Saturday Night Free For All

Phoenicia, Arados 150-149

Obverse: Braided, bearded head of Zeus right, border of dots.

Reverse: Triple pointed ram of galley left, Phoenician control letters heth (H) and sadhe (TS) above, Aradain era date 110 below.

hV = The year
l)l = 100
- = 10
The control letters above the triple ram appear to be heth (H) and sadhe (TS)

There’s a guy on FORVM named conveniently Arados that knows about all there is to know about these coins.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=115444.new;topicseen#new

 

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The coin is of Severus Alexander and the reverse features Tyche standing with rudder and cornucopiae. The reverse legend is unbroken and lengthy. It's probably from Moesia Inferior or Thrace but that's just a starting point -- there are several other possibilities (various places in Asia Minor). Likely has the name of a magistrate followed by the name of the city. Look into Marcianopolis and Nicopolis ad Istrum first, as they are most common. I hope this proves to be a productive lead.

 

I knew they were dated, but haven't dug into the determining of that yet and didn't have a resource... Thanks for providing! I'll be digging in probably tonight!

 

I have owned this coin for a while Trajan Ae Semis 101 AD Obv. Bust right laureate drapery on far shoulder. Rv. Statue of Hercules standing facing RIC 690 Woytek 595bC? . 2.93 grms 18 mm Photo by W. Hansen A number of times before I had wanted to post this coin but I did not have an adequate photo. I have actually owned this particular coin since 1984.

 

Looks like it is Saturday again. I went to breakfast with a friend and he showed me his coin which is more or less like mine. Alexander III Ar Tetradrachm 332-323 BC. Mint of Salamis? Obv Head of beardless Herakles in lion skin headdress. Rv. Zeus Aetrophoros seated left Price 3139 HGC 910h 17.15 grms 23 mm Photo by W. Hansen Currently this coin is still attributed to Salamis and therefore retains the date 332-323 BC. However Troxell does place the gold staters to the mint of Ephesos. Le Rider does concur with the notion that the staters do not belong to Salamis but made no comment on the tetradrachms. I wonder... the depiction of Zeus's legs in a pose which is something of a compromise between that of the legs being parallel and that of the crossed leg motif does remind me of some of the drachms minted in Asia Minor. If that be the case it is possible that this coin is actually minted at Ephesos sometime between 325 and 323 BC.

 

Saturday night listening to some old cool jazz ...



And cataloging some coins I got from @John Anthony.


Licinius I, AD 308-324.
Roman silvered billion follis, 2.98 g, 20.2 mm, 6 h.
Heraclea, 313-314.
Obv: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS P F AVG, laureate head right.
Rev: IOVI CONS-ERVATORI AVGG, Jupiter standing left, holding Victory on globe and scepter; eagle at feet to left. -/Γ//SMHT.
RIC vii, p. 542, 6; RCV --.


Licinius I, AD 308-324.
Roman silvered billion follis, 3.32 g, 22.1 mm, 1 h.
Siscia, AD 315-316.
Obv: IMP LIC LICINIVS P F AVG, laureate head right.
Rev: IOVI CON-SERVATORI, Jupiter standing left, holding Victory on globe and scepter; eagle at feet to left. -/Є//•SIS•.
RIC vii, p. 424, 17; RCV 15212.

 

Medieval is not usually my category, and it isn't Monday, but this coin seemed an interesting one to explore and a fun one to photograph.
Ayuthia dynasty, Thailand circa 1350-1564, AR 1/4 Baht (Salung) Bullet Money
Obv (if this coin has such a thing): elephant
Rev (or side of obverse): conch shell
Size: 3.8g
Ref: MN-2711

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure that the bow in the field indicates that this a Salamis Mint coin.

My very first Alexander III tetradrachm, which I no long have, had the same symbol on the reverse.

 

As far as types go, I feel that Zeus-Ammon and elephants are hard to beat. This big fellow arrived this week.

NUMIDIAN KINGDOM. Juba I
AE28. 16.49g, 28.2mm. Uncertain Numidian mint, circa 60-46 BC. Mazard 92; MAA 35; SNG Copenhagen 529. O: Head of Zeus-Ammon right. R: Elephant standing right; Punic inscription IOBAI HMMLKT in two lines above.

 

I have nothing to add here except this photo of the specimen I bought in 1990 from PeteB (we were both younger then). My card made back then listed it as 'Cilicia' but that was scratched out an made Salamis based on a listing in the NFA winter 1989 sale (lot 444 is similar minus the cut). I have not kept up since then as Alexander has never been a prime interest of mine. My interest in the coin was largely due to the test cut being placed so as to do the least damage and the appearance it was done with a blunt chisel.

 

Septimius Severus Ar Denarius Alexandria 194 AD Obv Head right laureate. Rv. Aequitas standing left
RIC 344 3.01 grms 18 mm Photo by W. Hansen I have always found it interesting ever since I started collecting the Roman denarii and antoninianii from the eastern mints the more or less constant refrain of equality Aequitas especially during the third century AD. The fact that it shows up so often appears to give some credence that there was at least the perception that things were unequal in the east. I have noticed that this phenomenon was quite prevalent from roughly 194 AD with Septimius Severus to the eastern antoninanii of Trebonianus Gallus and Volusian ending circa 253.

 

Saturday night and I'm trying to take a decent photo of an antoninianus of Trebonianus Gallus that isn't exactly photogenic. It's a tad on the porous side.

I don't expect much luster on these coins -- they were severely debased at this mint. Gallus' coins of the Antioch mint average only 18.9% silver, whereas those issued in Rome were less debased (30.9%), with the least debased being the unknown branch mint previously believed to have been Mediolanum (37.9% silver) (Pannekeet, Table 3).

