosette pattern and a double-curved pendant; their combined neck is encircled by a necklace of pearls / TEN-E (retrograde), Bearded male head to left, wearing a Corinthian helmet and a pearl necklace; above to left, inscription; all within incuse square. BMC 8 = Traité I, 630, pl. XIV, 9 var. (left Janiform head without beard). Extremely rare. Lightly toned and of superb late Archaic-early Classical style; a magnificent coin of great beauty. Slightly porous surfaces, otherwise nearly extremely fine.


Ex Nomos 1 (6 May 2009), lot 95.

The early coinage of Tenedos is quite complex. It seems to begin in the last quarter of the 6th century with didrachms that bear a male/female janiform head, very similar to the one on this coin, but, on the reverse, a double-axe, a pelekys, and a retrograde inscription giving the city’s name (as BMC pl. XVII, 2 = Traité I, 622, pl. XVI 2 = ACGC 109). The identity of the two faces on the obverse is rather controversial: it might be the mythical couple of Tenes, son of Cycnus the king of Colone, and his young step-mother Philonome, who had an affair and were condemned to be enclosed in a chest and thrown into the sea. They landed on the island of Leucophrys and Tenes became its ruler; the island’s name was then changed in his honor. However, other versions suggest that the two people in the box were Tenes and his sister Hemithea. The ancients were puzzled by the coin types as well: one ancient source suggests that they refer to an archaic law that condemned adulterous couples to be executed using a double axe! Elsewhere it is proposed that the double axe refers to a similar shape found on the shell of a crab that lived in the waters off Tenedos! It is more likely that what we have is probably related to a local cult about which no record survives: however, by the end of the 5th century, and from then on, the male head wears a laurel wreath, thus, almost certainly indicating that the heads were then Zeus and Hera.

In any case, this early coinage, with the double-axe on the reverse, seems to have been replaced by a much rarer second coinage, of which the present piece is the finest known. The simple retrograde legend was retained, but the axe was replaced by the helmeted head of a warrior (assuming the heads on the obverse are divinities, this could be Tenes; Wroth actually thought that the head on the heavily worn BM example was that of Athena, on the analogy of the contemporary and very similar silver coinage of Lampsakos, which bore a Janiform female head and a helmeted head of Athena). Quite probably the great similarity between the silver issues of Tenedos and Lampsakos is what seems to have convinced the authorities on Tenedos to return to their earlier double-axe reverse type, along with a more complete legend, in order to avoid any confusion.

The style of this coin is particularly fine. The heads have fully frontal eyes and the so-called archaic smile is most apparent; yet this coin was clearly produced at the end of the Archaic period, with the female head being very reminiscent of those of Athena found on the Starr Group I issues of Athens, thus dating it to the 490s or 480s BC. This important janiform head is also very reminiscent of the double-head kantharoi that were produced in Athens in the late 6th and earlier 5th centuries - in fact the combination of male and female elements was particularly popular with contemporary potters and vase painters.



WTF! $180,000!!!

First off, can I get some confirmation on here that my coin is the same type?

Granted my coin is not a Didrachm and it is not even in the same hemisphere to being as detailed as the above referenced coin.

My coin could be considered 'Fine' at best, but I admit my cell phone pictures do suck, and it is a little better in hand.

So please my fellow CoinTalk members. Help confirm what I have here, and if it is what I believe it to be. Can any of you find any other references to this type and/or in the diobol denomination.

There is mention of the British Museum posessing a worn example:

SELECT GREEK AND ROMAN COINS.
Period I. A.(Plates 1-3)
B.C. 700-480

Plate 2. 18. Lampsacus. AR. Obv. Janiform female head. Rev. Head of Pallas within an incuse square. Wt. 82 grs.

A coin of fine archaic style, probably as early as B.C. 480



ACsearch, Coin Archives only reference the above (TRITON XV)example. Wildwinds has nothing.

