Incredible backstory for that Volteius! Sometimes the modern afterlife of these pieces are much more entertaining. Wonderful addition!
Great collection of coins depicting "unusual modes of transportation" - my lion biga is also in need of a sodium thiosulfate bath and a photo update.
Very nice addition, @TIF. Always love to see your cool biga coins. I also like the lion biga design. I picked up a poor quality example last year as a placeholder to accompany my snake biga coin. However, I love the coin so much that I recently picked up an "upgrade" version. Here are some of my other "means of transportation":
No trace of any toe jam on my old sock coin. ANTONINUS PIUS AR Denarius. 2.82g, 19.4mm. Rome mint, AD 161. Posthumous issue struck under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. RIC III 430; Cohen 155. O: DIVVS ANTONINVS, bare head right. R: CONSECRATIO, Eagle standing right on altar, with wings spread and head turned to left. From the Red Ox Collection and the collection of the Czech musician Adolf Picek (circa 1885-1978), and formerly in the possession of an Italian banker, whose life was saved by Mr. Picek in the Battles of the Piave River on the Italian Front in 1917-1918 and who presented his savior with 'four socks of old coins' in reward. Considering the fantastical centaur/cupid/winged snake bigas, a guy riding a camel seems almost mundane... MESOPOTAMIA, Adiabene. Natounia AE22. 6.62g, 21.8mm. MESOPOTAMIA, Adiabene. Natounia, circa 2nd - 1st centuries BC. CSE II 846; Hoover, Natounia Series 1, 1-7; Seyrig, Trésor 13a. O: Radiate and diademed male head (Helios-Shamash?) right. R: Rider (Arsu?) on camelback right, holding short staff in right hand; all within wreath border.
I remember that day when you, Z, and I went beyond coin buddies to become Sock Coin Buddies. Here's mine. Except I checked with Leu and it came from the clean sock. I remember most of the RR sock coins went pretty high, but there were some stray Imperials, like mine and Z's, that stayed quite reasonable. Score! As for unique conveyances, I don't think I can do better than my Triptolemos. I remember this day too. You were asleep, thank goodness... or I woulda been TIFfed for sure!
TIF, Great score with interesting provenance history ! Your subgroup of unusual animals & creatures pulling the chariots is a great collection by itself . I thought to myself, if all these chariots were in a race who would finish in last place , my money would be on the snakes .
Great coin and story, @TIF. I don't think it's horn silver though, looks more like copper deposits. These are relatively easy to remove in a (weak) solution of synthetic citric acid.
See @Roerbakmix's notes on mine below. I can't tell from your photo-- are the deposits black or are they dark green? I'm going to try a dilute citric acid soak first on mine to see if the deposits are all cupric or if the copper is just a coating covering horn silver. Yours is a very nice example of the lion biga . Great assortment of AltTrans! Nice pickup, Z . Nice without any qualifiers... the pedigree is definitely icing on consecration cake! You know I'm envious of that coin. Such an unusual and veristic rendering of a camel, although it looks like the rider is going to fall off backwards, or else he's applying the brakes? Ah yes, I too fondly remember the day . You most certainly would have. I've been wanting a nice example of that type for a long time and yours is about the nicest I've seen. I snoozed and losed. Wait, that's not right. Snost and lost? Erm, never mind. I think you're right. If I had better skills and lot more time I'd try to animate that scene . Thanks! I'll try that first .
I got a Smelly Sock Collection coin too - I posted it already, but here it is again. Moneyer: M. Aemilius Lepidus Obv.: ALEXANDREA - Female head right, wearing turreted diadem Rev.: PONT•MAX / TVTOR REG / S C / M LEPIDVS - On the right, togate figure standing front, head to left, crowning with his right hand a smaller figure standing facing on the left, holding staff in his right hand Mint: Rome (61 BC) Wt./Size/Axis: 3.82g / 20mm / 4h References: RSC 24 (Aemilia) Sydenham 832 Crawford 419/2 BMCRR Rome 3648, 3649 RBW 1511 Provenances: Ex. Red Ox Collection Ex. Adolf Picek Collection Acquisition: Leu Numismatik Online auction Web Auction 18 #2479 20-Dec-2021 My lion biga has a nasty cut on the obverse: My Volteia snakes biga has a winged caduceus symbol: I should probably upgrade my Vibia snake biga: ATB, Aidan.
