Shame about the holes....

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When am I not listening to the Beatles?

 

This one has a severe wound though it is not ancient.

 

That's a great coin, I love architectural types! The perspective view is really cool. It would be fascinating to match this up with any graphical reconstructions done. I have two relevant coins.

This one, I was able to buy for the price of a cheap lunch due to the square nail hole:

And this one of Caracalla from Alexandria, Troas that is my only 3D or perspective view of a temple:

 

Holey Moley


RImp Spain Lepida-Clesa Lepidus 44-36BCE C Balbus L Porcius Colonia Victrix Ivlia Lepida Victory - Bull holed RPI 262 plate 19



China ANCIENT Cowrie - Shang Dynasty
BONE 2 holes for clothing or funeral bier 20mm Hartill 1-2v Coole 51-66



China
Shang Dynasty 1766-1154 BCE or Zhou Dynasty Ghost Face Ant Nose 1.65g Hartill 1.4

 

Germanic (Gothic ?) tribes

 

I'm impressed that people everywhere used to make holes in coins! No sense for beauty!!

Well, this next one is my worst. Hadn't shared it before because it is so bad and I was rather ashamed of it, but since we have known each other for quite a while, I am ready now to share it.
I know, it is horrible and not something one should share; every time I look at it I get very, very sad; anyway, it is what it is...:

It is one of the earliest to show Octavian's new title and the new name by which he would become known. After his death, all future emperors would take this title as a sovereign right.

AR Cistophorus,
Mysia, Pergamum, 27 - 26 BC
26 x 27mm, 10.379 g
RIC I 492; RIC I (2nd edition) 527; Sutherland group II; RSC 31; RPC I 2204;
Ob.: IMP • CAESAR bare head right
Rev.: AVGVSTVS sphinx with raised wings, seated to right on ground line

​

 

That is one fantastic coin, in my eye's the hole doesn't detract from it's beauty one little bit...but I think the person wearing it around there neck might have been unfortunate.

 

Nice.

 

Thanks, love that Troas temple, I need one.

 

Love those ant-nose type soooo old.

 

This hole has always confused me. Looks like it was compressed from either side leaving a thin layer of metal.


Galatia, Tavion. Æ27 Zeus/bull
GALATIA, Tavion. Circa Mid-1st Century AD. Æ 27mm (13.20 gm). TPO-KMWN, Zeus seated facing, holding sceptre in right hand / [SEBASTH]NWN (retrograde), bull standing left. RPC I 3568 (corr.); SNG France 2646; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC Galatia pg. 24, 3-4; SNG von Aulock - Laffaille -. Rare.

Tavion was the capital of the Trokmoi (the principal tribe of eastern Galatia), named as the issuers of this coinage in the obverse legend.

 

You should sell that coin to someone who would appreciate it. Holes have many reasons. I recall a movie plot (anyone know the movie) where two men settle a bet with the winner getting a coin that was nailed to a post in some bar. When the purpose was to fix a coin to something, nails work. I have a bit of preference for holes that still retain something. Would I prefer the coin with no hole? Usually yes but not for the amount of market discount the holes provide.

These sestertii of Gordian III and Trebonianus Gallus were nailed , not drilled. We can never know if they took part in a bet or what.


My great regret on the Augustus below is that the hammer struck one time too often ruining the portrait when the peen hit coin rather than just the iron nail. Nail if you must but, please, know when to stop.



Drilled holes can also be found with inclusions. This is a Titus and Domitian from Stobei. What the wire attached to would be nice to know. The coin would sell for more without the hole but the wire restores a bit of the loss (not all!). I regret the loss of the left side legend more than the presence of the hole. Those who only collect mint state coins don't care since either being fixed would leave an old worn out coin not worthy of consideration.

This type sold in CNG 490 (April 2021) for $110 (plus fluff) on $100 estimate where it was provenanced "From the Peter J. Merani Collection, purchased from Harlan J. Berk. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 54 (14 June 2000). lot 1073." where it realized $260 (+only 10% then) on $300 estimate. I'm sorry I missed it but recent ridiculous realizations have made me skip most 'name brand' sales. Someone got a deal; someone took a bath. I paid Andy Singer $100 for my lesser coin with a hole in 2019 which strikes me as reasonably in line with the 2000 sale but makes me a fool compared to 2021. I guess what I have is a worn out $50 coin made worth $10 due to a hole leaving me having paid $90 for the piece of wire. Go figure!!! I'll not know what it would bring when I'm gone. I like the wire.

