Masterpieces of Ancient coinage.

The title of this thread is very subjective but it was influenced by Wayne Sayles 5 volume series of books on Ancient Coinage. In the back of each book Wayne listed coins he believed to be of superior artistic merits and earned special recognition.

This coin is one of the few that I own that I think deserves that recognition. Wayne Sayles did include it in his book and actually used this type on the cover.

I more than likely paid too much for the type but for me it was worth every penny. It grades as EF and I believe is nicer than the one he used on the book cover.



Islamic Dynasties. Zengids of Mosul: Nasir al-Din Mahmud AE dirhem – Female personification of the Moon/Kufic legends – EF




Islamic Dynasties, Zengids of Mosul: Nasir al-Din Mahmud AE dirhem, 616-631 AH (1219 - 1234 AD), 8.05gm, struck 627 AH (1229-1230 AD) in Mosul, 26.0mm. Obv: Crowned female figure personifying the moon seated facing with legs crossed, holding crescent; date in fields. Rev: Shahada and name and titles of Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir in five lines across fields; name and titles of Nasir al-Din Mahmud in outer margin. Mitchiner WOI 1129; SS 67.


If you have a coin that you consider to be a masterpiece please post it, Wayne Sayles did add some fantastic coins but the term Masterpiece is subjective. Show off your best.

 

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I'll just sit back and wait for @AncientJoe and his museum of masterpieces!

 

nice watermelon eater

 

Well that is certainly a beautiful example of an extraordinary coin.
Amazing!!
I have nothing to add.. some of my coins have some certain features that I think are above average on the artistic front - but their overall flaws allowed me to afford them - so I have no coin in the category described.
I am certainly looking forward to the upcoming posts. I will watch this thread and get the popcorn ready!!!

 

I wouldn't dream of calling any of my actual examples of ancient coins masterpieces, or anything close to it. However, I do have a copy of Harlan J. Berk's "coffee-table' book 100 Greatest Ancient Coins (2nd ed. 2019) (a book I recommend), and I actually own three of the 100 types he lists: a poor example of an Athenian owl tetradrachm (Berk's #10), a stater from Corinth (#23), and one of the illustrated types of Berk's # 88: the Otacilia Severa hippo reverse from the Philip I Millennial Games Coinage (an interesting choice for a top 100 list, but I approve!). Not necessarily my three favorite ancient coins -- I had enough trouble narrowing things down to a top 10 list last year! -- but here they are:

The owl (the reverse is especially poor, although I actually like the test cut and banker's mark -- overall, I could have done worse for the $300 I paid John Jencek in 2007!):



The Corinth stater:



The Otacilia Severa hippo (I've always had a great fondness for this type, but who knew that Harlan Berk shares it?):

 

Wowzers. That dirhem is absolutely incredible! Definitely a masterpiece!

The two coins that first came to mind are these. For Greek, a tetradrachm from Rhodes engraved by the master engraver Danaos:


And a Julian AE1 I have always loved and which most here have seen many times already:

 

WOW!

 

Two Wows

 

This is a really nice coin. I bet it is not easy to find in this condition. Congratulations!

I have a small collection and I collect with the artistic merit of the coin as the most important attribute, so I would think that all my coins fall within the 'attractive' category... But masterpiece? It is such a strong word, isn't it? I am not sure if any of my coins qualify...

Perhaps this one can be my contribution to this thread. I have posted it before in numerous occasions, but I think the style of the owl on the reverse is quite artistic and imaginative.

 

My coins do not tend to have enough artistic quality to come close to the term Masterpiece. The following coin is probably the closest I have ever come.

Ptolemaic Kingdom, Ptolemy VI Philometor

Obv:– Diademed head of Ptolemy I right wearing aegis
Rev:- PTOLEMAIOY BASILEOS, eagle standing left, head left, on thunderbolt, wings closed
Minted in Alexandria, B.C. 180-145
Reference:– Svoronos 1489, SNG Cop 262

14.031g, 27.3m, 0o

 

Thanks for the shout-out! Here are a few of mine which might fit the title, although the notion of a masterpiece is definitely subjective.

