Featured Follow the coin theme GAME - ancient edition - post ‘em if you got ‘em

next: Janus head

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Janus Head


Roman Republic
Anon AR Heavy Quinarius / Drachm / Half-Quadrigatus
225-212 BCE
3.1g 18mm
Janus Jupiter in Quadriga L Victory ROMA
Craw 28-4 Sear 35 SCARCE

Next: Another Janus Head

 

Mysia. Lampsakos
circa 500-450 BC.
Obol AR
7mm., 0,77g.
Female janiform head / Helmeted head of Athena left within incuse square
very fine. SNG BnF 1128-31.


Next up: more archaic Greek

 

This one barely makes to cut.

Argos, Argolis. AR triobol
Obv: Forepart of wolf left.
Rev: A in shallow square incuse; below, pellet.
480-460 B.C.
BCD 1015

Next: EX BCD collection with tag if you have it.

 

Ex BCD


ARGOLIS Argos 490-470 BC AR Triobol 14mm 2.9g Forepart of wolf lying - A 2 incuse sqs pellet crossbar within shallow sq incuse BCD Peloponnesos 1009 RARE

Next: More Ex BCD

 

have the tag but no pic.


Achaea. Megaris, Megara. Ae12. Prow/Tripod
Obv: MEΓA, prow left.
Rev: Tripod flanked by two dolphins with heads upwards.
c. 275 - 250 B.C.
12mm, 2.09g.
BCD Pelop 18.1

Next: more Ex BCD

 

Here's one with its tag...

THESSALY, Herakleia Trachinia
AE Chalkous. 2.43g, 14.3mm. THESSALY, Herakleia Trachinia, circa 370-350 BC. HGC 4, 116; Rogers 250-1 var.; cf. BCD Thessaly II 90.4. O: Lion's head right, with mouth slightly open and tongue protruding. R: Club to right; HPA above; all within olive wreath with ties to left.
Ex BCD Collection (with handwritten tag); ex Munzen und Medaillen AG (uncertain sale, lot 0257)


Next: Another coin with its previous owner's tag

 

In this case, the previous owner was a dealer:

Roman Republic, A. Postumius A.f. Sp.n. Albinus, AR Serrate Denarius, 81 BCE. Obv. Draped bust of Diana right, with bow and quiver over shoulder, bucranium above [off flan] / Rev. Roman priest standing facing on rocky ground (on Aventine Hill), head left, with right arm extended holding aspergillum, sprinkling heifer [Harlan, RRM I*], bull [Crawford & Sear], or ox [RSC] which he is about to sacrifice, a lighted altar between them, A POST - AF - SN • ALBIN [AL in monogram] around. RSC I Postumia 7, Crawford 372/1, Sydenham 745, Sear RCV I 296 (ill.), Harlan, RRM I Ch. 1 at pp. 1-7, BMCRR 2836. 18.54 mm., 3.85 g. Ex. Spink & Sons Ltd. (before 2000 because of address on Spink coin tag; probably before 1974 given citation to Sydenham but not Crawford.)




* See Michael Harlan, Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins, 81 BCE-64 BCE (2012) (“RRM I”) (using this coin-type as the cover illustration for his book). At pp. 3-4, Harlan argues persuasively that in the legend which, as Crawford acknowledges, is the basis for the reverse of this coin -- namely, the sacrifice to Diana on the Aventine Hill founding her temple there ca. 500 BCE, establishing Rome as the caput rerum for all of Italy [and symbolizing the victory of Sulla over the rebel Italians in 82 BCE] -- the sacrificed animal was a heifer with wondrous horns, not a bull or an ox. (Citing Livy, The History of Rome, Book 1, ch. 45 [available at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0145:book=1:chapter=45].)

Next: another coin with old dealer's or collector's tags.

