Kyzikos, Mysia AE

I've had this for almost 2 years, and yet every time I pull it out I'm always surprised by how nice it is!

I acquired this at the winter fun show last year from the one and only Brian Bucklan. What stood out to me when I first saw this was the amount of detail, it's a solid bronze coin and that I'm on the hunt for great budget Greek bronze examples.

Without further adieu one of if not my favorite coin!

Kyzikos, Mysia 2nd - 1st B.C. 26mm, 10.6g
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo facing right surrounded by dotted border
Reverse: Tripod with wreath atop; monogram to the left, T bottom right.

No write up today, may come later.

Cheers!

~Aidan

 

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A real beauty.

 

I really like that one! Congrats.

 

Thank you gents!

 

Shades........what a stunning coin.

 

I'm bringing this back to light to ask a question. Is the bust on the obverse the head of Apollo or Kore Soteira??

My ticket says Apollo but I'm honestly quite confused. Any help would be appreciated!!

Here's some comparison photos\/
Kore:

Cyzicus Mysia. Bronze. ( Ae 10,33 g ) C. 200 BC. Head of Kore Soteira. R/ KYXI KHNWN; in the left field, M. Tripod. H.v.Fritze (Nomisma 10) pl. 2, 15-18. Extremely fine with brown-green lovely patina.

A couple of other pics that say it's Kore from CNG




Here's some of Apollo:

MYSIA, Kyzikos. 2nd-1st centuries BC. Æ (28mm, 9.43 g, 12h). Laureate head of Apollo right / Tripod; laurel branch above, torch below; monogram to outer left, N(?) to outer right. Von Fritze III 39; SNG France 504–6 var. (monogram to outer right); SNG von Aulock 1243 var. (same, but obv. die by same engraver).

Acsearch:



Thanks y'all

 

Did you try at acsearch?

For Mysia Kyzikos Apollo Tripod there are twelve hits and they all describe the obverse as Apollo

 

Tripods are interesting. They play a major part in Greek history, and (maybe surprisingly) a HUGE part in ancient China.

whenever one ruler would conquer another he would take the tripod of the loser.

dynasties would display their legitimacy by how many tripods they could display, in an unbroken chronological line.

 

This one is supposedly Persephone as Kore Soteira (the "savior maiden").


Greek AE 17
Mysia, Cyzicus, c. 400 BC - 280 BC or later 4.02 g; 17.3 mm
Obv: Head of Kore Soteira (Persephone), right.
Rev: KY/ZI either side of tripod; tunny fish below; plectrum in field, right.
Refs: BMC 15.37,136; Sear Greek 3861; c.f. SNG Cop 62.

 

Well, yeah, but if you put Apollo in as a search term, wouldn't you expect the results to describe it as Apollo?

Maybe try leaving out Apollo and see what happens.

 

Yes, acsearch and CNG archives. I honestly can't tell the difference between Apollo and Kore.

Here's another comparison showing Kore:


The laurel wreath style matches more closely with my example.

 

Identifications are based on the best guess educated or not of the person writing the catalog. We very rarely have any ancient evidence that tells us who someone is but sometimes can guess according to popular motifs of other things found in that city. We have to keep an open mind as to what the die cutter was thinking. Apollo and Kore both are frequent guesses for heads not terribly specific and not accompanied by attributes (thunderbolts, tridents, etc.). It could also be a deity of local importance that we have not researched enough to appreciate. People who are paid to 'know' things don't seem to like to say they do not 'know' and an admitted guess published in 1900 has a tendency of becoming accepted as fact when repeated by subsequent generations. I have not studied this one and have no idea what the die cutter was thinking.

 

would then the tripod be a symbol for Apollo or for Persephone (Kore Soteira)?

 

leaving out Apollo and searching only for "Mysia Kyzikos Tripod" returns no results

 

Oh boy. That’s beyond me..

 

KORE


Mysia Kyzikos AE12 1.2g 400-3rd C BCE Kore Soteira - Tripod crown Tunny SNG France 430 BMC 141-30 Sear Greek 3862

 

https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&thesaurus=1&order=0&currency=usd&company=

Majority of examples are Kore, but some are of Apollo.

 

Nice! Great coin Gandalf!

 

Thank you!

 

you are right, didn't have a space between "MysiaTripod"