Front and 3/4ths-facing portraiture is exceptionally difficult to execute well as the human eye is so tuned to what faces look like, treating anything less than perfection as "uncanny valley". This coin, Ex. Kunstfreund and Ex. Pozzi, is arguably one of the most carefully executed front-facing portraits by the artist Theodotus who engraved the famous unique signed tetradrachm in the British Museum:



I had the privilege to hold the signed coin in the British Museum, taking a photo which doesn't do the coin justice:


I know I just posted it a few days ago but my new Pantikapaion stater is a stark, novel artistic depiction:



Here's another even-better coin from one of my British Museum visits, the famous 3/4ths facing Pantikapaion. The closest example sold in the Prospero collection for $3M+:




I'll also add in this Rhegium tetradrachm: the reverse is the artistically novel side, showing the lion from the top down, but the obverse is also particularly refined:



Additionally, this Syracuse tetradrachm is a favorite piece of classical art in my eyes, with an incredible rider, veins in the horse belly, fully depicted bridals, and a beautiful face on the reverse with lengthy eyelashes:




Without being to Greek-biased, here's an aureus of Hadrian with a nice but not-perfect portrait but a very interesting reverse, conveying an immense amount of information about the Nile and Egypt:

 

Great thread.
I won’t call these two «masterpieces», but I’ll call them the best that I have:





I really would like a Greek coin in this condition. Those are the real masterpieces.

 

How about a "masterpiece" of the 3rd century? We always are complaining about coins of Gordian III but here is the best of his that I have in my collection.

Gordian III, A.D. 238-244

AR Antoninianus, 24mm, 4.9 grams

Rome mint, A.D. 241-243

Obverse: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG; Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right

Reverse: PM TRP III COS II PP; Apollo seated left, holding laurel branch and leaning on lyre

Reference: RIC IV 114

 

Nice coin! I wouldn't complain about Gordian III. It's a good series for the beginning collector and was, in fact, one of my first ancient acquisitions. Plentiful examples with most very reasonably priced.

 

Probably one of the more influential coins ever minted.
Syracuse Ar Dekadrachm Euainetos type 405-400 BC Obv Charioteer driving fast quadriga left in exergue military panoply Rv Head of Arethusa left wearing wreath of grain ears HGC 299 42.65 grms 34 mm Photo by W. Hansen After this coin and others from the "signed period" (420-395 BC) at Syracuse there appears to have been a revolution in how the gods were depicted on coins Prior to this you had the more "archaic" style of image after a far more "natural" imagery. I sometimes wonder that the fact that so many Greeks from so many different regions were fighting in and around Syracuse during the great siege (415 to 413 BC.)

 

No true masterpieces in my collection, but some of my favorites

Kyme, Aiolis, trihemiobol or diobol (unique in this denomination)


Caria or Miletos, tetartemorion, rice grain for scale - one of the best-engraved coins I have seen at 5mm scale


Thessaly, Larissa - Beautifully done 3/4 facing bust with expressive eyes


Alexander the Great, Tarsos mint


Seleucus I, my best ultra-high relief portrait



Ptolemy I - will need to inspect more closely, this may be a Delta Master-signed example


My personal favorite Roman portrait, with particular care given to Caracalla's sneer

 

@AntiqueJoe Those coins are fabulous!

 

Great coins everyone! I wouldn’t call anything in my collection a “masterpiece,” indeed I personally don’t think too many “masterpieces” in Roman gold exist. From a purely artistic perspective, I think Greek silver coinage takes the cake. But ancient coins are art, and art is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Great coins each and everyone Here are some of my favs....from 1200 and up....

 

To rapturous applause, whistles and gasps...Athens Newstyles....


Athens New Style Tetradrachm c164/3 BC
Obs: Athena Parthenos in tri-form helmet
right,wearing Aegis, Biga on neckguard
No border of dots
33.5 mm 16.15gm Thompson issue 1
Thompson catalogue:Obs 3 : Rev NEW
Rev : ΑΘΕ ethnic
Owl standing on overturned panathenaic amphora
2 magistrates monograms in both fields
All surrounded by olive wreath with single tie

Athens New Style Tetradrachm c160/59 BC
Obv: Athena right in tri-form helmet
Thompson issue 5 16.97 Gm 32 mm
Thompson Catalogue: Obs:New : Rev:New
Rev:ΑΘΕ ethnic
Owl standing on amphora
2 Magistrates monograms beside each a single palm.
Symbol: 2 Palms
All surrounded by an olive wreath

Athens New Style tetradrachm c154/3 BC
Obs : Athena Parthenos right in tri-form helmet
34.5mm 16.72g Thompson issue 11
Thompson catalogue : Obs 60 : Rev (not in plates)/ NEW?
Rev : ΑΘΕ ethnic
Owl standing on overturned panathenaic amphora
2 complex magistrates monograms in both fields
RF symbol : Caps of Dioscuri
All within a surrounding olive wreath