I was browsing the most recent edition of Coin World magazine and came across a photo of one of my coins used to illustrate an article titled “Fanciful Roman ancestors on coins: For classic Roman coins, defining pedigree is ‘relatively’ important aspect” by David Vagi. Here's a screen image from the article showing the coin: The color looks nothing like the actual coin, it's much darker than that. It's from a CNG auction, so I'm pretty sure he's using their photo. Here's my own photo of the coin: Septimius Severus. AR denarius, Rome, 209 CE; 20mm, 3.10g, 12h. BMCRE G5–9, Hill 1041, RIC 230, RSC 531. Obv: SEVERVS – PIVS AVG; head laureate right. Rx: P M TR P XVII COS III P P; Salus seated left, feeding from patera serpent held in her lap. I'm pretty sure there have been threads about "plate coins," which to me mean coins used to illustrate catalogs and reference volumes such as RIC and BM. How many of your coins end up illustrating articles? This is the third so far. If I can dig up the other two articles I'll post them here. Please share any of your coins that have been used to illustrate magazine or journal articles or books or have been used as plate coins for numismatic catalogs or references.
no articles or plates that i know of, but i contacted wildwinds earlier this year asking about a coin and they asked about using my coin on the site since it wasn't listed. so this coin and my pic of it is now a listing on wildwinds... Constantius II, Caesar 337-347 AD, Augustus 347-355 AD. DN CONSTAN-TIVS PF AVG, pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right, holding globe. FEL TEMP RE-PARATIO, soldier spearing fallen horseman who is wearing a Phrygian helmet, slumped forwards, clutching horse's neck, close to the ground. Mintmark TS delta star RIC VIII Thessalonica 115.
Neat! Great coin, too, and especially handsome in your own pics. The Claudius II below features in an article by the former owner/collector, Finn Johannessen, that was published in the Celator in October 2002. CLAUDIUS II GOTHICUS AE/Billon Antoninianus. 3.61g, 21mm. Rome mint, circa Sep AD 268 - end AD 269. New RIC V/1 Online temp #194 (this coin cited). O: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from rear. R: ANNONA AVG, Annona standing left, holding corn-ears and cornucopiae; prow of ship at her feet. Ex Finn Johannessen Collection (purchased from Silenos Coins, 16 Dec 2001), illustrated in the article “Just my Claudius II Ant’s worth", written by the collector and published in The Celator vol. 16, no. 10 (October 2002), pl. 30, fig. 10 More recently, I came across a picture of my coin below, not in an article, but on Twitter of all places. The picture used by the poster were not mine, but, if I'm not wrong, was edited from original auction catalog image. JULIA DOMNA AR Denarius. 3.92g, 20.1mm. Rome mint, circa AD 198-207. RIC IV (Septimius) 564. O: IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right; hair waved vertically and fastened in large bun on back. R: MATER DEVM, Cybele seated on throne, holding branch extended in right hand, left elbow resting on drum, set on throne; on both sides of throne, lions seated left; the one on left only half seen. Ex A.K. Collection (Triton XX, 9 Jan 17, Part of Lot 614); ex stock Münzen und Medaillen Basel 1971 Because I was amused by the randomness of it all, I saved a screenshot of the Twitter post...
We should remember that ownership of a coin does not include ownership of any images of that coin taken in the last 2000 years so it is quite possible that there are several photos of it that belong by law to the photographer or the dealer who employed him. I have a photo (on paper, not digital) I took in 1964 of a coin I still own. The coin is darker now. Given the number of recently cleaned coins we see on the market today, I see nothing odd about a photo from a few years ago being lighter than the coin even if there was no funny business involved. There is also the matter of the intent of the photo. If I were shooting a coin to illustrate an article on the type, I might apply corrections to make a better looking illustration that I would not apply if I were using that image to sell the coin. I am not at all practiced in repairing coins and would expect those here who do photos to see through the image below instantly. Those who only half look at things before they bid might miss something. There are people out there 1000x better at this. This coin was used in Sear, Byzantine Coins and their Values, page 216 #1262. Their photo is theirs; mine is mine. I have no idea if the coin changed any between the time they shot it (before 1974) and when I did in 2017.
The tets on the Wiki pages for Vologases III and Vologases IV are my coins. It was a nice surprise to recognize them on those pages during research. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vologases_III_of_Parthia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vologases_IV
I have this wildwinds coin. Claudius, AE19 of Attalea, Pamphylia. 41.54 AD. 4.44 gr. Bare head of Claudius left / ATTAΛEωN, helmeted head of Athena right wearing crested Corinthian helmet. RPC I 3366; BMC 13; Baydur 157; Istanbul 7726. https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/claudius/RPC_3366.jpg
Doug, Since your Divus Augustus As by Nerva has three holes, I indeed see through it instantly, but otherwise am not sure what I might be missing!
spot on match @benhur767!..i always thought it'd be an honor to have a coin of mine used for any such purpose...
Thanks! What's kind of strange to me is that I noticed it instantly. I have quite a few denarii of Septimius Severus, but I recognized it like a family member.
That is random! But yours is a great representative example of this type with excellent detail and style, so it's probably less random than it seems.
