School is back in full swing, and this semester (my last!) I’m taking an entire course on ancient As my research project, I am considering cataloguing an Egyptian hoard of Roman coins consisting mostly of early 4th century follis issues, reportedly 'found in Fayum Oasis, Egypt, 1956 - ex-CNG Auction.' We believe that it would have sold within the past 20 years, but beyond that have been unable to locate an exact date. Unfortunately, it doesn't specify which auction it was or a lot number. It looks like a legitimate hoard, since the coins all have a uniform patina and the mints make sense for the context. I've looked on CNG's site, CoinArchive, and Acsearch without finding it, but it could be that I'm searching for the wrong thing. Is anyone familiar with this hoard, or able to find information on its sale? I'm curious to know whether or not it has ever been published. I'll certainly post photos and more information as my research continues, but it'd be really helpful to have some more information on the provenance. I’ll also take some pictures of the many other goodies I’m getting to play with in this class when I get a chance. Thousands of coins, many of which are uncatalogued (though hopefully not for long). It's a privately owned collection which is being lent for teaching but will, eventually, make its way back onto the market, save for any unique coins we come across.
A quick site search of the cng catalogs turned up this from triton 18 https://issuu.com/cngcoins/docs/cng_triton_xviii_sessions_3_4/272?ff
Thanks @Aleph, different hoard though I’m afraid. I’ll dig through the catalogs some more, as a search hadn’t turned anything up. If nothing else, I’ll ask CNG. I was hoping someone might remember it. We don’t really have to find the provenance to catalog it, but it might even be something worth publishing if we can document it!
Just a quick update for those who might be interested... I think the provenance is mostly sorted out at this point, and I am now cataloguing them. Here's a shot of the hoard. There's no way to know for sure whether it's a full hoard or only a portion, but the composition seems to be pretty chronologically homogenous regardless. The coins without patina were apparently heavily encrusted with corrosion and had been cleaned with electrolysis then darkened. Otherwise, lots of other interesting things coming up in the class, with two unpublished variants (both third century radiates unassociated with this hoard) being found so far.
And now, after much work, we have a full catalogue, photographs, two additional coins cleaned (not with electrolysis this time!) and identified, and an organized collection (just need to replace my atrocious handwritten labels):
