The Bird Thread - Let's celebrate our flying, feathered friends!

That is another fine example @AncientJoe

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Hate to sound like a broken record, but does anyone happen to know or have an idea of what it says on the reverse of my coin? Thanks!

 

ΔHMAPX[IKHC] ЄΞOYCIAC is the Greek translation of Tribunitia Potestas, the "TR P" we have on Latin inscription coins.

 

I will post two examples of a bird seen less often on ancient coins - a heron, and one of them is flying, Doug!


Kamarina, Sicily, AR tetradrachm, 425-405 BC, 26 mm, 17.40 g, 12h. OBV: Athena, wearing chiton and crested helmet with feather, driving galloping quadriga left, holding reins in both hands; above, Nike flying right and placing open wreath on Athena's head; in exergue, heron flying left / REV: KAMAPINA-ION (retrograde), bearded head of Herakles left, wearing lion's skin headdress.



Selinus, Sicily, AR didrachm, c 460-440 BC, 24 mm, 8.37 g, 9h. OBV: Σ-Ε-ΛΙ-NO-TI-ON; Herakles, naked, to right, raising left leg and pressing knee against Cretan bull and grasping its horn with left hand, brandishing club in right hand / REV: HYΨ-AΣ; river-god Hypsas, nude, standing left, holding branch and patera, pouring libation over altar around which a serpent twines; to right, heron walking right; above, celery leaf.

 

Hey, I've temporarily got my computer back (weekend, between basement renovations) ...

Ummm, it's a bit late to join the party => but do ya wanna see some birds?!

 

@stevex6 Nice flock! What is the incuse, walking bird?
I half expected a California Howdy style bird from you.

 

thanks, rrdenarius ...

yah, this is one of my all-time favourite coins (I love the Hillbilly thing ... now I'll always remember that when I gaze at this beauty)

MACEDON, Mende. AR Tritartemorion
Circa 460-423 BC
Diameter: 10 mm
Weight: 0.62 grams
Obverse: Ass standing right
Reverse: Crow standing left within incuse square
Reference: SNG ANS 358 (same obverse die)
Other: 11h … VF, toned. Good metal

 

Wow, great bird for a tiny denomination! Great ass too!

 

Here are a few - owls, woodpecker, swan, eagles, ravens, "small wrenlike bird", etc.

The normal Crawford 141/1 with a wren-like bird - a todus or todillus in Latin, presumably a pun on the moneyer's name:

A fourrée example with a different bird:

It's maybe beyond the ornithological aspect of the thread, but there are apparently fourrées of this issue from different dies, all with these non-wrenlike birds - maybe a clue to the forger as to which coins were of his own manufacture.

A classical owl:


An off-the-flan Lesbos owl:


A new-style owl:


Tarentum owl:


A battered archaic owl (well, the bird isn't too ruffled, Athena came out worse):


Kamarina swan (under Nike):


Raven on a Lepidus denarius:


Quinarius version:


Woodpecker (on tree behind the wolf!):


Little Ptolemaic gold eagle (if not a golden eagle!):

ATB,
Aidan.

 

Nice ... I've never noticed/known that was a woodpecker in the background!!

=> thanks, akeady! (oh, and those are fantastic bird examples ... congrats)



ahahaha ... my woodpecker looks a bit like a fat pinecone (I actually I think that I may have "two" woodpeckers on my example ... one above the wolf and another up higher in the tree ... very cool)

thanks again for the coin-knowledge

 

Yeah - in some versions of the Romulus and Remus story, they are fed by a woodpecker, so one had to make an appearance here On the coin, there are supposed to be two other birds, apart from the woodpecker - Crawford says "the other two birds seem not to be woodpeckers and may be merely decorative". The other two (I think we have only one visible on our coins) are just perched on branches rather than hanging onto the trunk, woodpecker-style.

 

awesome ... thanks again

 

That is a cool tidbit. Thanks. Kind shows that Romulus WAS a pecker-head for killing his brother Remus!

 

How about a sea eagle?

Olbia, Danubian District, later 5th-4th century BC
AE 69 - 117.01 gm

And my sweet parrot, destroying baskets on her playground