Congrats and thanks for sharing @benhur767 ! I have a coin from the Three Graces book - I also have one that is double interesting - overstruck and chopped. It is in an article by Clive Stannard on Chopped Neapolitan Bronze Coins.... Mine is the lower right coin. Going the other way, I recently discovered a blog post of mine was used to describe a coin in a CNG auction! CNG E 443, lot 460, 1/05/2019, Selections from the Andrew McCabe Collection, L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi... Note the position of the anchor on the obverse, seemingly upside down, but with a ring at the pointed end. Gene McPherson (at http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/2018/01/anchors-on-ancient-coins-or-which-way.html) has made an intriguing suggestion on anchor orientation: that Roman anchors with a ring at the pointed end were intended to be used in either direction and are shown in this position on the coins to indicate that the picture is of a bi-directional anchor. Presumably, seafarers knew well which anchor direction worked best in which sea and floor conditions. Nowadays, there's only one way up for an anchor, so we may have lost an important body of knowledge. [Andrew McCabe]
A news article from the ABC in Australia used an image of one of my coins which I posted on CoinTalk (Coin and image were both mine). My wife used to work in publishing rights, so I sent them a letter asking for compensation. They took down the photo after that - but my CoinTalk post about it can be found here, and the now-changed article here. East Africa - Kilwa Sultanate al-Hasan ibn Sulayman, r. 1310-1333 Kisiwani mint, AE Fals, 20.13 mm x 2.2 grams Obv.: احسن بن / سليمان / عزذصز (al-Hasan ibn / Sulaiman / yathiku (May his victory be glorious!)). Inscription in three lines Rev.: يتق / بالواحل / النان (trusts / in the One (God) / the Bountiful). Inscription in three lines Ref.: SICA 10, #616, Freeman-Grenville 1954, pg. 223 no. xv, Walker obv: XVII, Rev.: XXIII, Album 1183 Note: Found on Kilwa Island in 1982 CoinTalk thread about this coin here.
Two of the holes line up. The third one took a journey across the coin on one side only so Kiaora is quite correct. I am not skilled at this sort of thing but 'fixing' photos is quite an art these days. They even sell software that automates things to a scary degree. There are ways that people in the know can spot such things but the average person needs to be aware that seeing is not always believable.
Thanks! You've got some amazing coins. I would be excited if I knew one of my coins was used as the cover image for a book, especially a book about the subject matter depicted on the coin. Congratulations!
Judaea, Bar Kokhba Revolt. Silver Zuz (3.25 g), 132-135 AD. Undated, attributed to year 3 (134/5 AD). 'Simon' (Paleo-Hebrew), bunch of grapes with leaf and tendril. / 'For the freedom of Jerusalem' (Paleo-Hebrew), upright palm branch. Hendin 1430; David Hendin Guide to BIBLICAL COINS, Fifth Edition, plate 40, (this coin illus.); Mildenberg 150 (O11/R103), 7 cited, this being #5. Portions of the undertype legend visible on obverse from the obverse of a Drachm, probably of Trajan and probably of Caesaria. The letters AYTOK can be discerned, these being part of the title AYTOKRATΩR - autocrat, dictator, tyrant, despot. Ex David Hendin Collection.
Cilicia, Kelenderis. Circa 2nd-1st Century BC. Æ 22 (6.62g, 12h). Obv: Draped, turreted and veiled bust of Tyche right, AΣ behind. Rev: KEΛENΔEPITΩN; Apollo standing facing, head left, holding branch and resting left elbow on column surmounted by a tripod; ΠY to upper left. Ref: SNG Levante 535 (this coin); SNG France 732. Ex-CNG.
This coin, a very rare English Northumbrian sceatta of Aethelwald Moll with Archbishop Ecgberht, was first featured in an article from the Numismatic Chronicle 1841. The ancient chip on the coin makes it easily identifiable. This was a unique coin until fairly recently, when a few others were found over the last 20 years. This coin has been published multiple times elsewhere in the last 180 years as well.
Since people have posted about coins of theirs on Wildwinds, I guess I could mention the Antoninus Pius/Zeus Ammon Year 12 Alexandrian tetradrachm I recently bought that I discovered on RPC Online as one of their examples for RPC IV.4 13625. See my post at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/show-us-your-alexandrian-tets.362763/page-5#post-4877933, and the description and photos of my coin at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/112517.
I just found another one of my coins illustrating an article for Coin Week. I guess my coins are on a "roll." Here's a link to the article, titled “Money People Hated: Damnatio Memoriae on Ancient Roman Coins” by Mike Markowitz. Caracalla and Geta; Caria, Stratonicea 205–9 CE (?). Æ 36, 16.17g, 12h. Signed by Zosimos, son of Posittos (prytanis or magistrate). cf. von Aulock 2682. Obv: AY KAI M AYP ANTΩNEINO; laureate and cuirassed bust of Caracalla right, facing bust of Geta on left side erased; Geta’s name erased in legend; countermarked with EOY. Rx: CEΠIM CEYHPOY EYCEB KAI M AYP [...] KYP CEB; Zeus Panamaros riding right, holding long transverse scepter. Rare.