TIA.

 

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Ok,

In a further search I have found a Mysia, Lampsakos type with Athena(on the reverse) facing left.

Offered in upcoming auctions...







Whew, I can settle down now.

False Alarm.

 

I was about to press "Post" when I saw your second message! Yeah, $180K for that coin is a lot, but diobols are not expensive - if you look on CNG for sold coins of the type, you'll find quite a few - e.g. this for $60 + fees in December:

https://www.cngcoins.com/Lot.aspx?L...1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1&VIEW_TYPE=0

I have a fairly crappy one that I might have paid $10-$15 for (it's 0.8g, and possibly doesn't have the incuse square on the reverse):


ATB,
Aidan.

 

Yes.

For whatever reason, my first foray at searching didn't bring up any examples of Athena facing left. Perhaps it was that I was looking for Didrachms and not Diobols?

Not exactly sure.

Having looked again, I see that the Diobols from Mysia, Lampsakos (w/ Athena facing left) are quite common.

Ah, the fun of attributing coins as a rookie.

I admit my heart got racing a little bit, when I thought that my coin could be an Islands off Troas, Tenedos super super rare type.

 

I've got a few group lots to wade through too - it's always fun to hope whoever sold them has missed something Realistically, even for rare coins, it's only those in exceptional condition that fetch the megabucks.

The small fractions are often rarer than the larger coins, but don't sell for as much - not as impressive to look at!

Actually, I'm pleased that you posted that as it prompted me to search for some emails and I found that I bought my Lampsakos diobol on eBay on 4th December, 2004, for $9.99, along with some other coins and their prices, which I hadn't recorded on Tantalus, so was able to do so - thanks!

ATB,
Aidan.

 

While I get back to figuring out if I'm looking at a goat or eagle head, a tunny fish or the forepart of a horse, and is that considered a stellate, or a flower pattern or a quadripartate square? on some of the rest of these...

I suppose I ought to convert this thread to:

Post your Janiform head coins of Lampsakos, Mysia or from other locales...

Maybe I'll get around to photographing and posting the better condition one of the two that I discovered.

 

LAMPSAKOS, MYSIA THRACE
AR Diobol
OBVERSE: Janiform female head, in circular earring and necklace
REVERSE: Helmeted head of Athena right
Struck at Lampsakos, Mysia 390-330 BC
1.28g, 13mm
SNG Cop 189 - 192; SNGFrance 1195, SNGvA 1295

 

@Herodotus . Congrats on your finds! And, it is always good to go through the Roller Coaster of Reality! Go through that a few times, then a more Stoic approach to looking at anything helps you rationally view things. Saves your gut a lot of clenching.

However, now you have a cool coin and understand what it is, CONGRATS! What a super coin! I really enjoy the small denominations.

JANIFORM

Troas, Tenedos (Island off Troas)
Late 5th-early 4th C BCE
AR Obol 8mm 0.60g, 3h
Janiform hd female-male - Female on L, Male on R / Zeus and Hera
Labrys within incuse square
SNG Ash 1235 HGC 6 387 Sng Cop 509
RARE
https://www.asiaminorcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=91&pid=7046#top_display_media

---------

Even though I have a few of these with much HIGHER silver content, I see this as a very low silver and more of Billon. I believe this would be when Silver was scarce due to Hannibal beating the crap out of the Romans when he invaded, destroying several of Romans Legions during a series of major battles. Rome losses (killed) are estimated at 100,000 to 175,000 soldiers over an 18 month period during the 2nd Punic War. Carthage occupied large swaths of Italia, and Rome was up against the ropes. Silver was becoming scarce, but Rome forged on:
The Roman Republic at its Nadir

RR
225-214 BCE
Anon
BILLON Heavy Denarius Quadrigatus-Janus Didrachm
Janus-
Jupiter gallopng quadriga r
18.2mm 4-1g
Cr 28-3 S 33