Your favorite coins by century.

MACEDONIAN KINGDOM AE16
OBVERSE: Macedonian sheild with thunderbolt at center.
REVERSE: B-A either side of Macedonian helmet Macedonia Interregnum
Early 288-277 BC
16mm, 4.46g
Sear 6782

 

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And last, this one actually crosses the second and first centuries BC, but it is a lovly coin:

TRALLES, LYDIA CITY COINAGE AE18
OBVERSE: Laureate head of Zeus Larasios right
REVERSE: DIOS TRAL-LIANWN, thunderbolt, all in wreath
Struck at Tralles 200-1 BC
6.51g, 17.86 mm
Mionnet 661

 

=> my final 3rd-century offering is my favourite coin from 2013 ...

... it's large, heavy, symetric and very cool ...

KINGS OF MACEDON. Antigonos II Gonatas
AR Tetradrachm
circa 270-240 BC
Pella
Diameter: 30 mm
Weight: 17.1 grams
Obverse: Head of Pan wearing goat horns and goat skin in center of Macedonian shield, lagobolon over shoulder; shield decorated with seven stars within double crescents
Reverse: Athena Alkidemos walking left, brandishing thunderbolt and shield, shield decorated with aegis; crested Athenian helmet left, monogram right

 

I've only recently started collecting in this period, so the couple of coins I have are my favorites. This one is a really nice example of the bronze coinage of the Brettii. I think the style is excellent for the period and this one has a really lovely deep green patina. If I follow the seller's attribution, it should have a crab monogram opposite the thunderbolt on the reverse. I can't see even a ghost of a crab on mine, and this is now causing me to feel some jealousy toward Doug and his Brettian coin with TWO crabs.



BRUTTIUM, The Brettii
AE Double Unit (Didrachm), 15.03g, 27mm.
Circa 208 - 203 BC. Scheu, Bronze 58; HN Italy 2001.
O: Head of Ares left in Corinthian helmet decorated with a griffin
R: BRETTIVN, Hera Hoplosmia advancing right holding shield and spear, thunderbolt to right, crab monogram practically absent.

The entire series of coinage of the Brettii has been dated to the Second Punic War. They were a tribe of Italian people of Bruttium (present day Calabria in southern Italy) who had long attempted to resist the growing dominance of the Roman Republic. They supported Pyrrhus in his doomed war against Rome and later threw in their lot with Hannibal in the Second Punic War. After the defeat of the Hannibal, they suffered their own version of Carthaginian peace (see Steve's post above) at the hands of the victorious Romans and soon would no longer trouble the annals of history.

I haven't managed to find out much about the cult of Hera Hoplosmia ("the armed Hera"), but her surname possibly derives from hoplon, the variety of shield used by Greek hoplite soldiers. She is certainly carrying a big a** shield on this coin. As a bit of trivia, hoplology is the study of the evolution and development of human combative behaviour.

 

Here's my second coin - my first tiny Greek silver. It hasn't arrived yet, so I'm using the seller's pictures and attribution. I'm afraid I know nothing about the issuing city or its coinage... it was just that bull's head staring out at me saying, "Buy meeeeee". Acccording to the auction notes, this type is very rare with the facing boukranion reverse.



CARIA, Knidos
AR Hemidrachm, 1.25g, 10mm.
Circa 300-225 BC. Phili-, magistrate. SNG Copenhagen 295–6 var.(magistrate).
O: Head of Aphrodite right.
R: Facing boukranion.

 

I really like that bull! If it were my coin I would want to research the correctness of the term boukranion before using it. I may be wrong and I know of examples online using it for a bull head with eyes but I think of boukranion as the dry skull of a bull used in religious rites rather than the head of a living bull (with eyes and ears). This is a nice overall coin with a great reverse.

 

Thanks! I was a little surprised by the use of the term boukranion myself, but without the benefit of further research or the reference quoted (SNG Cop), I was deferring to CNG's cataloger and, as mentioned, using their attribution in that post. Curiously, they have a few other examples in their past auction catalogs and those use the term "head of a bull" or "bull's head". So far, what I've read of bucranium/boukranion has always been in reference to a bull's skull as opposed to a bull's head, and it's true that the one on this coin looks distinctly alive.

 

Great bunch o' coins, fellas ...

That's a sweet bull, Z ... and it's a wee lil' coin, eh? (only 10 mm)
=> very nice coin for a coin that tiny!!

 

Yeeehaaaa => now "every" day is next-century day!!

=> BRING-ON THE 2ND CENTURY!!

My first 2nd century coin was my very first coin from the Roman Republic ... yup, I've always loved this sweet ol' coin!!

M.Furius L.f. Philus AR Denarius
119 BC
Diameter: 19.6 mm
Weight: 3.8 grams
Obverse: Laureate head of Janus
Reverse: Roma, holding spear and wreath, trophy of Gallic arms and a carnyx left and star above, ROMA to right

 

My second offering from the 2nd century is another Roman Republic ... I find the reverse-theme quite interesting and quite different from most other Roman Republic coins ...

