After a sad day yesterday with no mail, St Nick must've been disguised as the mailman today! Several highly anticipated parcels arrived today, the first unwrapped being another batch of Greek silver fractions and bronzes from a trusted dealer I've patronized from the beginning. The package felt heavier and lumpier than it should have, and the first thing that poured into my hand was this, completely loose as you see it now: I could hardly believe it! He must have remembered me asking about sling bullets a year ago, and sent me this wonderful and unexpected gift with the batch of Greeks I had built up. I couldn't imagine a better gift, as 5 or so weeks ago I had seen the same type of bullet offered by Roma, but a week later my deep-pocketed German nemesis who consistently bids over 300 a piece for bullets had the lead so I regretfully moved on. It is a ~4th-3rd Century BC Greek Lead sling bullet, 32.01g, 32mm, embossed with a Bee (to "sting" the enemy) on one side and "ΚΑΛΑ" on the other, the meaning of which I will have to research. It is deformed from impact, but that's what they do when launched in anger so thankfully it's still an appealing artifact. Besides the batch of Greeks and a few Sigloi from my sling-bullet Santa, I got a Macedonia, Tragilos C. 450-410 BC 0.18g, 7mm hemiobol/trihemitartemorion with Grape bunch / T-Ρ-I-A within quadripartite incuse square. The coins of Tragilos appeal to me, and while my only other is the classic Barley-head hemiobol I'd like to build a run of all the accessible bronzes too. A peculiar "aberrant" saw-toothed iron spearhead also arrived, a style that is uncommon and mysterious to me, but my hunch is they are Iron Age Celtic or Thracian throwing-spears. It is 17cm long and 40.5g. It joins 2 other longer sadistic-lookin' spearheads, one with saw-teeth on the larger barbs which point up on one side and down on the other, and the other with 2 sets of barbs, both being unlike anything else I've come across. Also arrived was an instant collection of stone artifacts, unidentified by the seller (otherwise expensive as the market is strong) but obviously Australian Aboriginal pieces, evidenced by the dark thermoplastic Spinifex grass resin used to haft the tools and the crude but effective "construction" of the Silcrete blades. The 2 adzes are probably Aboriginal too but aren't as immediately identifiable and unique as the Aboriginal blade style. This is the first time I've handled such items but assume they are post-18th century. Veritable babies! Longest blade is 20cm, which ain't bad for such pieces. And since your eyes are probably bleeding from all the non-coin rubbish : Post whatever you like, though any coins from Tragilos would be very interesting to see!
ΚΑΛΑ is Greek and means ‘beautiful’ or ‘good’ in the plural neutral form (‘the beautiful things’) or as an adverb (or a dialect form). In any case, someone loved this stone. I would cherish it too, probably such an inscription is rare.
Tragilos AR hemiobol 8mm 0.33g I was told by someone I had previously considered knowledgable that the weights of the very small denominations was all over the place and very dependent on being assigned to the larger coins of the same issue if you were going to assign them to denominations. The question is whether my coin is twice as heavy as yours because it was a different value or because the mint made only 'hemiobols' in this general size any people classifying some as 'trihemitartemorion' or 'tetartemorion' are trying too hard. Certainly the answer here might be different for each city/timeperiod/authority so we need to see the supporting arguments before accepting the word of experts. Are grapes consistently half the weight of grain ear coins? I have not studied this. I wish I felt more comfortable labeling the coins. I hate to fall back to 'AR 8mm, 0.33g fraction' but that seems safer.
Nice variety of stuff @Plumbata - that sling bullet is cool and the spearheads look like they would be very painful/destructive to remove from the victim.
Alexander had a general named Kalas, so it probably refers to him. Others have suggested an insult, so ”kalas” as “beautiful,” in the sense of “pretty boy,” etc.
The harpoon-looking spear thing looks like it could still do some damage as it stands today with proper use.
Thanks for the kind words and insights everyone, it's definitely appreciated. @Pellinore Thanks for the info, I should have known from items like the Aphrodite Kallipygos, or the tastiest crab on earth; Callinectes sapidus . For the record, the sling bullet is made out of metallic lead; the yellow and white patina is Lead Oxide and Lead Carbonate. The bullets were cast in molds (likely bronze molds for embossed bullets) and not individually inscribed. Here is the one from the Roma Numismatic E-LIVE Auction 3 Lot 1112: @Nicholas Molinari That seems to cut closer to the bone, I didn't know anything about general Kalas/Calas but having been appointed governor of Hellespontine Phrygia, and having mercenaries under command perhaps some of the troops originated in Ephesus, as @lordmarcovan suggested? There are many different bullets with Bees or Wasps though, and they certainly aren't all from Ephesian slingers. It appears that the Greeks really saturated their bullets with meaning and double entendres, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Bee represented both an Ephesian origin of the slingers as well as the "stinging" of the enemy, with "ΚΑΛΑ" referencing their commander as well as an insult to the masculinity of the enemy recipients (though I'm not sure how well modern western notions meshed with Hellenistic notions of manliness). And when you say "Others have suggested...", were they referring to these bullets specifically or just "ΚΑΛΑ"? Whatever the case I'm definitely closer to the facts than I was yesterday, so thanks! @dougsmit Thanks for showing your "fraction" and your thoughts on the little silvers of Tragilos. I've been thoroughly confused by the denominational categorization, but in the time searching for decent examples at good prices I've noticed that the weight of the Grape-Bunch fractions is around 3/5-2/3 or so of the weight of the Barley-head fractions, or at least consistently lighter. My Barley example is 8mm, 0.34g and a bit on the heavier side, with the 0.18g Grape bunch being a bit lighter than my observations suggest to be usual. I don't know what they are specifically but am of the opinion they represent different denominations. (pardon the pics, a proper camera is on its way) And thanks for complimenting the spearheads @ancient coin hunter and @seth77, I have a few ancient examples that are in such a state of preservation that they could be hafted and without re-sharpening chucked with deadly effect. Coins are fantastic, but I see them as merely a component of ancient life; a means to an end, with the antiquities representing the ends obtained with the coins, with both categories together painting a broad and tangible panorama of ancient life that neither could do alone.
It was in reference to these lead pieces in particular. However, it was in a sales situation, and worked in getting me to purchase the item because I thought it was rather funny. It wasn't until I showed the piece to a friend (and professional archaeologist) that she said it probably referred to the general.