One of a Kind - A collection of some unique coins

Nice coins everyone!

Pamphylia, Aspendos. civic issue. 4th-3rd centuries B.C. AE 19 (18.65 mm, 3.77 g, 5 h). Protome of horse right, star before / ΓΖΕ-ΠΕ (? sic.), ethnic (or magistrate's name?) divided by sling. Cf. SNG France 126 (ethnic) ; Cf. SNG von Aulock 4579 (ethnic); Cf. SNG Cop 253 (ethnic).

The basic type is common, this particular reverse inscription, however, does not seem to be published widely, if anywhere

 

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I have a thing for small module bronzes from Macrinus & Diadumenian which means that " unlisted " often pops up.
I don't doubt for a moment that there may be others out there but it does feel nice to be the custodian of the only " known/ documented " example, even for a short time.
There are many examples of the Antioch coins with father on Obverse & Son on Reverse but this is the only coin I am aware of from a different city showing both in the same way -
Sillyum, Pamphylia
Ob - Laureate, Cuirassed bust facing, head left
Re - Laureate, Draped bust. ( aegis ? on shoulder ) CILLYEON around.
3.38g, 18mm
No references I am aware off.

 

The inscription looks like ΠΕ-ΠΕ. An example from the Mavromichaelis collection was published by Svoronos. Journal International d'Archéologie Numismatique (1903) page 195 #154.

 

@Ajax: Forgot the links: https://books.google.com/books?id=56MVAAAAMAAJ&dq=editions:2WgaPNZ6qVwC&pg=PA195#v=onepage&q&f=false

This catalog is in modern Greek; I found the reference using http://isegrim.mybluemix.net/#!?po=Aspendus&vt=horse&rt=sling

 

Thanks Ed! Appreciate it man.

 

Just realized this one is another unique find, as I was - edited -

Cilicia, uncertain
AR Obol
Head of young male right
Eagle on lion left



SNG Levante 230 for head left:
- Edited -

Can't find a match to my coin in any auction archive!

 

Nice coin Finn235! I have also never seen your obol variant with the head facing right. There reverse -- an eagle on a very small lion -- is very distinctive and I wish more could be learned about it. Here is a unique obol with the same reverse:


CILICIA, Uncertain (Tarsos? Mallos?). 4th century BC. AR Obol (9mm, 0.46g).
Obv: Facing gorgoneion (in the style of small Mallos bronze)
Rev: Eagle standing left on back of [lion].
Ref: Klein, Nomismata 3 (1999) #649 (this coin). cf. SNG France 477/474 (for obv./rev.); cf. SNG Levante 248/230 (for obv./rev.); UNIQUE
ex CNG, e-auction 302, May 2013, lot 164.

 

Maybe someone can help me out on this: my late brother's estate includes a nice Antoninus Pius aureus with the "Concordia" reverse [two men shaking hands.] I am not an ancients expert, and not that good at web surfing, but I have been through all of Heritage's Antoninus Pius aureus sales [close to 100 coins, I think] and haven't found one with that reverse. [It does seem to be a pretty common reverse on Lucius Verus aureus, though.] Is it as scarce as it seems to me, or have I just not searched enough? Sorry about no pictures; I'm in North Carolina, and the coin is in a bank vault in California.

 

Found some pictures on my computer. The reverse is pretty blurry; and my brother had two Antoninus Pius aureus, one with a common reverse, one with the "Concordia". So I'll post both obverses; not sure which goes with the "Concordia" reverse.

 

I think it’s a pair with the first obverse which is Marcus Aurelius rather than Antonius Pius

See https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&thesaurus=1&order=0&currency=usd&company=

 

Thanks. As I said, I am not an ancients collector, so I probably never would have found that page without your link. It looks like the "Concordia" reverse is not that rare. Paraphrasing what Dougsmit said above, Don't think a coin is rare just because you haven't seen a lot of them. In the National Bank Note collecting fraternity [that was my old area of interest; at one time I even went through some of the ledgers in the National Archives that show how many notes each bank had issued and redeemed], we sometimes said "A note is rare until it isn't." For example, there were four "known" large size Fairbanks Alaska notes - until someone found a hoard. Now there are about 60 known to the collecting fraternity.

 

All ancient aurei are 'rare' to a point compared to most collectibles. I wonder how many examples exist of some of the more common types. However, relatively fewer people collect large numbers of them because of the prices (melt and dealer overhead of stocking many). Wealthy collectors seem to prefer one $30,000 coin to ten at $3000 each. I think that is getting worse for less than mint state coins. I know several people who want one F-VF Roman gold but not anyone who collects gold by type unless they also are looking for really nice coins. We see sales like CNG with many silver and bronze coins that cost as much as aurei but I don't see many 'ordinary' aurei. Were all the lesser aurei melted?