It's an interesting example...although it does look more like a horse than an elephant---but kinda cool none-the-less https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3318505
Great elephant @ro1974 ! I went to look at my coins, and I only have 2 elephants! (NONE of my Commodus have elephants.) One is my Caesar Elephant (everyone has seen that.) The other is my PLACEHOLDER for Seleukus I. Sometime in the future I will capture a cool Tet, but have been getting other nice coins that I will post later... Seleucid: Seleukus I 312-280 BCE AE 20 Athena-Elephant Spaer 129 Sometimes it is plain fun to get Bronze coins because they are overlooked for Silver coins. Many times can be actually a lot more scarce to find.
Ooooow, an elephant pile-on thread!! (it must be Friday?) Hey, ro ... congrats again on scoring that sweet elephant example (cheers) => Elephant coins rock!!
Here's my two elephants. The first I'm still not too sure what it is but it's an elephant with two neat Seleukid countermarks and the second is a pretty rough Caesar.
MY new favorite of an 'elephant' coin.....Titus: This info provided by CNG may be of some interest. "For the Romans, the elephant was representative of many different things. As Africa was the prime source of elephants, they naturally came to be a symbol of the territory. Consequently, the personification of Africa was usually represented wearing an elephant’s skin headdress. The elephant’s size, strength, and seemingly impervious hide also made it a natural symbol of power, and it appears in that connection on several Republican denarii, including those of Julius Caesar. Because of its longevity, the elephant was a symbol of eternity. As such, elephants were often employed in processions involving cult statues of deities. The issues of Divus Augustus and Divus Vespasian both show their cult statues being conveyed by such animals. Among the menagerie depicted on the Saeculares issues of Philip I is an elephant, as a hoped-for wish for the continued success of the empire. Therefore, its presence among some of the earliest issues of the Flavians may express the hope that their dynasty, born as a result of Civil War, would endure and bring a sustained period of peace to the empire.The elephant depicted here has also a specific and immediate reference. The elephant represents one of the numerous species displayed in the newly constructed Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum, built by prisoners of the First Jewish War on the site of the Domus Aurea of Nero. Opened to the public under Titus in AD 80 and commemorated by Martial in de Spectaculis, the Colosseum was welcomed with great fanfare and games. During the opening ceremonies a great number of animals, including elephants, were both exhibited and slaughtered."
Here is a drachm of Seleukos I, a successor of Alexander. At the division of Alexander's empire two years after Alexander died, in 321 he was awarded the satrapy of Babylon and in 316 was forced to flee by Antigonus. But he said the famous words "I'll be back!" (or, maybe that was Arnold) and by 312 had recovered Syria and founded the Seleucid empire. His reign dates are usually given as 312-281 BC. Silver drachm. 17 mm. 4.16 grams. Head of Zeus right Athena in quadriga of elephants right. "of King Seleukos" in Greek below. Hoover 9.32, page 13. Sear Greek 6836, page 637. Ex Malter auction 81, lot 110.
Amazing. I had a deal in place to buy one of these types but the dealer had forgotten he sold it. Still pretty sour about that. Great coin man!
My only elephant is this Seleucid: Laodike IV, wife and sister of both Seleucus IV and Antiochus IV, 175-164 BCE. Selucia in Pieria. Æ (15 mm, 3.33 g). Obv: Veiled bust of Laodike IV. Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, Elephant head l. Prow. Refs: Houghton, CSE 113 (plate coin); Forrer 183.
