Kings of the Bosphorus EL Stater 20mm. 7.68g. Obverse: Rheskouporis III 211-27AD Reverse: Emperor Macrinus (without beard) According to MacDonald #557/1 Its dated on the Bosphoran Calender 217/8 in between Caracalla and Elagalabus
What/who are the "Kings of the Bosporus"? Wasn't that region Roman? Or was this a Roman state/colony?
They had an alliance with Imperial Rome/ thus they had "protection" from their enemies and offered Rome friendship in return.
@panzerman, hope you had a good summer & congrats on your latest coin. To avoid trotting out my one electrum stater of the Bosporos again, I will mix it up with this coin from the region ~500 years earlier. Pantikapaion meaning "fish route" for large runs of fish through the straits between Maeotis Lake (Sea of Azov) and Euxine Sea (Black Sea). Fish one of the natural resources of the area as represented by the sturgeon on this coin: Pantikapaion, Cimmerion Bosporos. AE22, c. 310-304/3 BC. Obv: Wreathed and bearded head of satyr right Rev: ΠAN, forepart of griffin left; below, fish left
Terrific pickup @panzerman !!!! These bosporan staters oftentimes lack eye appeal, but yours is beautifully struck and has excellent detail. This auction was very tempting for me...I also had my eye on one of the Bosporan staters and a few of the imperials, but I'm trying to hold out for something else....
Excellent acquisition @panzerman, even though it's not pure gold, which is unusual with you, man ! You will find some answers in a thread I wrote a few months back, here Q
Congrats, im hoping to get one or two today. Keeping my fingers crossed. Update: I managed to win 2 of the 4 coins I was bidding on, super happy to add more to my collection.
Congrats, that is a great coin. It is a bit smaller than my win. Central Italy and the Roman Republic Late 4th - early 3rd century BC (Vecchi says 8th to 3rd). Eight cast bronze bars or AES Formatum. I do not see marks that would make them Signatum, but I can tell better when they arrive. Per vendor: Decor can no longer be determined. These are fragments of originally rectangular bronze bars. Most have mold marks on their edge. 221g, 288g, 441g, 453g, 680g, 749g, 754g and 763g. 8 pieces! = 4,349 grams total = 13.3 Asses. 9 cm, I assume this is the longest dimension. Normally I like to get up in time to watch auctions. What am I gonna do otherwise. But, 3 AM is a bit early, so I bid just enough to win these. Note the vendor said no returns. It would be expensive to ship these over the Atlantic twice.
