So this was technically purchased in 2020...but it arrived today. A new beast for the Gallienus zoo! After the shenanigans with the vcoins store, I am glad that this guy arrived safe and sound. Don't worry, the green stuff is crusted so I don't think it will spread. Gallienus Rome AE antoninianus Obverse: GALLIENVS AVG, Radiate head right Reverse: NEPTVNO CONS AVG, Hippocamp leaping right Mintmark N
Love the zoo coins! They’re so much fun as they’re a theme both easy to start but a never ending challenge to find one in just a little better condition. RIC 245
Always hard to find a really nice looking Gallienus! I want to add some more creatures to the menagerie this year for sure.
Nice first arrival of 2021. Gotta love the Zoo series. I like that the hippocamp is especially clear on your coin. I'll show my hippocamp and also its scarcer cousin the criocamp. I understand Neptune's relation to the hippocamp, but I do wonder why the criocamp was associated with Mercury. GALLIENUS AE Antoninianus. 2.75g, 21.8mm. Rome mint, AD 267-268. RIC V 245; Göbl 743b; Wolkow, CMR Gallien, 23a9. O: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right. R: NEPTVNO CONS AVG, hippocamp right; N (officina) in exergue. GALLIENUS AE Antoninianus. 3.35g, 22.1mm. Rome mint, 8th officina, 10th issue, AD 267-268. 'Zoo' series. MIR 36, 741b; RIC V (sole reign) 242; Wolkow 21a8 (R); Cunetio 1389. O: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right. R: MERCVRIO CONS AVG, Criocamp to right; H in exergue. Ex N. M. McQ. Holmes Collection; ex Rauch Sommerauktion 2010 (13 September 2010), lot 1208
I have no criocamp but this is a hippocampus (the better of my two hippocampi). Now a question to which I do not have a certain answer. What is in exergue that looks III? Compare it to the N's on the coin. I believe it is a number III (for officina 3) but the typestyle really makes it seem strange. Look at all the ones above.
This is a series that I'm also trying to complete, but so far I have only acquired the panther: Gallienus (253-268), Antoninianus, Rome mint. Obverse: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right; Reverse: LIBERO P CONS AVG, panther walking left. B in exergue; RIC 230
Re the collective for hippocampus: It would likely depend on how we view the various parts of iconography and mythology, plus the linguistics. The term itself means “horse” + “sea-monster”. [A nerdy and much simplified etymological footnote: kampos originates in PIE *qamp- ‘bend’ which becomes e.g. L campus ‘open field’ but also Gk kampe ‘caterpillar’, from which our form comes. So jokes about sea-monsters at our universities might be appropriate but obscure as could be!] Choosing the horse bit suggests “herd”, though if we favor only the male gender, I like “harrass” (a group of stallions). (Both of those have an attractive alliteration, too.) I don’t recall ever seeing a Greek collective for sea monsters, and given the organizational structure of classical mythology, I would be a little surprised to find one. But the morphology of the critters themselves is mostly fish-like, so “shoal” would work. Finally, the focus could be on the ‘monster’ aspect. The recent resurgence of horror has produced many neologisms (including the lovely “lurch of zombies”), and Rowling or Guillermo del Toro may have ones in their minds, but nothing comes to the surface. Clearly we need to get to work.
Why don't we combine the fish and horses together to make "harass shoal" (say that 5 times fast...just not in good company) Ok...I'll stop. I do like alliteration but I like the Hippo Camp idea as well