...turns out to be a big one compared to its peers. At 2.06g and 14mm this dichalkon of Trajan has a wide spread flan with a lot of evidence on how flans were made for these small coins. The reverse shows a casting sprue that once connected it to a chain of neighbors. The worker that poured the flans used a bit too much metal causing the ragged but thin edge beyond the 11mm circle intended for the coin. Emmett 707 The obverse Trajan portrait (a weak point on this specimen) never had a legend. The reverse is dated to year 17 (LIZ) and shows the Hem-hem crown of Harpocrates. http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/176959 This is the most common of many Trajan mini-bronzes but most are very raggedy. One of the other types shows the crown of Isis sometimes mistaken for our coin but Isis' crown only has two upright elements. This coin was my only win from the recent Frank Robinson sale. It arrived today. Who has wins from this sale to show?
Yeeeeehaaa!! => that's a fantastic and interesting lil' winner!! (congrats!!) Yah, I am a huge fan of Alexandrian coins (they are always cool and always have that sweet ol' "look" about 'em ... they have a great presence) I also have an awesome dichalkon example ... I love this lil' beast!! Trajan, Bronze dichalkon Roman Provincial Egypt, unpublished variety 98 - 117 A.D. Struck: Alexandria mint (29 Aug 113 - 28 Aug 114 A.D.) Diameter: 13.7mm Weight: 1.23 grams Obverse: no legend, laureate head right Reverse: rhinoceros walking left, L I-Z (= year 17) above => curious, my mentor => is that also an example from your "coin show" ... or are you outside the box and buying-up coins from everywhere?!! (you're on fire, my friend => it's awesome!!)
I bought some books from his last sale but no coins. My one dichalkon so far is the same as Steve's (albeit not as nice)-- Trajan with rhino left (variant). Rated R5 but I've seen too many of these to believe that.
For Steve: No the next coin show is in two weeks. This is a single and was bought solely for the flan. I could not afford a Rhino.
Yah, I must admit that ol' Rhino did have a bit of a price-tag ... funny though => money well spent, for not only is that my only Rhino example, but it is also my only dichalkon example (are dichalkons rare, or have I merely missed that coin-target?)
Most are rated rare (R5) by Emmett but his data is drawn from published collections. Maybe those collectors just weren't interested in these tiny bits? Now that I'm looking I see a quite a few. Speaking of Alexandrians, Keith Emmett is working on a variety catalog so if any of you have a variant not in his main book, you might want to contact him.
Thanks for the info, Coin-Princess ... I love it when you make coin-contact ... Ummm, how is your Saturday shapin' up? (I am about to go make lemon-dill salmon, on a bed of alfredo pasta) ... I hope everybody else out there in coin-land is rockin' it!! Cheers, gang (thanks for all of your comments, and cool coins) ... "we rock"
My Saturday is going well, thanks! Not sure where the day went. I got busy in coinland and just noticed that it's already dark out. Your dinner sounds yummy. Why don't you and the missus come down here and I'll let you borrow the kitchen .
Very nice little Alexandrian! I notice that all the examples shown so far have very irregular flans. Is this the norm? I won a few interesting Greeks, a Roman, a late Sassanian, and then padded the envelope with a couple of his cheap Elymais bronzes. It will probably be another week or so before they get to me, but it'll be a fun package to open
Great coin Doug! I would like to get one of these little buggers one day too. Sadly I did not participate in Frank's sale this time around. All of the coins that interested me were outside of the budget.
My guess is that the pouring of the right amount of metal into the open face indentions in flan mold was hard to control. If you poured too much as here, the coin would have the ragged outside all around. Too little and the flan would have a missing side as with steve's rhino. The thin edges would be easily chipped either before or after striking. Mine is unusual in being perfectly centered. I wonder what it was in 113-114 (LIZ) that made them want so many kinds of these small coins. There are some from many other years but year 17 has the most. Steve's portrait and rhino are as nice as I have seen. I'm glad it has the ragged flan or even he might not have been able to afford it. That coin on a round flan suitable for interest by the slabbers would make the coin very expensive.
I had a quick look at a hundred or so of these Alexandrian dichalkoi, and the majority show extremely ragged and odd shaped flans. In fact, their shape really reminded me of widows mites. Maybe their method of production was closer to the Judaean prutot and leptons than the small bronze quadrantes being struck at Rome contemporarily with the dichalkoi? I also wonder if it's coincidence that quadrantes struck by Trajan at Rome seem rather more plentiful than those of other rulers.
Very nice coin Doug! I like all the uniquely-Egyptian types. Now you need the elephant and sistrum coins. My favorite of all these issues is of Augustus with an Ibis reverse.
