For a certain themed collection, I've been hunting for an Artemis and hound issue. Focused in on provincials, decided to go with this father and son twofer, and found the right one for the right price at the recent Pecunem auction. MOESIA INFERIOR. Marcianopolis Macrinus, with Diadumenian, 217-218 AD issued under governor P. Fu. Pontianus AE27, 12.3 gm Obv: AYT K M OΠEΛ CEV MAKPEINOC K M OΠE ANTΩNINOC, Laureate head of Macrinus left and bare head of Diadumenian right, vis-à-vis. Rev: VΠ ΠONTIANOV MAPKIANOΠOΛEITΩN, Artemis advancing right, Larry* at her feet, bounding right; holding bow and drawing arrow from quiver; E to left. Ref: Varbanov 1159 var. (obverse legend). I have not double-checked the legends (not that they are entirely readable) nor the attribution. When I receive a few outstanding shipments I'll finally have my first themed collection ready to present *OK, it's not really stevex6's inexplicably-named female hound Larry, but there is at least some possibility that it is an ancestor. Or could be, if Artemis's hound was... you know... real.
Nice to see I am not the only one who has a focus in the vast world of ancients. I have always wanted a artimis/hound but like so many other coins, its on the list. Your coin is really nice. Beautiful portrait, great reverse and the colors of the bronze itself. Congrats.
Thanks, Mat. I have two areas of focus: 1) A certain themed collection which will be posted here as a "Guess the Theme" contest. So I can't tell you the theme yet. 2) Whatever looks interesting, is unusual, is simply pretty, or is just a too-good-to-pass-up deal. Wait-- make that 3, since I'm serious about starting to find wines with ancient coins on the label-- looking for matching coins.
Awesome coin, TIF!! wow => super reverse, with Artemis drawing an arrow and preparing to shoot her bow!! ("weapons" are definitely one of my favourite coin-attributes) ... I'm super-jealous of this lil' baby!! NOTE => we definitely have very similar taste where coins are concerned!!
Hey TIF => what animal is standing at here feet? (again => that's an awesome coin!!) stevex6's self-edit => oops, I see you've already mentioned that it's a "hound" (very cool) NOTE => I have that cool Larry-dog coin (Diana & Hound) ... ... apparently Diana is Artemis' Roman equivalent (the ol' hound must accompany Artemis/Diana in the same way that the owl accompanies Athena, eh?) ... man, ya gotta love these coins!!
We do indeed have similar tastes in coins. I could probably stop searching for new things and just buy whatever you buy But half of the fun is the learning and the hunt. I have corrected my attribution as per your information.
ahaha => thanks, TIF When I read your thread correction out-loud, Larry wagged her tail (and as expected, Buster seemed a bit jealous)
Even if I am 'not into' provincial roman coinage, I can well recognize that is a very appealing coin with well executed portraits and good surface quality. Congratulations, TIF. As a bonus, I now know where Marcianopolis is.
I just remembered having a similar coin from Markianopolis, Moesia Inferior. Some slight differences and not near as detailed as yours, but here is mine: and the dog running on this coin is called Buster
Great coin. At first glance I thought it was missing one letter on the reverse but then I saw what I consider to be a very cool feature. The A and P in the city name up by the head of Atremis are joined into a ligature. While the obverse letters could be more clear, the portraits and reverse are exceptional making this coin a real keeper.
At first I thought it was a recut die or mistake, but then found the match on http://www.diadumenian.com/Marcianopolis mac dia artemis.html and looked closer. It's curious. Do you think this means that the devices were engraved prior to the legends? Her head is in the way, maybe the engraver realized he'd run out of room so he ligated the A-P?
You have to wonder if this was a correction for a letter left out but I do believe the devices were cut first. While I am sure that different mints did things in different ways, I do believe that most places had a different person do portraits, reverses and legends rather than one cutter doing all. I suspect it was something of an apprentice system where the important parts were done by a master and the borders by an apprentice. I have seen some dies that make me wonder if the intent was for someone to finish a roughed in design but it never happened. It seems reasonable that an apprentice could remove the bulk of material for a portrait so the mster wold only have to smooth out and add details. We have no evidence so it is just a matter of guessing how such an operation could be run most efficiently. Traditional wisdom is that slaves did this work but the one that was able to do the best portrait work pleasing to the emperor was probably treated very well. Would not we love to have records detailing how all this was done? We never will.
