Here is a bronze coin from Elis from the BCD collection. I love coins from Elis and this is the first bronze I have acquired. This is a nice hefty coin in hand. Elis. Olympia Æ25 / Eagle BCD Olympia 313, Date: Early 30s BC Obverse: Head of Hera right, wearing ornamented stephanos. Reverse: Eagle with closed wings standing right on thunderbolt, F in left field, monogram to right Size: 25.11 mm, Weight: 17.08 grams Description: near VF. Large and heavy bronze. Rare. Ex CNG 81, Lot 2306, 20 May 2009. Ex BCD Collection with tag. Post your bronze coins from Olympia or those depicting ancient games, prizes, or related. (Updated the CNG attribution). John
Oooh, nice! I don't recall seeing that type before I have a run of fractional ARs from Olympia: ELIS, Olympia. 87th Olympiad, 432 BCE AR hemidrachm, 16 mm, 2.7 gm Obv: eagle, with wings displayed above, flying left, holding hare by its back and tearing at it with his beak Rev: thunderbolt, with wings above and volutes below, within circular incuse; to right, A. Ref: BCD Olympia -; BCD Peloponnesos -; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC -; Traité -; SNG Delepierre -; Pozzi -; Weber -; McClean -. The obverse type, combined with the form of the thunderbolt, with its broad, splayed wings, and the A on the reverse, is most similar to the stater of BCD 50. ex Frank James Collection ex Classical Numismatic Group Mail Bid Sale 81, 20 May 2009, lot 2216 ex BCD Collection (not in LHS or Leu sales) ex Spink 90, 16 March 1992, lot 761 (part of) ELIS, Olympia. 95th Olympiad, 400 BCE. AR hemidrachm, 16 mm, 2.6 gm Obv: head and neck of eagle right; F below Rev: thunderbolt, volutes above, wings below, F-A across fields Ref: BCD Olympia 85/84 (same dies); SNG Copenhagen 372 ex Frank James Collection ex Classical Numismatic Group 81, May 20, 2009, Lot 2225 ELIS, Olympia. 103rd Olympiad, 368 BCE AR drachm, 21 mm, 5.7 gm Obv: head of Hera right, wearing pendant earring and stephane ornamented with palmettes with H-R-A inscribed between them, [F-A across fields] Rev: eagle with spread wings standing left, head reverted Ref: Pozzi 1846 (same dies); Jameson 1240 = Seltman pl. xii, 8 (same dies); BMC 91 (same dies); BCD Olympia 113 (same dies) ex Frank James Collection ELIS, Olympia. 107th-108th Olympiad, 352-348 BCE AR hemidrachm, 14 mm, 2.4 gm Obv: laureate head of Zeus right Rev: eagle standing right, olive leaf before, F-A across fields Ref: BCD Olympia 143-44; SNG Copenhagen 420; BMC 84; Dewing 1896; McClean 6637; SNG Delepierre 2158 ex Frank James Collection I don't know who Frank James is, other than someone who had a lot of Olympian coins!
"Ex CNG. Ex BCD Collection" This is a pet peeve of mine. The pedigree as written is almost completely useless. CNG sells thousands of coins a year, and BCD has tens of thousands in his various collections. Which CNG sale did it come from? What was the date of that sale? What was the lot number? Was it in one of the catalog sales of BCD's collection? Super fun coin, though! I think that, if these were slightly more available, they'd make an excellent entry for new collectors into the hobby, what with their Olympic connection.
I envy you TIF that is such a good range of Olympia coins, as my guess they are all scarce or just outright rare with many sharing same dies, congratulations on such a great collection.
I was just being lazy and copied the seller's attribution. You are correct, that is pretty weak provenance. Looking in CNG Research I find: Ex CNG 81, Lot 2306, 20 May 2009. https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=141325 That sale just listed it as ex BCD Collection. Looking at BCD's little round tag (which came with the coin) I see: "N. Rous., Jan. 1990, 6000 dm." (seems like a lot to pay for this coin) The other side of the tag just says: "Peloponnesus, E L I S." Not sure how to narrow it down any further. I don't have any BCD references and have not looked for it online. John
Great coin! It should be noted that the F is obviously not the 6th letter of the Roman alphabet, but the archaic Greek letter digamma (Ϝ), pronounced as a W sound. The letter had already become obsolete by the time the coin was minted, but it was retained in the inscription ϜAΛEIΩN, transliterated WALEION, of the people of Elis.
You nailed it then. If it were in a previous BCD sale, CNG would have cited it - not the least because those sales are the primary references!
Ardy, Do you have any idea who or what company "N. Rous." could be? I tried lots of internet searches and came up with nothing. John
