Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

Sorry to disappoint those who might have thought this would be a thread about contemporary imitative coinage... the fact of the matter is that sometimes the only thing I seem to know about coins is that someone here posts one, I see it, and pretty soon I want one of my own. Imitate the excellent taste of some of our members here often enough and you'll eventually seem to actually know a thing or two about picking ancient coins .

In marketing, the 'Rule of Seven' suggests that a person needs to be exposed to an advertisement at least seven times before taking the bait. Even though @stevex6 has shown his coin a couple more times than seven, I really only needed to see it once before deciding that I had to get one of my own. Yes, it's a common type, but the minor devices which make it special for me sure aren't.


ROMAN REPUBLIC
L. Papius
AR Serrate Denarius. 3.92g, 18.8mm. Rome mint, 79 BC. Crawford 384/1, pl. LXVII, symbols 122; Sydenham 773. O: Head of Juno Sospita right; behind, coiled snake. R: Gryphon leaping right; below, fox (or dog or crocodile); L PAPI in exergue.
Ex E.E. Clain-Stefanelli Collection

With this next one, I've gone with the cool, eclectic taste of @chrsmat71. I might have needed to see it two or three times before properly going on the hunt, but I found the type to be very alluring from the get-go.


PISIDIA, Etenna
AE19. 3.3g, 19mm. PISIDIA, Etenna, circa 1st century BC. SNG Cop 146. O: Naked nymph standing to front, legs crossed, entwined by serpent; at her feet to left, a vase. R: E-T, sickle-shaped knife.

Have you bought any coins because you first saw an example posted here? Let's see 'em!

 

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There was a thread about Syrian tetradrachms that made me want to add the type to my collection. This is my first:


Herennius Etruscus, AD 251
Tetradrachm, 27mm, 11.7g; 12h; Antioch, Syria
Obv.: EPENNE TPOY ME KY ΔEKIOC KECAP; bare-headed, draped, cuirassed bust right, three dots beheath bust (=officiana 3)
Rev.: ΔHMAPX EΞOYCIAC; eagle standing right on palm branch, head right, tail left, wreath in beak
In Ex.: SC

 

I've been a shameless copycat a number of times, to the point of running to vcoins and buying an example of a coin that was just posted on CT so I could add it to the thread, lol.

This is a good discussion in which to post a coin that arrived yesterday. My foray into ancients started with a Falling Horseman and @dougsmit 's page on Falling Horsemen. For years I've looked for the elusive FH2 variety, with the horseman's butt firmly planted on the ground. I finally came across one, so here it is. This one's a bit difficult to image because of the patina, but a perfect example of the variety...

 

Ok, I bought this after seeing @Bing s examples posted in some thread which I can't recall now. I said to myself, "I want a cool coin just like Bing's, and I got to have it now" and shamelessly went out and bought this one on vcoins.com that very same day. I had wanted to buy the coin type before, but I had put it off. However, thay day looking at Bing's post the itch was too great and I just had to have one.



And here is the most shameless copycat of them all... @stevex6 posted a punch marked Indian coin in one of my threads about my recent Indian purchases. Within 20 minutes of seeing his sweet punch mark I had shamelessly bought one of my own on vcoins.com because seeing his sweet and good looking example made me jealous that I didn't have one. Sorry Stevex6, it's just that your coin looked so nice that I had to have some punch marks of my own.

 

this forum sure is a big inspiration, these 2 coins I saw earlier overhere, and became a musthave for me.

 

20 minutes! Lol... you don't mess around. I'd love to see someone beat
that.

 

Great thread and wonderful posts guys!!

I would guess at least half of the coins I purchase are inspired from CT threads and posts...I literally don't know where to begin so I'll post a recent purchase:

Denarius of Geta with the Diana and Boar/Hound reverse :

 

Great coin's Z, i try to buy everything Stevex buy's.

 

yeah! these are cool aren't they?



i just picked up a coin hours ago that was influenced by folks here! a few weeks ago i asked for pictures of coins with the god men, dougsmit, maridvnvm, zumbly, and ancientone posted some cool pics...i just had to have one myself. i don't post until the coin arrives, but i will when it shows up.

 

Wow Z-bro => our two examples are quite similar, eh?

... I like your taste in coins!!

 

Not mine, but I want it. I would shamelessly buy one like it if I had the money.

 

They seem to be the same dies.

 

What are the odds? Seems strange that two coins would have the same front and back die match. Right? Does anyone know how often that happens?

 

For these, if you see the same symbols then in general they should be from the same die pair. There are only two symbol pairs that I am aware of out of almost 250 that this doesn't hold true for. All known examples for this above type (of which I am jealous) are from the same die pair.

 

It happens fairly often with Republican coins. It's much easier to notice with these with unique symbols on them, but even with other types where you only have style and subtle differences to look for I find that maybe 30-50% of the time I will find another with at least a single side match if not both sides matching by the time I get done doing my homework on a given type. With many of my scarcer bronzes the number increases pretty close to 100% because the total number of die pairs is very small.

I highly suggest everyone here spend some time looking for die matches to some of your favorite coins. My favorite resources are ACSearch, CNG archives & printed catalogs, ANS, British Museum and Paris collections but what works best for you might be different based on what you collect. To me looking for and recording info about other examples and die matches is just one of the things I do with most any coin I buy these days, even super common types.

To get back to the thread's main topic of imitation: I think Doug has a really great example of this with a Septimius Severus that he refers to as his "favorite die" or similar and he's got either coins or at least pictures of one obverse being used with multiple reverses. That's what got me thinking about and recording when I found matches in the first place.

 

It was mentioned so I'll show it:


I believe I recall being told of a dozen reverses with one obverse form Emesa so they were more into it than most mints. The odd part to me is that I have never seen a second reverse die of the same type with this obverse.

 

One of my obverse die match sets with 10 reverse dies tied to this single obverse die. Also Septimius from Emesa.

 

Easy Martin => now you're just showin' off ... don't get Doug all riled-up!!

 

I don't appear to have any coins that are an obverse die match to Doug's great set.

 

Wha?

You don't have a Dog-Snake L Papi "and" you don't have die-match to Doug's Sep-Sev?!

... I just don't know you anymore



just jokes, Martin ... you rock