It always interesting to see Ancient Coins with so many cool reverses... HOWEVER, there are MANY that have BLANK reverses, and that distinguishes the coin as "different" or "unusual" from so many coins we know. vive la différence! See a few from my collection below that are blank... post yours! INDIA Gandhara 6-5C BCE AR Shana or 1-8 Shatamana 15mm 1.4g Six armed Taxila symbol pellet between - Blank - Pieper 12 Rajgor Series 41 China Qin 220-180 BC AE 12 Zhu Ban Liang Blank H7.7 Etruria Populonia 3rd C BCE AR 20-Asses 8.1g Metus Blank HN 152 India Matsya AR Vimsatika 650-600 BCE stamped bankers India Gandahara AR Bent Bar 11.3g 650-600 BCE RARE two dots - also have on BOTH sides VERY RARE Please toss out and post your BLANK REVERSES!
Don't have a clue what this coin is, it might be a replica or fantasy coin for all I know, it looks like Greek silver.
Man, I need to get one of those Gandharan bars that arent so curved! I hate that my Indian collection starts out with a blank because this one won't fit Some more blank reverses... Gandhara 1/8 Shatamana Avanti 1/4 karshapana, c. 350 BC Saurashtra 1/4 karshapana, 4th century BC Sindh kingdom, "Ha Si" large module damma, c. 500-600? Yadavas, anonymous AR damma, c. 800? Better than one blank side, is two? Asia minor, EL 1/48 stater, proto-coin weight or unstruck planchet
Nice coins everyone! Here is my only coin with a blank reverse: 4th-3rd century BC Etruria Uncertain Mint AR 10 units (c 4 gm) Obv: Laurel head of Apollo(?) left, hare behind Rev: plain
postem! I have an underprivileged Octavian! RI Augustus Quinarius - possibly Asia Recepta - blank wore-off-rev
@Terence Cheesman , now THAT is a cool coin! Mine looks like coin with the reverse rubbed off, yours looks unstruck.
Yes I have always wondered if it was some kind of trial piece. It currently resides in the "what do I do with this box".
Two blanks got stuck to each other before they were struck. One received the obverse, the other the reverse. I'm still looking to reunite them... ROMAN REPUBLIC AR Denarius, uniface error strike. 3.96g, 19mm. Rome mint, 109-108 BC. L. Flaminius Chilo, moneyer. cf. Crawford 302/1. O: Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, ROMA and below chin, X. R: Blank.
To my eye, the zumbly and Terence Cheesman blanks were both caused by the same 'two blanks stuck' situation. Both show the same raised area where the two did not align exactly. Mine is a Valerian. Now the big question is why we don't have a blank obverse example since one would have been created with each blank reverse. Perhaps that second one stuck in the reverse die and was restruck??? Perhaps there was a rule that a coin had to have an obverse to be legal tender but one with no reverse was no problem??? Would we not love to have a rule book issued to cover the operations of a mint that spelled out all such matters?
I've wondered the same thing myself. I regret not trying for these two that were in yesterday's CNG: The last three coins were part of a group lot that hammered for $45. I would have paid at least that much for them, but I don't know how high the other guy would have gone. Clio won both of those lots. On the win side, I did manage to pick up one lot at yesterday's auction that will make us “Bavarian Collection” buddies. I hope the tags are intact!
If Doug Smith is correct about my coin and I think he is, then a long standing mystery has been solved. Now i can move it along.
To me, the coolest thing was Victor Failmezger reassembling business cards etc. from which the tags had been cut. Many tags were mostly blank but some had identifiable printing. My personal favorite was the one I got that had part of a German stamp from the letter envelope that was cut to make the 2x2. I wish I had bought a lot from that sale but in those days I was buying mostly denarii and he had rather few of interest. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/feac16.html
It'll be at least two weeks before I receive it, but my anticipation is running high! And I suppose even if the tags and envelope are no longer there, it won't be a total loss... there's still the coin!