Featured Follow the coin theme GAME - ancient edition - post ‘em if you got ‘em

I should add very weird as it came in a lot, and I do not think the engraver was from the 2nd Century!

 

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Very bizarre... It's the reverse of a denarius of Clodius albinus, OK, but the obverse looks like a forged denarius of Aelius Caesar. Are you sure you posted the right picture?

 

More hair?



What about Shapur I's hairdo? Knowing that the veiled globe on top of his head is filled with hair, too? We can also appreciate the moustache...

Sassanian Empire, Shapur I (241-272), AR dirham.

Next : Persia

 

I am baffled and I agree with you and will pull out the coin in the next day. On occasion I photograph several coins and then paste them from the software and it is more than likely that I messed up with this and juxtaposed images. In any event forgery or not the hair still is weird.

 

Rather than post my Valerians (Shapur did take him & bring him back home to Persia, after all), here's my miniature Persian Achaemenid Quarter Siglos (8mm, 1.26g):


Klein 764 (this coin) = ex Sammlungen Gert Cleff & Dieter Klein

NEXT:

Small​

 

About the smallest I have
Troas, Gergis. Circa 4th-3rd Century BC. AE12mm, 1.28 g. Head of Sibyl Herophile right, three-quarters facing / ΓEΡ, Sphinx sitting right. SNG von Aulock 1515; SNG Ashmolean 1147; SNG Cop 338.

NEXT: Sphynx

 

Nice sphinx & very detailed Kleinbronzemünze! (To use one of my favorite bits of numismatic German.) That's a great 3/4 facing portrait, which was apparently quite a challenge for tiny dies, even more so than forward facing portraits. They were difficult even on full-sized Tetradrachms (pioneered by the Sicilians), so I'd call this little Troas bronze an artistic achievement. (EDIT: Oops! Not Ionian! Even better.)

I have one or two smaller sphinxes -- neither with as much detail. First, a Kleinsilber I got in a group lot of "floor sweepings" (still pretty good!) from the Herbert Cahn Collection. I assume it's Chios, though I haven't found a reference yet. AR Obol (0.59g, 7 x 8.5mm)

EDIT: Uh oh, I'm realizing this might still turn out to be a Griffin instead...I want the head back!!



Next to some of the others from that same group, though, it looks downright enormous (top l. coin):


Axel Winzer described this next Kleinbronze (6mm, 0.64g) of Satrap Orontes, from Adramytteion c. 355 BCE, as a Sphinx.
BUT it's pretty clearly a PEGASOS! Nice try, Axel Winzer!
(In his 2005 book Antike Portraitmünzen der Perser und Griechen: p. 44, No. 16.5, this coin illustrated on p. 8.)

NEXT:

Another Winged Beastie
whether another undiscovered-by-science Sphinx or Griffin etc.,
or a flesh-and-blood winged animal known to humanity, ancient & modern alike​

 

Note: Now realizing my headless Sphinx Obol might be a headless Griffin Obol, here's one more (almost) Sphinx....

You can't quite tell unless you know what you're looking for (especially since the engravers varied wildly in not only talent but in their try-hard-ness), but Euthenia used to use the poor little Sphinx as an armrest (reverse, lower right).

Some other clearer examples shown too.

Apparently all those poppies (in her hand) left her feeling a bit unsteady.

Still:​

 

A wonderful selection of small coins @Curtis The sphynx coin I showed was in a lot of supposedly LRB´s, there needed a soak in distilled water and a slight scrub with a cutdown toothbrush, and the surprise was revealed. I am quite happy to have it. Anyway, another from the lot was the following

Constans, AE follis, Siscia. 15 x 18mm. DN CONSTA-NS PF AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right / FEL dot TEMP dot REPARATIO, phoenix, radiate, standing right on rocky mound. Mintmark ASIS dot. RIC VIII Siscia 232
NEXT: Phoenix

 

Almost forgot I had this one (the Phoenix is in Theodosius' hand on top of globe):

Emperor Standing over Bound Captive: Theodosius in Galley, Scarce Esty Reverse Type 34

Roman Imperial. Theodosius I AE3 (20mm, 2.16g, 6h), Thessalonica, c. 384-388 CE.
Obverse: D N THEODOSIVS P F AVG. Pearl-diademed bust, draped and cuirassed, right.
Reverse: VIRTVS AVGGG / Δ to left / TES in exergue. Emperor on galley left, holding phoenix on globe, foot resting upon bound captive, Victory at helm.
References: Esty Reverse Type 34 [LINK]; RIC IX Thessalonica 61b.
Provenance: Ex Naville Numismatics 53 (2 Nov 2019), 755 (group lot).​

Notes: A scarce sub-type, also struck for Valentinian II (RIC 61a) and Arcadius (RIC 61b). It’s interesting that the larger AE2 module with the galley has Victory, but not the captive – only the smaller type adds the captive!


