Introduction: New Member

Greetings,

I am (username)Herodotus. I have an ancients problem/addiction. It started only a couple of short months ago.

What began as a desire in acquiring a few Roman Imperial coins has evolved into an obsession.

I've had an interest in antiquity for quite some time. The recent thought of owning some coins of a few Roman emperors seemed kind of neat. Little did I know that I would go on an acquisition spree that has now also included Republican, Imperatorial, as well as much Greek and some Byzantine coinage in turn.

I think my interest in collecting ancients began as a child growing up in the 1980s collecting/trading baseball cards. The new common shiny cards of contemporary players of the time held much less interest for me than the older more vintage cards. I soon found myself trading my multiples of Jose Canseco, Dwight Gooden and Don Mattingly for Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron cards. I even held the lofty goal to acquire every Topps year of Hank Aaron, but soon came to the realization that his rookie card (and earlier career cards) were going to be way out of my financial reach as a young pre-teenager. I did however go so far as to meet Hank Aaron at a trading show, where he personally signed one of my cards.

Fast forward to recent times...

Having found this board through image links to threads during my quest(s) to attribute coins, I've become a passive observer over the last several weeks. AKA 'Short-time lurker, 1st-time poster'. I've enjoyed many threads(archived and new), and have learned a bunch from the knowledgeable posters here.

I've been a little hesitant to join, due to this forum being akin to going to a bar/pub, instead of the support group I desperately need to quell my addiction.

I'm finding myself looking for more and more unidentified(or partially identified) lots, as attribution has been so stimulating and rewarding for me. I recently received a large lot of bronze Seleukid coins, and have been like a kid in a toy store figuring out each one -- at times with limited identifiable features. "Yep that's a turreted Tyche, or an ivy adorned Dionysus, a laureate bust of Apollo, Alexander wearing a lionskin, or Athena donning a Corinthian helmet." "Is that a spiked Macedonian helmet on the reverse? Some sort of animal, A bull? A ram? Is that winged figure holding Nike? A cornucopia? Seated on an omphalos?"

I must admit, researching more about the histories represented behind each coin etc. has been fulfilling.

As one may say, I've been bit by the bug.

Well, to keep this to a limited read, as well as it would be uncouth to not post a picture of a coin on a coin forum. Here's one that I'm really enjoying at this very moment.

Please pardon my photo skills. Improving them is likely the next step down the rabbit hole of my newfound addiction... As will be obtaining a scale and calipers.

Feel free to post any Seleukid coins, elephant coins, or coins that one is really enjoying at this particular moment in time.



SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos VI Dionysos. 145-142 BC. Antioch mint. Diademed and radiate head right / BASILEWS ANTIOCOU EPIFANOUS [D]IONUSOU, elephant standing left, holding torch in trunk; STA above control mark (star) in left field. SNG Spaer 1774; Houghton 249. About VF, dark green-brown earthen deposit.

 

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That's a great looking bronze & welcome to the board.

 

Welcome to the madness!

Nice coin. There are so many interesting areas to collect in ancients you may end up doing what many of us do and just get some from everywhere.

John

 

That quote really did make me lol!
Man does your story sound like mine a couple of years ago
You are in the right place my friend.

I’m always down for Seleukid elephants (any elephants on coins really)

and just for being new, Here’s a coin I’ve yet to show that I’ve been really stoked about ever since it arrived...

 

Welcome, @Herodotus!! Great introduction

How about some elephant headdresses?


EGYPT. Ptolemy I Soter
AR tetradrachm, 27 mm, 17.0 gm (Attic standard)
Alexandreia mint, struck 313/12 BCE
Obv: Head of the deified Alexander III to right, wearing mitra of Dionysos and elephant skin headdress, with aegis around his neck, and with horn of Ammon on his forehead
Rev: ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ; Athena Alkidemos advancing right, hurling spear with her right hand and with shield over her extended left arm; to right, eagle with closed wings standing on thunderbolt to right with ΔΙ below
Ref: Svoronos 33; Zervos series D, issue XIII; SNG Copenhagen 14; BMC 7


EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian
year 15, 130/131 AD
Æ Drachm, 35 mm, 24.8 gm
Obv: AVT KAI TPAI ADPIA CEB; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind
Rev: Hadrian standing left, togate, holding sceptre, greeted by Alexandria, clad in elephant's skin headdress, chiton, and peplos, holding two grain ears in her left hand, and kissing Hadrian's extended right hand; L-IE (date) below.


HADRIAN. CE 117-138
AR Denarius. 18 mm, 3.53 gm. struck CE 134-138, Rome
Obv: HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, laureate head right
Rev: AFRICA, Africa with elephant skin headdress, reclining on rock, holding scorpion and cornucopia, basket of fruit before her
Ref: RIC II 299

Here's an elephant quadriga


EGYPT. Alexandria. Trajan
AE drachm, 32.3 mm, 19.8 gm
Regnal year 14 (110/11 CE)
Obv: AYT TPAIANC EBΓEPM∆AKIK; laureate bust right, with aegis on left shoulder
Rev: Trajan, laureate, wearing a toga and holding an eagle-tipped sceptre and branch, standing in an elephant quadriga right; LIΔ above.
Ref: Emmett 462.14; Dattari-Savio Pl. 31, 766 (this coin); RPC 4510.3 (this coin)
ex Dattari collection (Giovanni Dattari, 1858-1923)

 

Great coin. Welcome to CoinTalk.

 

Hello Otos,
Welcome to the 'nightmare'....Good people here abouts.
Enjoy,
J.T.

 

Nice!