=> the coin depicts a "voting scene"

P. Nerva AR Denarius
113-112 BC
Rome mint
Diameter: 17 mm
Weight: 3.86 grams
Obverse: Helmeted bust of Roma left, holding shield and spear; crescent above, mark of value before
Reverse: Three citizens voting on comitium: one voter receives ballot from attendant below, another voter places ballot in cista; P on tablet above bar
Reference: Crawford 292/1; Sydenham 548; Licinia 7
Other: 6h, iridescent toning, traces of porosity, scratch at 9 o’clock on reverse under tone
From the Bruce R. Brace Collection

 

One day i'm going to get a head of Janus coin Steve, love it...

The 2nd century..
Greek ..
Phoenicia Arados...around 138BC..
Ar Tetradrachm..
Ob. Turreted veiled and draped bust of Tyche right..
Rev. Nike standing left holding aplustre and palm. Phoenician date.
letter and monogram in left field..
29mm x 14.97 g.

Tyche was originally a Greek goddess of chance, but she was converted to a goddess of prosperity with city's under her protection.
Tyche is depicted with a cornucopia, rudder, wings, wheel and ball.
Fortuna is the Roman goddess of chance and fortune..

 

dang...you blink your eyes and you miss a century. oh well, here's a couple of my second century bc favs...


avatar coin, seleucid, demetrios i (162-150 bc)







and an indo-greek square...

menander i (165-130 bc)

 

Now it is getting difficult to choose, but here goes:


L. THORIUS BALBUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS THORIA AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Head of Juno wearing goat-skin headdress, acronym I. S. M. R. behind. REVERSE: Bull charging right, F. above, L THORIVS below, BALBVS in exergue Struck at Rome 105 BC
3.92g, 19mm
Cr 316/1, Sydenham 598, Thoria 1

 

TI VETURIUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS VETURIA AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Helmeted bust of Mars right
REVERSE: Youth kneeling l., between two warriors who touch with their swords a pig which he holds., ROMA above
Struck at Rome 137 BC
3.7g, 18mm
Cr.234/1; RSC Veturia 1

 

I got confused about what Century to post. Apparently, we are in the 2nd Century B.C. and this tet could have been minted in 130 B.C.
ATTICA, Athens
AR Tetradrachm
130 – 29 B.C.
16.77 gms, 31 mm
Obv: Head of Athena facing right with double-crested Attic helmet adorned with Pegasos.
Rev: Owl standing right on fallen amphora with head facing, elephant symbol to right, all within olive wreath. The letter E on amphora, ME in exergue. Upper field around owl A-OE and ANT-OXOΣ. Left field continues with KAPA/IXOΣ/ΣKY/MNO/Σ [magistrates Antiochos, Karaichos and Skymnos].
Grade: AU with good centering and strike confirmed by NGC opinion. Some porosity at obverse otherwise as struck with good tone & luster.
Other: “New Style” Athenian Tetradrachm w/ ref. to Syrian king Antiochus and the invasion of Mithradates. Purchased in an NGC slab from Pegasi Numismatics September 2013. Thompson 397h.

 

Hate to say it but this thread has turned into a bit of a train wreck. Not enough time to think about which coins to post and to dig up some interesting info to go with the pretty pictures.

I'm a few centuries behind already.

 

SEXTUS POMPEIUS FOSTLUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS POMPEIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Head of "Minerva or Pallas" (personification of Rome) with winged helmet, earrings and necklace, looking to the right. Below the chin, it is the "X" (although its value then was 16 aces) and behind the bust is a small jar.
REVERSE: FOSTuLVS left and Sextus. Pompeius. to the right of the field. She-wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus. Behind Ruminal fig tree is represented with three birds in their branches. On the left, the pastor Faustulus figure in an attitude of admiration for the wonder he sees. ROMA in ex
Struck at Rome 137 BC
3.63g, 19.5mm
Cr235/1a; Syd 461; Pompeia 1

 

2nd century already - how time does fly! I'm sure you have seen these before but I am relatively weak in 2nd century so the best ones were more obvious than earlier centuries.

Long after his death, cities copied the issues of Alexander the Great. This one is from Arados and was supposed to be year dated in exergue using a two digit number starting from the 259 BC independence of the city. Sear Greek lists two dates of which the last was xi A = 61. My coin's date is off flan but I was extremely fortunate years ago to see a coin offered for sale that was a die duplicate and clearly dated OE or year 75 = 185 AD. My coin is not the finest specimen of its die but I still like it. It gets better when you notice that my coin is a fourree. The coin that provided the date was being sold as solid but only weighed 11g (less than my fourree) and only had one tiny spot of core exposure. I wrote the auction house and they withdrew the lot. Fair warning: There is a very deceptive fourree out there with OE in exergue and the fine die crack across the reverse. It is a pretty coin but you should not buy it for full, solid silver price. I have never seen a solid OE coin and would love to know if they exist.
http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=12599
The above is a coin from one year later showing what I consider the same style reverse. It weighs a full 16+ gram solid value. I sincerely believe my coin is a product of the official mint despite the fact that the experts claim all fourrees are fakes. I so wish that I had a photo of that coin that had the OE but I have lost the reference. It is a favorite because of its appearance and also because of the backstory. I have seen a number of this series coins which lack the date, as does mine, due to the centering. It is relatively rare for a dealer to mention this fact in the description.

This one took so long, I'll post the other 2nd century choices later.

 

Yep.

I went to bed in the 4th Century & then woke-up in the 2nd Century.

 

Well heck, post whatever you want. It's CT.

Maybe we should try two days per century?