Tis' but a scratch: a snack with a small test cut/ Post those large test cuts

Nice to post to you all again!
A cool coin is a cool coin. And this snack I picked up over the weekend is a cool coin.


So my new coin is beat up as my credit card when the little lady goes shoe shopping (this is not a joke :/ )
It has that certain indescribable something that makes your wallet skinnier than Humpty.
I mean, come on, how many dolphns do you see being carried off by eagles on a daily basis?
Oh, and the beautiful BIG nose nymph...


Yo Ryro, your really funny lookin. That's aight cause I get things cookin.

Greek Coins PAPHLAGONIA - SINOPE drachm 5.4gr 19.9mm, ex Lydia Numismatics



Please post your gnarly coins with small (MASSIVE) test cuts, holes, coins of Paphlogonia counter marks and wear but still drew you in with their lure or really anything fun. I missed you all

 

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LOL, gnarly, Dude! Like the Monty Python...

Here is someone who TRIED to make change:

Lucania Paestum (Poseidoneia) 218-201 BCE AE Semuncia Poseidon-Dolphin (started cut for change) Craw 4-1


Here is someone who MADE change:

RI Augustus 27 BCE-14CE AE (Half-)As or Semis Spain Celsa Mint 29mm 5.0g Laureate Augustus - Bull RPC271 Cut in ancient times to make change

 

I'm happy you joined the party, but shocked you didn't post that group of BEAuuuutiful Athenian tets you have with their wonderous test marks.
You wanna talk change...

 

This is the only coin I have with a test cut. Most of this particular type I've seen have test cuts too. Bes must have quite a headache.

 

NOT OVER BES! He's the god of getting lucky... and kinda has that MASSIVE phallus:

 

a pretty standard test cut on an archaic owl of Athens.

 

I have no test cuts but this cool guy I know gifted me this coin cut for change.

...which I finally managed (with help) to ID and will shortly post a write up on!

 

HOLEY COW !!!


RImp Spain Lepida-Clesa Lepidus 44-36BCE C Balbus L Porcius Colonia Victrix Ivlia Lepida Victory - Bull holed RPI 262 plate 19

 

I have several Alexandrian Tets, but I specifically wanted one with a test cut:


Macedonian Kingdom: Philoxenos (325-323 BCE) AR Tetradrachm, Miletos (Price 2085; ADM I Series I)
Obv: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin
Rev: AΛEΞANΔPOY; Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; thunderbolt in left field, monogram below throne

 

EVERY time I look at this young lady, I just have to quietly say "OoooUCH"


Athens Owl AR Tet 17.4g 20.4mm x 7.5mm Late Classical 393-300 BC, Sear 2537, SNG Cop. 63 edge-crud

 

@Ryro 's coin was lucky: the massive test cut didn't destroy or disfigure any main elements of the coin's design. It remains an piece.

I have this Athenian tetradrachm with a heavy test cut, which drastically lowered its price at auction some two years ago. Since it damaged neither the owl nor Athena's face, the cut didn't and doesn't bother me enough to break the piggy bank in order to buy an 'untested' example:


Attica, Athens, AR tetradrachm, ca. 440s–430s BC. Obv: head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves and palmette. Rev: AΘE; Owl standing right, head facing; to left, olive sprig and crescent; all within incuse square. 24mm, 17.14g. Ref: Kroll 8.

 

Tarsos (Balakros) AR stater 333-323 BC


Tarsos AR stater 334-333 BC



None of these cuts qualify for this thread but they are here in the theory that quantity balances out quality.


I enjoy the striations of metal shown down inside this cut.

 

When is a test cut a damnatio memoriae?

Here is Julia Mamaea, who was officially "damned" after her assassination with son Severus Alexander. This appears to be a "limes" denarius, so perhaps it got whacked to prove it was made of poor metal?



Sort of a Batman's Joker effect - Heath Ledger version:


Julia Mamaea Æ Denarius
(Mother of Severus Alex.)
(222-235 A.D.)
Rome Mint
IVLIA MAMAEA AVG, diademed & draped bust right / FELICITAS PVBLICA, Felicitas standing, holding caduceus, arm on column.
RIC 335; RSC 17; BMC 483
(2.44 grams / 19 mm)

Possible Damnatio Memoriae - Julia Mamaea, after she was murdered with her son Severus Alexander, was blamed for bad management, greed, meddling, etc. Therefore, according to Livius.org "The Senate pronounced a damnatio memoriae over Mamaea."

 

@Curtisimo, was hoping I had something along the lines of a penny that someone had started to cut for change before thinking better of it. This one's a Scandinavian imitation of AEthelred II's famous 'Long Cross,' c. earlier 11th c. /associated with Olof Skottkonung of Sweden. You can see the beginnings of someone cutting it from a halfpenny into farthings.

 

Testcuts can be horrible. But this one gives the coin that little extra: it is exactly in the right place, the open beak of the eagle, and Lo! the coin becomes a poetic sculpture.



AR drachm Sinope. 425-410 BC. Obv. Head of sea-eagle left; below, dolphin to left; test cut in the eagle’s beak. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square with two opposing quarters filled; Θ. 14-15 mm, 5.86 gr.

 

@Pellinore, I Really Like How You Think.
This is effectively an exact parallel to how medieval folks relate to Viking-Age peck marks.
The net effect registers first in terms of the added social and economic history ...and then sneaks back around, and bites you in the -ss as an aggregate gestalt on the esthetic level.

 

What kind of weirdo only gives half a coin!?


He owes you another half a coin!
I think I have a similar type:

 

...When I was getting a lot of cut halves from UK ebay, and a collector I met there, I used to try to 'reconstruct' hypothetical whole pennies that way. Started with Henry III long crosses, then graduated to William 'the Lion' of Scots and Henry I's quadrilateral-on-cross-fleury type. The Henry I was probably the nearest I got.