 

An almost perfect one sold in Nomos Auction 5 for about CHF 75,000!
A nice coin, that I, for one, would be happy to own.

 

Thanks for the heads-up @Ancient Aussie and @PeteB your kind comments make me feel a bit better about it.

Absolutely, the person who wore it and who most probably also holed it, must have been unfortunate for having done this to the coin.... His pain is self-inflicted!

 

I whopping big hole in this one. I can forgive it as it is from a scarcer eastern sub-series of Septimius Severus.

Obv:– L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG PIV IMP XI PAR P M, laureate head right
Rev:– SALVTI AVGG, Salus seated left feeding snake coiled around altar
Eastern mint. A.D. 198
Reference:– BMCRE page 281 Note, citing RD page 102. RIC 497b corr.



From the same scarce issues i have two other coins with different reverse dies all from the same obverse die.

Rev:– AR AD [T]R P VI COS II P P, Victory walking left, holding wreath in right hand, palm in left
Reference:– BMCRE page 280 *, citing RD page 105. RIC 494a corr.



Rev:– AR AD TR P VI / COS II P P, Two captives seated back to back at the foot of a trophy
Reference:– BMCRE page 280 Sword, citing RD page 105. RIC 494b corr.
Slightly double struck on the reverse

 

Wonderful new addition @Ancient Aussie ! I like it with or without the holes. I think the single point perspective makes it an extra cool architecture type.

Much to my surprise I don’t have a coin with a jewelry hole in it. Does an intentional hole count?

 

Hi All,

Ptolemaic AR drachma of Ptolemy V



Size: 16x18 mm
Weight: 3.09 g
Axis: 0
Obv: Ptolemy IV (as Dionysus) head facing right, ivy leaves in hair, wearing diadem and scaly aegis tied by snakes. Dotted border.
Rev: Εagle on thunderbolt facing left, wings closed. In left legend: ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ; in right legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ. Dotted border.
Reference: Svoronos 1786, pl xli, 13 [2 listed]; SNG Copenhagen Suppl 1321-1322.
Appearance: Obv holed at 5:00 position.

Notes: In the second century BCE small silver denominations were introduced as a regular part of the Cypriote currency system. This was a notable innovation: the Ptolemies had rarely struck silver fractions before, and in Egypt bronze coins continued to serve as the only form of small change. The inauguration of the Cypriote silver minors is dated by Lorber* to the reign of Ptolemy V and almost certainly to the late 190s when production of dated tetradrachms resumed at Salamis and Citium.

Svoronos recognized the features of Ptolemy V in this series. Others, including RS Poole (1883, p l) and RA Hazzard (1998, pp 29-30), have seen a cryptic portrait of Ptolemy IV as Dionysus and have observed that the types may reflect Philopator's well-documented identification with that god. A portrait of Ptolemy Philopator is not inconsistent with an attribution to Ptolemy V, who struck commemorative portrait coins honoring both of his parents.

* private communication

- Broucheion

 

When fourrés were discovered they were often marked as counterfeit by pounding a hole through them. I suspect that, above in this thread, coins of @Ryro , @cmezner , @ominus1 , @Jay GT4 , @Orange Julius , @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix , and @dougsmit were holed for this reason.

I have two Greek coins that were holed because they were exposed as a counterfeits.


Plated, holed, imitation. 13 mm. 1.71 grams.
Cherronesos, Thrace
Fine style, but an obvious fourree, with copper showing all the way through the hole, around it, and elsewhere.
The piercing was to mark it as a counterfeit.
Obverse: Forepart of lion right, looking back, paws raised.
Reverse: reverse in four quadrants, one with grape cluster, opposite one with pellet (It could be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise)
References for the prototype: Sear Greek I, 1602-1606 var. SAN XVII#1, cover coin type. SNG Copenhagen 824-843 var. Says "480-350 BC."




Fourré hemidrachm with much silver, but much copper showing.
13 mm. 1.65 grams. A big hole.
Gorgonion facing, tongue out
/bull standing left, looking back. Pi A above, P I below.
Again we see piercing, which indicates that this was discovered to be false in ancient times and purposely defaced.
Prototype: Sear Greek 3919-3922. SNG Copenhagen 257-266. Dated to about 350-300 BC.
Parion is on the southern shores of the Propontis.