Hear no evil, see no evil...

Some years ago, I bought a 1 oz. silver round that portrayed a female handling her...... You know (ha, ha) with a saying "I bet you didn't know we handle these"

 

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My carving skills aren't the greatest and I don't have (or know how to use) CAD software yet. Dragons and griffins might be a bit challenging but eventually I'll give them a try.
...

I guess this is as good a place as any to introduce the following coins. I had planned to wait until the archaeology team had uncovered more specimens.

These are the first known coins from ancient Tiffily, a small now-submerged ancient island nation somewhere off the west coast of Anatolia. The exact location is being withheld to prevent opportunists from disturbing the historic site. Dive teams are methodically excavating the city. In addition to coins and the usual remains of ancient civilizations, engraved tablets have also been found and archaeologists are currently working on transcriptions. Apparently, these tablets record the history of Tiffily, including myths and religious beliefs.

To date, several coins have been found at the underwater dig site. All have the same iconography: a winged iguana which the researchers have dubbed "Iguanasus". Hopefully, translation of the texts will reveal more details about this mysterious creature and Tiphonian culture.




TIFFILY, Tiphonia
c. 5th century BCE
AR18, 7.4 gm, and AR 17, 7.4 gm
Obv: Forepart of winged iguana left
Rev: Monogram within dotted square, incuse
Ref: SNG Tiffily 1 and 2, respectively
This, and one other of similar size and weight, are puzzling. Metallurgic analysis shows them to be 99.9% silver yet they are somewhat porous. Perhaps the copper leached out over the centuries. These three coins are thought to be older than the rest. However, the dies are quite similar. Current thinking is that coins 1-3 were cast rather than struck.


TIFFILY, Tiphonia
c. 5th century BCE
AR 16, 6.0 gm
Obv: Forepart of winged iguana left
Rev: Monogram within dotted square, incuse
Ref: SNG Tiffily 4
This coin is missing from the research lab and it is feared that an unscrupulous member of the archaeology team has sold it on the black market.


TIFFILY, Tiphonia
c. 5th century BCE
AR 16, 7.5 gm
Obv: Forepart of winged iguana left
Rev: Monogram within dotted square, incuse
Ref: SNG Tiffily 5
Most of the coins, including this one, are of terrible workmanship. One would think that these mint workers had no idea what they were doing. Clearly there was no quality control.


TIFFILY, Tiphonia
c. 5th century BCE
AR tetradrachm (Rhodian standard), 15 gm
Obv: Forepart of winged iguana left
Rev: Monogram within dotted square, incuse
Ref: SNG Tiffily 10
This coin is also missing and feared sold.

Metallurgic analysis reveals that all Tiphonian coins found so far are an alloy of 90% silver and 10% copper, except for SNG Tiffily 1-3, which are 99.9% silver.

 

Ha, ha! Cool coins/items, and great story. I can't wait to see/hear more!

 

WOW TIF!!! That is incredible on every level!!!

 

Jeez. I thought I was obsessed. You guys are minting your own coins with ancient methods.

 

Really nice TIF

 

I love these coins and have them on my wish list. I suspect some misattribution, though admittedly my only basis is that they seem to depict a winged murloc rather than an iguana, and that species is indigenous to Azeroth.



Of course, I could be wrong and this Tiffily is just one wacky place, indeed .

 

Oh my, you may be correct. Well, there is still a lot to be uncovered from the site, so we'll see how it pans out .

 

HOOOOLY CRAP!

that's awesome.

 

The dies for these Iguanasi were recovered. Oddly, they show very little sign of age and they look rather like the cut-off heads of hex bolts. Ancient Aliens?

 

HOOOOLY CRAP!

that's awesome.

 

You have quite a few sweet skills, eh Princess? (well done)



... very cool

 

Ummm... @TIF, seriously... I am in the market!

 

You understand just how rare these are, right? Plus, they're discovery coins...they're likely to be quite costly

Shall we send them to NGC first?

 

Hence my KEEN interest!

 

They almost look fake ...

Luckily, they have the lifetime guarantee => they're originals!!

 

LOL, How FUN what that be!!!

 

Guaranteed 100% original authentic coins of Tiphonia

 

How am I just seeing this now???!!!