ANCIENT - Early Byzantine Silver Coin

I just received this coin in lieu of a second Justinian I follis I ordered about a month ago. The Follis was lost in transit and the dealer made good with the coin of my choosing (of the same value.) I selected this. I was already able to procure a Justinian plague follis so the loss of the coin was not a true loss to me. I suppose every rain cloud has an "AR" lining, eh?

This coin was minted in Byzantion (Byzantium) a Greek Colony which would later become the site of the city of Constantinople and later Istanbul, Turkey. This is a really old style coin with a uniquely "Greek" feeling to it. The coin beautifully is toned to a nice iridescent grey. The coin is pretty well centered but not perfect. There is a small antiquated test cut on the reverse near the incuse punch. The incuse punch is described as "granulated", as it has a texture on the mill design. One could not ignore the unusual obverse rendering of a cow riding on the back of a dolphin. I suppose these motifs are indicators of the importance of those animals to the local livelihood.

I am more than pleased with the coin and look forward to hearing everyone's reaction. I know there are a few guys out there with the same or similar examples.

The coin has a two letter legend. UY. Which is an archaic rendering of the Greek letters BY. This coin was minted nearly 700 years before Constantine the Great would build Constantinople and nearly 1800 years before that city would fall to the Ottoman Turks. WOW!

Byzantium, Thrace
AR Half Siglos 14.0 mm x 2.44 g
s. 416 - 357 BC
Obverse: Cow riding on Dolphin left;UY above.
Reverse: Granulated Mill Pattern incuse punch
ref:SNG Cop 477

 

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oh wow, that is very cool...a byzantine coin that isn't a "byzantine coin" but an ancient greek....plus a cow on a dolphin, what a cool combo...







... nice.

 

Thats Hilarious...

 

Outstanding coin, especially since it was your second choice. I'd like to see what was your first choice>

 

This is the sellers picture of the coin that went lost and was my original first choice. Need to get them Plague follii right, eh?

 

I like the second choice better.

 

You know with it in hand I think I do too.

 

awesome master Noob, i like both or would be happy with either. very nice...:thumb::thumb:

 

Great coin, Noob ... (man, I love these cow/bull coins!!)

=> I also happen to have a couple of examples of cows hangin' 10 ... first, a cow ridin' a dolphin (I think your example is probably a bit better than mine) and secondly, a cow ridin' an ear o' corn (or a grain-ear!!)

THRACE BYZANTION AR HEMIDRACHM
C. 340-320 BC
Diameter: 14mm
Weight: 2.48 grams
Obverse: Cow standing left on dolphin
Reverse: Incuse 'mill sail' punch
Reference: SNG BM 36-41
Other: Grey tone with good detail




Bithynia, Kalchedon AR Siglos Bull
circa 340-320 BC
Diameter: 17 mm
Weight: 5.31 grams
Obverse: KALC (KALX) Kalchedon/Calchedon? ... Bull standing on grain ear
Reverse: "mill-sail" incuse
Reference: SNG Cop 348
Other: good VF, Banker's mark on bothsides.





... thanks for letting me post, fellow bull-Dolphin!!

 

Great coin, AN, and another great write-up. Thank you for the info!

 

I wonder if one of the Greats can comment on the dating discrepancy. Do the subtle differences in the style of the granulation, cow/dolphin indicate an older or younger date? I have seen these coins listed with this attribution, and the flip came with a newer flip 340-320 BC and an older round flip 416 -357 SNG COP 478. Hum?

 

Hi Noobinski => yah, you're correct in noticing that there seem to be two distinct time-periods for the cow surfin' dolphin coins

... please refer to this Wildwinds' link:

http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/thrace/byzantium/t.html

 

Interesting that source is 357-340 BC...hum?

 

Yah, there seem to be a few sub-groups that over-lap:

(416-357) <=> (357-340) <=> (340-320)

... interesting ...

Ummm, but sadly, I myself cannot distinguish the diff between the coins in each sub-group?

regardless => cool coin, Brother-Noob (I'm gonna go snuggle and watch a movie with my gal) ... I hope that you solve the mystery!!

:thumb:

 

Commissioner we will get to the bottom of this....

 

Yea, yea, I'm here... Will see what I can find in a few minutes... Great coin Anoob :hail:

 

Nice looking coin. Don't think I've seen a bull and a dolphin combination before. And I also like you're second choice better.

 

Great pickup Anoob!


I also have one of these...



Byzantion, Thrace
AR Half Siglos
357-340BC
Heifer left on Dolphin
Mill Sail Incuse
Sear 1582

Funny that our three from Byzantium are from the three different time periods...

 

Well, as far as I can say this one should be 340-320 BC, but based only on [credible] online attributions. Not sure where they take it (Schönert-Geiss, who seems to be the reference on these ?)...

BMC (15-16) for instance, dates them before 350 BC...

http://books.google.ca/books?id=aDMGAAAAQAAJ&hl=fr&pg=PA94#v=onepage&q&f=false

Sear (1582) dates them between 357-340 BC...

Sorry that I can't be more helpful ld-guy-smile:

 

It is certainly an interesting puzzle ...

Dionysos => thanks for the effort

:thumb:

... you're a good man!!