For less than $20, I picked up this bargain bin coin with a reverse of a Griffin (funny looking as it is). It's nothing to write home about, but for the money I couldn't pass it up. An added plus was this is the first coin I have minted in this city: PHOKAIA, IONIA AE12 OBVERSE: Female head left, hair in a sphendone REVERSE: Head of griffin left Struck at Phokaia, ca 350-300 BC 12mm, 1.86g BMC 91-93; SNG von Aulock 2135; SNG Cop 1031-1033; SNG Leipzig 1206; SNG Tuebingen 3121-3122 Post your coins from Phokaia or coins with a griffon/dragon
Pretty fabulous for the price! Based on the gaping mouth seen on almost every depiction of a griffin, they must be very loud and annoying creatures. SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE! I think there's one living down the hill from me. (nope, just a very loud macaw)
Excellent Griffin and GREAT price! I only have a couple Griffins: Sicily Kainon AE Tetras 20mm 6.7g Griffin - Horse Prancing SNG COP 133 WOW, it even reminds me of ...
Nice one! I really like it. Nothing from Phokaia here, but I have a few griffins... Teos tetartemorion. Abdera drachm. L. Papius denarius.
PANTIKAPAION AE Tetrachalkon, 21mm, circa 314-310 BC. Obv: Head of old Pan right. Rev: ΠΑΝ; Legend around forepart of griffin left, sturgeon below. Anokhin Bosporus 111. In The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times Adrienne Mayor suggests the features of the griffin were inspired by fossil dinosaurs. This Pantikapaion coin depicts a griffin with a dinosaur-like neck spine similar to the neck on Bing's example from Phokaia. This coin has nice relief. A few years ago I took a class in NYC by Gerald Marks on producing decent 3D images using an ordinary flatbed scanner. I brought along this coin and scanned it. If you have red/green 3D glasses please use them for the following images:
I like griffins, and the one in OP is quite cheerful and expressive, great find. Here is a non-numismatic, the Pannonian Avars belt-buckle griffin from 6th-7th century. The Avars used the griffin imagery very frequently, I do not know why....
Nice one, @Bing . I really like it. Here are a couple of mine. IONIA Phokaia SNG Cop. 339. and IONIA Teos SNG Cop. 1451
It is a tetradrachm from Abdera minted circa 475-450 B.C. Magistrate is Mega weight is 14.59 grms and reference is May 101
It is absolutely stunning. I need to watch for one of these. At least your griffin doesn't look like a cartoon character.
I was disposing of some old unopened mail which included a couple of coin auction catalogs just about 10 minutes ago. I turned to the back of one of them, and immediately recognized your coin... It's a marvellous specimen... congrats!