Also reminiscent of the Constans FEL TEMP REPARATIO reverse with Emperor on galley holding Phoenix on globe
​

NEXT:

Galley / ship / prow / boat​

 

Nice one Curtis!



Next: An overstruck coin!

 

I have no idea if this is a striking error, or if the reverse has been struck over the wrong reverse. Either way, it is a bit different from the norm.
Faustina II AE Sestertius. 19,80g, 33mm.
DIVA FAV-STINA PIA, draped bust right / SIDERIBVS RECEPTA S-C, Faustina as Diana, standing right, holding long torch across body with both hands, crescent behind neck. RIC 1715, Cohen 215. SEAR 1988 # 1530
Commemorative issue struck under Aurelius, circa
175/6 AD.
Reverse either struck twice, or overstruck a different reverse, with clear images of two torches and two S of SC. Bizarrely, it circulated for a long time in this condition.

NEXT: Another error coin

 

Here's an error coin I don't think I've posted here before:

Roman Imperial. Gallienus AE Antoninianus (3.49g, 20-22mm, 6h), Antioch, c. 267-268 CE.
Obv: GALLIENVS AVG. Radiate, cuirassed bust right. (Partial incuse of rev. visible: "S" and head and shield of Virtus.)
Rev: VIRTVS AVG. Mars standing forward, head to right, holding spear & shield in his left.
Ref: RIC 669 or similar.

Notes: A “partial (reverse) brockage” such as this one occurs when a previously struck coin overlaps with another during striking. When this coin was struck, a previously struck coin was resting partially over the obverse die. The strike was “strongest” (the details most fully transferred from the reverse die) in the area where the obstructing coin rested (i.e., toward 12h obv/6h rev), since its presence allowed for more force to be imparted. The far side of the flan received much less direct force from the dies, resulting in flatness (i.e., toward 6h obv/12h rev).



​

NEXT:

Mars (including Ares)​

 

PROBUS
Antoninianus
OBVERSE: IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG, radiate & cuirassed bust right.
REVERSE: MARS VICTOR, Mars advancing right, bearing trophy & spear. Mintmark III
Struck at Lugdunum, 277 AD
5.1g, 23mm
RIC 37, III

Next: Probus

 

Probus, 276-282 AD. AR Antoninianus (4.98 gm; 23 mm). Lugdunum mint.
IMP C PROBVS . P . F . AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right.
PAX AVG, Pax standing left with branch in upraised hand and raising hem of skirt while holding sceptre; Officina D in left field. Pleasant toning.
RIC 119(D.RC)
Aug 1st, 2023, (Pars Coins) VAuctions, esale #7, Lot # 120
NEXT: Radiate and bearded

 

Here’s a newer one I really like. It was struck by Probus at a military mint during the campaign against Saturninus.


Roman Empire
Probus (276-282)
AE Antoninianus, uncertain Asian mint set up by Probus during his campaign against Saturninus, 3rd emission, 6th officina, struck ca. AD 280-81
Dia: 20.7 mm
Wt: 4.3 g
Obv: IMP C M AVR PROBVS P F AVG; Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: CLEMENTIA TEMP; Emperor (on I.) receiving Victory on globe from Jupiter; ζ• between, XXI in ex.
Ex Severus Alexander Collection; 2022 Saturnalia gift.

Next: A coin struck for or during a military operation.

 

Hope this counts: Drachm struck by Perseus and co. during the Third Macedonian War (c. 168 BCE) against Rome, to pay Cretan mercenaries.

(There are lots of "Pseudo-Rhodian" Drachm varieties; it's possible some of the others were also used by the Romans to pay for their own Cretan mercenaries. This type ["Hermias"] has been linked to the Macedonians, though.)

NEXT:

Flower or Plant​

 

Kyrenaica, Kyrene, temp Magas, didrachm, 294-275 BC.

7.57 grams



Next: A new style owl.

 

ATHENS ATTICA
AR Tetradrachm
OBVERSE: Helmeted head of Athena right
REVERSE: Owl standing right, head facing, on overturned amphora; to left, eagle standing right on thunderbolt; Gamma on amphora, ΗΡΑ in exergue; all within laurel wreath
Struck at Athens Epigene-, Sosandros and Eume(nes)-, magistrates. September-October 126/25 or 125/24 BC
16.8g, 30mm
Thompson 477a

NEXT: Any Tetradrachm

 

NEXT: Date in the field