Hey everyone, I just acquired this hemidrachm and I wanted to see what y'all think. It is quite toned and has a strange little circular mark on the obverse. Can anyone identify what this would be?
Welcome to CT! Aaand fantastic chin! The circle is adorbs! Makes it look like the big bad lion has an itty bitty tail. Here's my fouree from cheech n chongland: THRACE, Chersonesos 386-338 BCE AR Plated Hemidrachm Forepart of lion right,head left / Quadripartite incuse square with alternating raised and sunken quarters; VE monogram to right in opposite sunken quarters. BMC –; McClean 4117; Weber 2415; SNG Copenhagen 830.
I'm thinking it must've been a flaw in the planchet before it was struck (for lack of a better way of putting it, like a little silver nipple) and then once struck it was bent, pushed, and flowed into the circular form it has. Your lion is very nice and crisp! It has wonderful eyes! Cherronesos, Thrace AR Hemidrachm, Circa 400-338 BC Obverse: Forepart of lion right, head turned back. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square with alternating shallow and deeper sunken quarters, with a dot and selinon leaf on stem (wild parsley or celery) in each of two opposing quarters. References: Apparently unpublished Very rare symbol. cf: CNG E-Auction 104, Lot #37; NN Auction 67 (7/1/2018), Lot #57 Cherronesos, Thrace Circa 480-350 BC AR Hemidrachm Obverse: Forepart of lion right, head turned back. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square with a dot and palm branch in each of two opposing quarters. References: Sear 1602-1606, BMC Thrace 10, McClean 4081
@Justin Lee Thanks! The lion's face has a lot of emotion, it reminds me of the Assyrian lion reliefs I saw at the British museum.
Welcome, @JJoyner , and that is a great HemiDrachm / TriObol ! Chersonesos AR Hemi-Drachm - TriObol Lion X-dot amphora Seaby-Sear Vol I 1606
...very nice one and welcome to CTA! ...mine i got many years ago when i's just starting collecting & didn't realize it WAS(& i ain't) a lion
The circular thing is possibly a trail, it is in the dies becasue it can be found on other coins from the same dies. I do not like the coin, especially the strange very soft but very strong edge cracks (haven´t seen nothing like this on authentic ones) and soapy details and that the metal looks strange (in hand if you have one of these in hand an authentic one). I do not know if they are supposed to be cast, transfer die or modern dies fakes, but waht I can tell is that I have seen die linked or matching fakes and fakes with this characteristics sold or offered by some notorious fake sellers on ebay. And I was not able to find authentic coins from same club and shell reverse die, that does not mean much but is a bad sign. The shell is missing at the lower end somthing but not sure how it is called in English and why they are missing it, on authentic ones it was always there Authentic ones with shell https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&thesaurus=1&order=0¤cy=usd&company= I do not say that your coin must be fake but I would be surprised if it would turn out to be authentic. Obverse http://forgerynetwork.com/asset.aspx?mode=6Q/zOXMHeZ0=&id=raTxRlb6ETc= Authetnic ones with club on reverse, but they have a dot next to the club which is here missing https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&thesaurus=1&order=0¤cy=usd&company= Reverse http://forgerynetwork.com/asset.aspx?id=njJkRKqZ2N4= Barry Murphy who is here too, is familiar with these coins and possibly knows if your coin is authentic or not http://bpmurphy.ancients.info/chersonese/page1.htm To the die matching and die linked fakes sold by nfs on ebay, they are too MANY (look for some of these fakes sold by silverdenar or ancient_kingdoms etc.) https://www.coryssa.org/index.php/s...6/use_checkboxes/0/search_title/on/period/all
@Lolli Damn, I think you hit the nail on the head. The obverse matches that forgery right down to the die flaw. That's a shame because I genuinely liked this coin. I do appreciate your help and will see that it is returned. Thanks
I got it because it was purdy Thrace, Chersonesos Coin: good VF Silver Hemidrachm None - Forepart of lion right, head left None - Quadripartite incuse square with alternating raised and sunken quarters; pellet and AΓ monogram in one sunken quarter, star in the other. Mint: Chersonesos (Circa 386-338 BC) Wt./Size/Axis: 2.41g / 13.5mm / - References: McClean 4089–94 var. (symbol) SNG Copenhagen 840 var. (letter). Weber 2430 Notes: Mar 26, 15 - dark iridescent tone
As I was updating my catalogue I came across this type; I can't tell if its an ear of corn (McClean II, 127, 4084) or palm branch (McClean II, 127, 4081). What do you think? These are examples of palm branch (McClean II, 127, 4081), it doesn't seem to match. I can't find any images of ear of corn (McClean II, 127, 4084) as it seems to be a very rare type.
I would feel very confident that it's the grain ear/"ear of corn" type. I love these Chersonesos Hemidrachms for the insane variety of symbols. I've sold a lot of these some years ago (don't remember which I still have, wish it was all!), but here's a photo collage of some of the ones I had at one point: I'm not sure how many total control symbols were produced on Chersonesos Hemidrachms, but I'm assuming it must be in the hundreds? Even limiting it to plants there are countless varieties -- even if you limit it to plants with a stem/stalk! The best way for these would be to find a reverse die match, but that's easier said than done. Don't even get me started on all the varieties of roses, flowers, poppies, olives, ivy, berries, selinon (parsley?), grapes (sometimes just bunches, with or without stems, sometimes on vines -- and in many configurations!), and other (?) leaves! That's just the flora...and just scratching the surface... Even within any one category... "Corn" or "grain ear," for example. Here are some (not all!) of the varieties: Very nice mature grain ear, with one leaf, l. side of stalk: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9929997 With two leaves now! One l. & one r. of stalk: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=11085768 With one to r. (?): https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=501810 With no leaves on stalk: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=11315366 L. side is that of the grain ear, the r. "branchy" like the palm: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=11315386 Also, I'm no botanist/horticulturalist, but it's hard to believe all those "branches" and "palms" that I see are really the same species!