As @Suarez says ((ERIC II, p. 474), the "cheap metal alloys from which they were struck fared poorly after going into circulation and fared even worse once buried," making them "range from the eyesore to the barely collectable."


Trebonianus Gallus, AD 251-253.
Roman debased AR antoninianus, 3.88 g, 21.4 mm, 12 h.
Antioch, second officina, second issue, late AD 251 - mid AD 252.
Obv: IMP C C VIB TREB GALLVS P F AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust (viewed from back) of Trebonianus Gallus, right; •• below.
Rev: VICTORIA AVG, Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm frond; •• in exergue.
Refs: RIC 93; Cohen 126; RCV 9653; Hunter 55.
Notes: Examples are known from all officinae. The same reverse type is commonly encountered on coins of Gallus' third issue.

 

Warmer weather is coming to even this part of the Great White North and it is about 3 degrees C or about 33 degrees F so for us it is a really nice day. In fact it sort of hard to stay indoors and deal with coins. So today as a result of some other projects I had to look at my Ptolemaic. Lately it appears that even these late Ptolemaic tetradrachms are getting to be of some value. Who would of thunk it. Ptolemy XII Ar Tetradrachm Alexandria Year 2 Struck in the name and types of Ptolemy I Obv bust of Ptolemy I diademed with aegis tied around neck. Rv Eagle standing left wings folded. Svoronos 1848 14.42 grms 23 mm Photo by W. Hansen Despite being all but a caricature of the image of Ptolemy I you can still see traces of the original image You can still see evidence of the massive orbital ridge over the eye and the massive jaw. The weight of these coins do not appear to have dropped that much however I suspect that the purity of the silver coinage is not as good as it was under Soter. This is a coin of the father of the most famous Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII.

 

Last week was something of a marathon for me. Not only did I have to get up really really early in the morning to monitor both the Kunker Auction (bid on 2 no wins) and the Roma Auction (bid on 8 same dismal results) but the excellent ANS seminar which for me started at 6 AM. For me that meant I had to get up a 5 AM to get breakfast. Okay another highlight was that my copy of Roma Auction XXI arrived about an hour after the auction ended. (Perfect) However when I came back from drowning my sorrows in chocolate I found that I had received two books that i had ordered one of them is this one This book was supposed to have come out at the end of 2019 and was going to cover the coinage of both Antigonos II Gonatas as well as Antigonos III Doson, as well as shedding light on the coinage of Demetrios II Aetolikos. Never heard of this guy? Well he reigned for about 10 years between Gonatas and Doson and there is no coins in his name. This book has something like 388 pages as well as 63 plates is a detailed die study of this rather complicated coinage. I did mention this in a previous post that my Gonatas has become a Doson.
Antigonos III Doson Ar Tetradrachm 229-221/0 BC Obv Macedonian shield emblazoned with head of Pan left. Rv. Athena Alkidomos advancing left brandishing thunderbolt and holding shield out before her. In left field winged helmet facing. to right TI over KT Monogram. Panagopoulou Period 4 Group 2/16 17.17 grms 30 mm Photo by W. Hansen So what do I think. To be fair I have not finished reading the book and I have only skimmed some of the relevant chapters. I think this die study will the the benchmark for many years to come and represents an important advance in our understanding of this coinage. Like "The Coinage in the Name of Alexander The Great and Philip Arrhidaeus" by Martin Price, this book will spark new investigations and debate in the coinage of the Kingdom of Macedon. As to her conclusions. Only time will tell. The coinage of the Macedonian Kings reminds me of a quote about the Missouri River "too thick to drink too thin to plow." The new arrangement as suggested in this book does make some sense but again.....
Speaking of which I just saw this The more things change the more they stay the same

 

Life is just a cycle. Sometimes its a big cycle, sometimes a smaller one. But in the end, at some point, we end up at the start again.

I hope you enjoy your book, I have absolutely zero knowledgde about the coinage.

It seems I finally have some free time to redo some photo's. I bought a Puluz LED unit a while back, which allows me to spent time making photo's during the evenings. I'm still in the process of figuring out the best configuration, sometimes the two LED strips are too bright. Cancelling one LED unit makes the lighting uneven. In any case, here's the result on a sestertius of AP, I've owned for well over a year now.

Old photo's:


New photo's:


Curious which photo's the members of this board prefer.

 

The new photo is a big improvement! Lovely sestertius, too.

Here's one fit for a free for all!


Septimius Severus, AD 193-211.
Roman AR denarius, 3.10 g, 17.9 mm, 6 h.
Rome, AD 196.
Obv: L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP VIII, laureate head, right.
Rev: P M TR P IIII COS II P P, Minerva standing left, holding transverse spear in right hand and round shield in left hand (i.e., the Palladium).
Refs: RIC 83; BMCRE 139; Cohen 417; Hill 216; RCV --.

 

Thank you very much for your reply, I appreciate it. I made some more photos, will post those another day after Im done with the cropping and editing etc.
And thats a nice SS by the way!

 

Old, here. When there is such a question I usually would say there is a middle ground.

 

I like the color and facial lighting of the old one but he resolution and depth of the new photo. Like Doug said, I think the target is somewhere in between. I take terrible photos so feel silly commenting here but either way they are good photos. I think for all of us, it comes down to lighting, focus and using something better than a phone (which is all I usually use).

 

PS: I think many of us missed last Saturday as the site was down! What's everyone working on tonight?!

I'm filing this coin of Licinius that (along with its brother coin of Constantine below from last year) was likely struck during the short and unfortunate reign of Valerius Valens in late 316, early 317 in Alexandria.

Licinius I - Alexandria - RIC VII 18

Constantine I - Alexandria - RIC VII 17

Not my coin, I wish:

Valerius Valens - Alexandria - RIC VII 19