Ancients => Coolest coin "ever"!!

I've always loved this super cool coin ... so when this "reasonably-enough" priced example raise its head, I jumped at it like a Goldeye chasing a pickerel-rig!! (yah, that's fish talk)

... anyway ...

I love everything about this cool coin ... I hope that you dudes will also appreciate its awesome-ness!!

Cheers

Sextus Pompey, Son of Pompey the Great,
AR Denarius
42-40 BC
Diameter: 18 mm
Weight: 3.5 grams
Obverse: MAG PIVS IMP ITER, galley adorned with aquila, sceptre and trident before the Pharos of Messana, decorated with a statue of Neptune
Reverse: PRÆF CLAS ET ORÆ MARIT EX S C, the monster Scylla, her torso of dogs and fishes, wielding a rudder as a club
Refernce: Crawford 511/4a; CRI 335; Sydenham 1348; RSC 2
Other: very cool

 

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Oh ... here is what a fantastic example would look like (just in case you're having a hard time seeing what they're sayin') ... this awesome example cost five-x-times as much as my humble example (too expensive for this guy) ...

 

I am curious who, other than me, actually understands that sentence. Pro-tip: They like those little pockets of slow moving water right near the bank of the Red.

Sweet Republican Steve! I really like the little hint of toning.

 

Outstanding!

 

Oh wow! I wants it !!

 

I only have this forlorn bronze from Sextus Pompey. Can't complain about the price though since it was part of a nice mixed lot. It may not be pretty but it's chunky. In a fight it would crush you wimpy wisp of silver



SEXTUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS, son of Pompey the Great
Circa 43-36 BC, Sicilian mint?
AE, 29 mm, 19.8 gm
Obv: Laureate head of Janus with features of Pompeius Magnus
Rev: Prow of galley right; [PIVS above, IMP below]
Ref: Sydenham 1044?
from an unimaged and mostly undescribed mixed lot, Stack's Bowers, Nov. 2013

 

I have one like this TIF, just not in as good of condition:

 

what an interesting coin stevex, super cool on both sides...but dang that Scylla is awesome. this is my favorite of you 3 coin splurge.

 

The reverse is VERY nice imo (and your obverse pic could be better...)

 

Dont find it the coolest but its nice for what it is. I like the nicer example better of course, to see the animal details.

 

Very nice coin. Also has some graffiti on it. That one, even in it's grade had to have costed a bit, perhaps.

 

I agree about the super coolness of this coin... Galley, lighthouse, aquila, Neptune, Scylla wielding a rudder as a club (!!)... What more could you want on a coin?? Right at the top of my want list. Grats on the great new pick up!

 

nice warship Steve

 

=> exactly ... this coin has a whole lotta great stuff goin' on (man, if only Perseus and Medusa were standing on the deck, or maybe if Tyche was feeding Pegasus a pomegranate, eh? ... yup, then this coin would have "everything")

 

Z-bro => thanks for mentioning that the "Pharos of Messana" was actually a lighthouse ...

=> Ummm Alex, I'll take *Things that stevex6 didn't know, for $500*

I also have another sweet coin from Messana, which is in the same kinda shape as my new addition (but I absolutely love 'em both!!)

SICILY, Messana. AR Drachm (60 Onkia)
445-439 BC
Diameter: 18 mm
Weight: 3.59 grams
Obverse: Charioteer driving biga of mules right; above, Nike flying right, crowning horses; olive leaf and berry in exergue
Reverse: Hare springing right within wreath, ΜΕΣΣΑ-ΝION
Reference: Caltabiano Series IX, 388 (D175/R168); HGC 2, 807; SNG Lloyd 1111; SNG Lockett 820; Boston MFA 288; Jameson 651; Pozzi 487; Rizzo pl. 27, 11 (all from the same dies)
Other: 10h … toned, rough surface, scratches, scuffs. Very Rare (R2)
From the Continental Collection




... the modern day city of Messina, with its "scythe-like" harbour

 

Hmmmm? ... hey, does anybody have a theory regarding the graffiti on my cool new example? (ancient, modern and/or any idea what the symbol(s) may be? ... yah, it doesn't really look like a banker's mark, to me)



... thanks for any clues or hypotheses (cheers)

 

Very cool Steve, not a bad coin it has very good details, i like it.

 

Thanks man ... yah, like I stated earlier, this coin-type is pretty popular/cool/expensive, so the price goes up very steeply depending upon the details (in my semi-poor defense, I think that this puppy has adequate details and is still within a 'normal' person's budget)

... cheers

 

Ummm, I got bored ... plus, I wasn't quite ready to let this coin-thread die (I love this coin ... it is very cool)

So, here is a cool tale ...

Scylla and Charybdis were mythical sea monsters noted by Homer; later Greek tradition sited them on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the Italian mainland. Scylla was rationalized as a rock shoal (described as a six-headed sea monster) on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. They were regarded as a sea hazard located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors; avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. According to Homer, Odysseus was forced to choose which monster to confront while passing through the strait; he opted to pass by Scylla and lose only a few sailors, rather than risk the loss of his entire ship in the whirlpool

 

But it shows the details of the ship really well!
And it looks like it has 2 ramming prows. An upper and lower one. Cool.
That's something that I like about ancients, sometimes you can see what objects, weapons etc looked like. For example, I have never read about, or seen in reconstruction pictures, a ship having a lower and upper ramming prow.