L. Caecilius Metellus Diadematus 128 B.C.

O: Roma wearing winged helmet, mark of value behind R: Pax in galloping Biga holding olive branch, sceptre and reins, elephant's head w/ bell attached below, Roma in exergue.

Did I get it right?

 

Welcome! We appreciate the introduction.

This forum has a great search engine. Here is a thread on elephants on coins:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/elephants-on-a-sestertius.308197/
I often look to see what has already been posted and then I begin a new thread anyway.


Roman Republican. Denarius. 20-17 mm. 3.66 grams.
47-46 BC
SCIPIO Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius
Struck at Utica, near Carthage
Q METEL PIVS
SCIPIO above elephant
IMP below
Crawford 459/1. Sear I 1379

 

ahaha...welcome Herodotus...you are amongst your kind here...kool coin btw...... Antiochus l Soter bronze..

 

Nailed it! All 3 RRs are coins from the Metellus clan. You always hear, better in hand. But man that elephants head reverse looks sooooo cool

 

Welcome @Herodotus !! A support group to stop?! Won’t happen my friend- there is no turning back now.

 

I have this pained feeling that Greek AE is a gateway drug to Greek AR...

 

Welcome to the forum, @Herodotus! I love how quickly you've been digging into the coins and history!!

Here's my only (I think) Seleukid coin in my collection...


Seleukid Kings of Syria
Alexander I Balas, 152-145 BC
AR Drachm, Struck 151-149 BC, Antioch
Obverse: Diademed head right.
Reverse: BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΑΛΕΞANΔPOY / ΘEOΠATOPOΣ / EYEPΓETOY to right and left, Apollo seated left on omphalos, testing arrow and resting hand on bow set on ground, Ѳ below.
References: SNG Spaer -; Newell, SMA 186
Size: 18mm, 3.88g
Ex: Pegasi Numismatics, purchased early 2000’s at NYINC

 

Welcome to CT. I feel your pain. My addiction has been running rampant for years with no signs of slowing. I don't do much with ancients but there are some that I enjoy. Most of my collection would fall under the broad umbrella of "modern" numismatics.

 

Welcome @Herodotus ! As you can guess from my username and avatar pic, my primary interest is coins of the Parthians, but I am also actively collecting other ancient Persian, Roman, Central Asian, Islamic, Indian, etc. I've also found room for some Greek, a couple of Byzantine, even a few moderns have somehow found a home in my collection. But you asked for elephants? Well, of course there's the classic Seleukid type of Antiochus VI::

And this coin of the Satavahanas of India:


And if you'll allow moderns, how about this Belgian Congo coin of... well,I think you can figure out the date of this one:

 

The majority of my batch of Seleukid coinage was minted in Antioch. However, a few other coins also came in the mix.

One of which was this one, also portraying Caps of the Dioskouri. It was minted in Dioskourias, Kolchis. I would like to think that the lot that I received may have come from the same found hoard. If so, it would be interesting to know how this one made it from the Eastern shores of the Black Sea down to around the area of Antioch on the Orontes.




Colchis, Dioscourias 2nd Century BC, BMC 1021
Caps of the Dioscuri surmounted by stars
Legend either side of thyrsos
ΔΙ-ΟΣ / ΚΟΥ-ΡΙΑ / Δ-ΟΥ

The Milesian Greek colony of Dioscurias was named for the Dioscuri, the twins of myth, Castor and Pollux. Commerce between Greece and the indigenous tribes was bustling in the city, wares were imported from many parts of Greece, and local salt and Caucasian timber, linen, and hemp were exported. It was also a center of slave trade. The multitude of languages spoken in its bazaars was remarkable. Under Augustus, the city assumed the name of Sebastopolis, but its prosperity was in the past. The Black Sea had continuously encroached upon the city and in the 1st century Pliny the Elder described it as nearly deserted. The towers and walls of Sebastopolis are still underwater today. In 542, the Romans evacuated the remaining residents and demolished its citadel to prevent it from being captured by the Sassanids. In 565, Justinian I restored the fort and Sebastopolis remained a Byzantine stronghold until it was sacked by the Arab conqueror Marwan II in 736.

 

Welcome Herodotus to the enlightened side of numismatics!
John

 

Welcome to CT, @Herodotus, and thanks for introducing yourself!

I also had been lurking for a long time before I started posting in this forum, and I have to say that collecting ancients became a lot more fun and educative for me because of this forum. (Yet, you should know that this is exactly the wrong place to stop collecting – consider this a warning... )

That's a nice Seleucid elephant you have there. Here are some of my numismatic tachyderms to keep it company:


Roman Republic, imperatorial issue of Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius, AR denarius, 81 BC, Northern Italian mint. Obv: diademed head of Pietas r.; to right, stork standing r. Rev: Q C M P I; elephant standing l., wearing bell around neck. 17mm, 3.55g. Ref: RRC 374/1. Ex JB collection; ex AMCC 2, lot 105 (their picture).


Roman Republic, Imperatorial Coinage, Julius Caesar, AR denarius, 49–48 BC, military mint moving with Caesar. Obv: [CA]ESAR; elephant walking r., trampling snake. Rev: priestly implements: culullus, aspergillum, axe, apex. 20mm, 3.70g. Ref: RRC 443/1. Ex Artemide, eLive Auktion 8, lot 208.


Satavahana Empire, later Satakarni ruler, BI karshapana, ca. 107–248 AD, minted in northern Deccan region. Obv: Elephant with raised trunk r., remains of legend. Revers: Dynastic symbol. 17mm, 2.58g. Ref: see Mitchiner 4963–4967 (different legends).

 

Welcome @Herodotus ! Really nice coin... I have been looking for one of those bottle caps for awhile. Nice details!