 

Constantine I
AD 316
22x23mm 5.1gm
CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust seen from the rear.
MARTI CON-SERVATORI; Mars, helmeted, stg. r. leaning on reversed spear, l. resting shield on ground; T/F across fields.
In ex. PTR
RIC VI Trier 864


ex- Elberling


Dr. Elberling (1797- 1873) had a very large collection of Roman coins with many rarities. He published ten articles about the rarest coins in his collection, and material from these articles was used in Henri Cohen's Roman Imperial catalogues - Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'empire romain


"Dr. Elberling was a German army doctor who was born in 1797 in Silesia, and retired to Luxembourg. He began collecting coins in 1842, after his retirement, and he published ten articles on "The most important Roman Coins in my Collection" in a Luxembourg scientific journal, 1862-1874 (the last posthumous, and with an obituary, whence I derive these facts). He died in Dec. 1873, and his collection, comprising 775 gold coins, over 1000 Republican denarii, c. 2700 Roman imperial denarii, c. 5500 bronze coins, and c. 100 medallions in the various metals, was acquired by the Paris coin dealer Rollin & Feuardent. He particularly sought rare and unpublished coins, and it was 547 coins of this sort that he published in his articles, with 24 plates of quite accurate line drawings. Cohen, and after Cohen's death Feuardent, of course drew on Elberling's ten articles when compiling the second edition of Cohen's famous Roman imperial catalogue."

thanks to Curtis Clay for the above quote


next: a coin with Mars

 

MARS


Roman Republic Anon AE Litra 241-235 BCE Mars Beardless Horse Head Craw 25-3 Sear 594

Next: Mars on Roman Republic

 

Much more likely Mars than Scipio Africanus... but we can dream:

Next up: another of the 12 Olympian Gods or godess on RR

 

Hmmm... which would you rather have on that coin: A geeky Mars. Or a young Scipio? An abstract concept? Or a Real Conqueror of a feared and terrifying foe?

 

Africanus was known for his long luscious hair and this dude looks like a pencil necked accountant/geek

I still hold out hope buuuut the image isn't exactly macho man randy savage

 

HERA

CAPUA - Hannibal: When Hannibal came through Italia, he promised the Capuan Magistrates that Capua would become the capital of Italia should he destroy Rome. Obviously, the Roman Republic prevailed in the Second Punic War. Since Capua sided with Hannibal, all coins, and anything that Capua created to popularize Hannibal were destroyed, melted down, etc. Makes Capuan coins scarcer from this Era.


Campania CAPUA AE 14-5mm 216-211 Obv: Hera Rev: Oscan Grain ear Hannibal capital Italia SNG Fr 517 SNG ANS 219 HN Italy 500 EE Clain Stefanelli

Next Up: Another of the 12 Olympic Gods or Goddesses on RR

 

I hope this counts? I'm not sure what RR stands for.

Kingdom of Macedonia
Philip II
359 - 336 BCE
AE17 | 5.63g | 17.4mm
Obv: Diademed Apollo right
Rev: ΦIΛIΠΠOY, Young horseman right, thunderbolt below
Ref: SNG ANS 880
​

Next: Another main god in any pantheon or system

 

CILICIA, Mint Uncertain
400-350 BC. Obol (Silver, 10 mm, 0.58 g, 1 h). Female head facing, turned slightly to left, wearing earrings, necklace and flowing hair (Arethusa?). Rev. Facing head of Bes. Göktürk 44. SNG Levante 233. SNG France 486. Fine metal and attractive on both sides. Very fine.
Ex: Leu auction 4 Ex: Nomos Obolos 14

Next up: A God that once you found out about you needed more coins of!

 

No prob. RR is Roman Republic. But, anything from Philip II of Makedon is always awesome.

 

Who else but Acheloos?
Never heard of the man-headed bull before I started collecting, but highly fascinating. And he always looks good on a coin.
This is my first, in his human form, from Akarnania.
I've bought four more since...



Akarnania, federal coinage. AE 21 mm. 5.78 gr.
Obv: Helmeted head of Athena.
Rev: Head of Acheloos, above trident.
SNG Cop 423.

Next: a mythological monster you hadn't heard of before you got into Ancients

 

I knew the Chimaera as an English sportscar made by TVR and now I know its named after a mytological monster.



next: dove

 

Chimaera was one mixed up lion-goat-snake

Apulian red-figure dish, ca. 350-340 BC, Public Domain Image
This coin from the time that starts with a short-lived democracy, introduced in 323 BC by Euphron the Younger, grandson of the tyrant Euphron. Then conquered by Macedonians. Then, Cratesipolis, was the female ruler of Sicyon and Corinth from 314-308 BC, then handed over to Ptolemy of Egypt and ruled by two Ptolemaic commanders in succession...
Sikyonia, Sikyon, circa 320-280 BC, AR Hemidrachm, (15mm, 2.76g)
Obv: Chimaera standing left; ΣI below
Rev: Dove flying left; pellet above tail
Ref: HGC 5, 213

Next: Another coin that circulated under multiple rulers