Hello ladies and gentlemen, That moment when I participate in the first auction of 2021 came. I wanted to expand my collection a little so I bought a few Seleukid coins. Main reason being I wanted an elephant, not as a pet, but in my album. Bought this described as Seleukid Kingdom. Sardeis. Antiochos III Megas 223-187 BC. Bronze Æ 12 mm., 1,96 g. I would need your help, please, for a more detailed attribution. I don't know what is the sign above the elephant, looking like a reversed M, but I found the same symbol here, in the 2nd example in this article (but it appears turned upside down) https://journals.openedition.org/syria/669 From my (poor) skills in recognizing characters, I would say the obverse (on my coin, the second picture is from the article and it is Athena) represents Apollo. I cannot find a match in wildwinds or acsearch, any help is greatly appreciated.
The 2 monograms are different. Yours is Antiochus III from Sardes SC 981.1 211-208 BC Legends are vertical to left and right. This is your monogram but I haven't got to A3 yet.
Thank you David. Bookmarked your website, as I didn't know about it until now. I was just about to reply about the monogram. Found http://numismatics.org/sco/id/sc.1.981 and no coins here have the monogram, I don't think it's worn. Anyway interesting coin, today was the first day I observed carefully Seleucid coins.
None of the coins on that page show your monogram but it is definitely 981.1c There should be another below the elephant as well but off your flan. I edited my above post to show your monogram.
@David@PCC thank you again for your help and info. To avoid opening another topic, I would lie your help on this one as well, please, or any other Seleucid specialists. Seleukid Kingdom. Sardeis. Antiochos I Soter 281-261 BC. Bronze Æ 13 mm., 2,62 g (only provided info) I used your website to narrow it down, on the obverse the only match I can think of is Athena with triple crested helmet and judging after the size, it should be SC 315 from http://allcoinage.com/obverse_type...._desc=Athena Facing in Triple Crested Helmet Control mark: http://allcoinage.com/rc_mg1118_1.php Is this correct? And why is Athena's head, especially eyes, so ... strange?
Yes that is the correct attribution. Each die is hand made so there will be a lot of variation on each coin especially if a large number were produced.
Thank you David. As mentioned yesterday, this was my first encounter with Seleucid coins. I also bought a Seleukos II Kallinikos (identified it as SC 670) - I think this is a good start, the prices were OK and I simply like them. I would have preferred a coin with an elephant in a batter condition, but my budget was limited (and I managed again to buy more than I was expecting....) Regarding the Athena coin, her eyes look very strange, out of line. I am not bothered at all by this, but before you confirmed the attribution I was wondering if this is not something different.
