My first Punic coin

I’m on a roll here..
This morning I picked up this Carthaginian Dishekel on Vcoins at a very fair price.
Despite some rough surfaces I very much like the coin and find the eye appeal is fully intact with interesting hues and a soft, lifelike portrait of Tanit.
The issue was struck in 205-203 BC during the second Punic war, shortly before the war was lost and silver content in Carthaginian coins was phased out completely.





CARTHAGE, Second Punic War. Circa 205-203 BC.
BI 2 Shekels (26mm, 11.8g).
Wreathed head of Tanit left / Horse standing right; palm tree in background. MAA 79; SNG Copenhagen 351.
Rare.

Post your Carthaginian coins, history, or whatever you feel is relevant.

 

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Very nice pickup, @Nvb.

I also noticed your coin on vcoins, and had it on my watch list. I like both the obverse Tanit portrait and the reverse horse details.

 

That billon looks quite silvery... nice! My second Punic war AE shekel has a caduceus rather than a palm tree. it's similar with a bit of a challenged horse head , but nice body detail:


MAA 91; SNG Copenhagen 327

 

Agree, appealing reverse too with good centering. Glad I snapped this up I don’t think it would have lasted long

The depiction of Tanit strongly resembles Arethusa in your avatar pic .. does it not?

 

Great DiShekel, @Nvb ! Congrats!

Here is a Shekel from before all the Wars with Rome...


Carthage - Zeugitana
AR Shekel-Didrachm
360-264 BCE
Tanit
Horse r, head l, palm in background
SNG COP 141

 

Naw, thatsa carousel horse on a merry-go-round!



Fixed the auto correct edit! Thanks @+VGO.DVCKS

 

Agree. Both Carthage and Syracuse have great artists.

 

Nope, @Alegandron, sorry* to do this, but I think you meant 'carousel.' (*Along the lines of, if you were as anal-retentative as some of us, you'd have already corrected the typo.) Carousal is closer to what I'm doing at the moment (...thanks, quietly).
I've spent most of my collecting life, back to the early '70's, wanting as much as one representative AE of Carthage. Something to look forward to. Yeah, as in, Still. ...The sort of aspiration that can add years to your life.

 

Well Done! Well Done! Liking it.
...Just, don't fall off the horse....

 

@Nvb - great addition to your collection!

These coins were traditionally called dishekels, but Cathy Lorber refers to them as tridrachms in her excellent article about a large hoard of these coins sold mainly by Harlan Berk starting in 1995: Lorber CC "A Hoard of Punic “Horse and Palm” Billon Tridrachms" in Coin Hoards: Volume IX - Greek Hoards. Meadows A, Wartenberg U (eds) London, 2002. pp 275-290, plates 54-66. They are usually 10.8-116 gm with a wide range of 8-13 gms. The coins are about 15-16% silver and Lorber dated them to the Second Punic War ~215-205 BC.
Your coin is Lorber Group 2 (young head with single pendant earring) and probably from the hoard although I did not see an image of your coin in the plates.
Here is my Group 2 example from HJB in 1995:

Carthage tridrachm 10.38 gm
Lorber group 2, 33 (this coin)
HJ Berk BB 88, lot 353 11/28/1995

Here is my Lorber Group 4 with a more typical Punic style:

Carthage tridrachm 11.53 gm
Lorber group 4

 

CARTHAGE COIN FABRICS

GOLD

Carthage - Zeugitana
AV 1/10th Stater-Shekel
350-320 BCE
0.94g 7.5mm
Palm-
Horse Head
SNG COP 132


Electrum

Zeugitania, Carthage
Anonymous BCE 310-290
EL Dekadrachm - Stater
18.5mm, 7.27g
Obverse: Wreathed head of Tanit left, eleven pendants on necklace; pellet before neck
Reverse: Horse standing right; three pellets below exergue line
Ref: MAA 12; SNG Copenhagen 136


Silver

Carthage Zeugitania
AR ½ Shekel
17mm 3.8g
2nd Punic War 218-202 BCE
Sicily mint 216-211 BCE
Tanit l
Horse r sun as double uraeus
SNG COP 359


Billon

Carthage
Third Punic War with Rome 149-146 BCE
Billon Serrate Double Shekel
12.83g, 26mm.
Obv: Wreathed head of Tanit left
Rev: Horse standing right, pellet below raised left leg
Ref: SNG Copenhagen 403.
Comment: Very fine, several (cleaning?) scratches

Bronze

Carthage
AE 31mm
Trishekel 220-215 BCE
2nd Punic War
Tanit
Horse Palm Punic "th"
SNG COP 342

 

I would call the ones with a weight of around 10 gram dishekels , and my heavier one a trishekel

 

git one!

 

Thanks for that, @Alegandron. You might be hearing from me again in Conversations about good places to look.

 

Nvb, Nice score ! Carthaginian coinage is fascinating & beautiful. At one time the Carthaginians were the super-power of the Western Mediterranean basin. I've posted this Tet a number of times but will post again for your thread since it's a different type than the coins already posted .

 

Gorgeous example!

 

..i;ve no silver or gold( oh silver and gold)..but do/did have a couple of bronze coins form i reckon both places...however, since starting on my display organizing, i can't seem to fine either..pus a few other

 

Wow, @Al Kowsky, looking at that again, the combination of two such contrasting, but mutually iconic motifs is really a Thing. I'm still just savoring the gestalt. To @Alegandron's point, it's a stunning example.