Roughly 14 months ago I came across this coin on a dealer's website on vcoins. I marked it in my wish list where it remained all along as the oldest coin in my wish list. Every month as I was ready to buy it, other coins crossed my path and I kept putting it off About 8 months ago there was a thread here about your dream coin and I posted this very picture, and noted that even though it wasn't an expensive coin, it was my dream coin because I could never seem to buy it even though I wanted it. And on and on it went, every month I'd check it out to make sure it was still available and before I pulled the trigger on it another coin crossed my path and ended up taking it's place in my collection, while this coin kept getting pushed back into the wish list. Well, today the journey ends. It's mine! Was it worth the 14 month saga? I don't know, you decide. Argos AR Triobol 80-50 BCE Forepart of wolf, right A-ΓA / Θ-O / KΛEOΣ divided by large A, harpa below, all within incuse square 16.32 mm, 2.01 grams Post whatever coin floats your boat. Dog coins, Argos coins, whatever!
It's a great example. I much prefer a little off-centering on the reverse than to have the wolf's nose lopped off.
Wasn't that a close one? Wolve's entire nose made it there barely by hair length, but it's all there, which is what matters.
I had that specimen on my wish list too! I believe that the harpa isn't just a generic hooked sword but represents the hero Perseus. He is depicted on bronze coins of the city.
I hope you didn't have it on your wish list for long. I know I finally bit the bullet because the coin has been on sale for so long that I figured someone else would eventually snap it from me if I keep putting it off.
It's a great coin. Was on my WL too haha I picked this one up instead, was my last coin of 2016. Argolis. Argos AR Triobol / Wolf Attribution: BCD Peloponnesos 1075 Date: 330-270 BC Obverse: Forepart of wolf at bay left Reverse: N - I flanking large A, club below, grapes to left, all in incuse square Size: 14.02mm Weight: 2.62 grams
Congrats on your score! Lots of times when things keep sitting on my want list they never leave. I have no dogs or large letters to share so here's a coin I haven't posted lately that was contemporary with yours: Pontos, Amisos AE20, 8.2g, 12h; 85-65 BC. Obv.: Head of Dionysos with ivy wreath right. Rev.: AMIΣOY; Cista mystica with panther skin and thyrsus; monogram in left field.
Very cool coin @Sallent ! Anything is worth the wait. But, sometimes, I just say "why the wait?" Just git-it! I have a couple DOG Coins from the Pre-Denarius era of the Roman Republic: RR Anon AE Half-Litra 234-231 BC Roma Phrygian Dog Sear 598 Craw 26/4 RR Aes Grave AE Quadrans Dog 3 pellets Six spoked wheel 59-82 Craw 26/6a Th-Vecchi 34 And I have a dog named ARGOS: RR C Mamilius 82 BCE AR Den Serrate Mercury caduceus Ulysses Dog Argos Sear 282 Craw 362/1
How long will you be able to sustain such a rythm (one coin per day)? It is a very nice example (I saw it on the dealer website and had also considered buying it for a while before being distracted by other coins) I love these wolves of Argos and I have several specimen. I got my last one in December: Argos,Peloponnesos. AR Triobol (13-15 mm, 2.29 g), c. late 2nd century-80s BC. Obv. Forepart of wolf at bay to right. Rev. A with Z - EY above and club left below. BMC 62.
Oh, I'm finally done for January. I just started to make my target list for February and focusing on that. I think February will see 3 or 4 Parthian/Sassanians for me. I don't go on day by day buying sprees like this often. I believe my last high acquisition month might have been July or August, when I acquired 9 or 10 coins that month. The next few months are probably going to be 2-4 coins per month acquisition rate. I may do one more large buying spree before September, 2017 though depending on finances. However, I don't think I will be buying much the last few months of 2017 because I want to begin to photograph all my coins (so as to not rely on seller photos), and I still need to finish my coin catalog and coin tag projects, which I've put on hold due to how many coins I've acquired and lack of time. I need to devote time to those things at some point this year, so those last few months will be relatively quiet as I tackle all of that.
Man you have got to make time now to sort out you catalog. Excel, Word, a notebook, stick figure drawings, something! I waited to tackle my token collection and didn't start until almost three years after I started. It was a huge chore! Lesson learned. With my ancients I started once I got a handful because I knew how much work it is to play catch up. Don't be like me.
Good point. Maybe I should just go ahead and stop buying now and get to work sorting the catalog/tags/coin pictures mess that I have. The problem has only gotten worse as time goes on, to the point that I could not tell you for sure how many coins I have at this point...but only guess (around 100 I think). I'm not even sure I have photos for all my coins in my files/records, and I know for a fact I still need to do new tags for around 70 coins. I didn't think it would get this bad, but it has. Maybe I should just tackle it now instead of postponing it to the end of this year when the problem might be 20 or 30% worse. I feel bad because I knew I had a probem when I was about 30 coins in and that I needed to change my records keeping/display of coins, but I kept saying I'd do it later and watched the problem get worse while ignoring it or pretending it wasn't as bad as it seemed.
that's an awesome dog coin sallent, sharp reverse as well! i had a dog coin in my cart at vcoins last night, but replaced it with another ....so a dog coin is still on my list! i did cross of faustina sr.
And to wrap this oddysey, nothing beats finally holding this coin in the palm of my hand after this 14 month journey. Might be a tiny little coin, but it's still a joy to finally hold it and look at it with my own eyes. I'm loving it.
I'm hooked on the wolf myself. The wife and I visited the Peloponnese region of Greece last May. One of my objectives during the adventure was to find and photograph the various ground orchids and examples of the Araceae family native to the region. While searching for subjects in the area around Mavrommati (not far from the Ancient ruins of Messene) a tiny, round green object caught my attention in an erosion patch along side a narrow dirt track. Too busy to examine the item closely at the time, I dropped it into my camera bag for later examination. I completely forgot about the object until I returned home and emptied out the bag. Closer examination and a light clean up showed the object to be a very small bronze coin! Further research and an email to Peloponnese coin expert Steve Benner positively ID'd the tiny bronze coin as an "AE Chalkon 400-300BC minted in the ancient city of Argos." Below are two photos of the reverse and obverse of the coin. What I thought was a bit of bronze disease turned out to be a wolf's head! The "bug" had bitten me and I had to have another "Argos wolf." Here (also below) is the dealer's image of my latest purchase... a beautiful little Argos AR Hemidrachm.
