Featured Themistokles: The First Portrait Coin in History or a Very Drunk Blacksmith?

I have to post this again, cuz it is one of my favorites...


Campania, Capua
Bronze circa 216-211,
Æ 14.5mm., 2.35g.
Obv: Diademed and veiled bust of Hera r.; lotus-tipped sceptre over shoulder.
Rev: KAPV in oscan character Grain ear; in r. field, tripod-like object.
Ref: SNG France 517. SNG ANS 219. Historia Numorum Italy 500 Campania
From the collection of EE Clain Stefanelli
Ex: Naville Numismatics
Comments: When Hannibal came through Italia, he promised the Capuan Magistrates that Capua would become the capital of Italia should he destroy Rome. Obviously, the Roman Republic prevailed in the Second Punic War. Since Capua sided with Hannibal, all coins, and anything that Capua created to popularize Hannibal were destroyed, melted down, etc. Makes Capuan coins scarcer from this Era.

 

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A very enjoyable thread, Curtis!

I learned a lot about the travels of Themo that I didn't know before.

You have to hand it to him for going to Persia and talking his way into a good situation. He was clearly not shy. Great pickup on that rare coin.

John

 

That is a fascinating coin! Thanks for sharing Brian.

Thanks John! Yes, Themistokles is one of the most fascinating characters in history. I wish we had better documentation on what he got up to when he went to Persia. I bet those adventures would have been just as fascinating as his Persian War story.

 

Thank you, Curtis. I have 3 Capua coins from the Hannibal Occupation. I really like them for their unique history. I always think of the “what if” game should it would had happened.

LOL, I grew up with a gal whose last name is DeCapua. I explained to her that she was a traitor. LOL.

 

Lol!

 

Curtismo - fascinating stuff, thank you.
I don't have any coins of Themistokles sadly,
but I do have an interesting early and rare portrait of the satrap Spithridates


Ionia, Achaemenid Period. Spithridates, Satrap of Lydia and Ionia, under Darius III. Circa 335-334 BC. AR Tetrobol (14mm, 2.97g). Head of satrap left, wearing Persian headdress / Forepart of Pegasos right, ΣΠI - ΘPI behind and below. BMC 18. Traité II 2, pl. LXXXIX, 1-3. L. Mildenberg, Vestigia Leonis, p. 9, pl. III, 26. W. Wroth, NC (1900), pp. 289-90, no. 23. H.A. Cahn, Revue des etudes anciennes 91 (1989), pp. 97-105. C. Harrison in: Oikistes. Studies in Honor of A.J. Graham (Leiden, 2002), pp. 301-319. J. Bodzek, Israel Numismatic Review 3 (2008).

 

Wow, beautiful coin, @eparch . Very nice.

I really enjoy the history behind this Satrap... amazing fate in history. I have an AE version...


Persian Empire
Spithridates, Achaemenid satrap of Sparda (Lydia and Ionia)
ca 334 BC
AE10, 1.20g
Obv: Head of satrap r., wearing Persian headdress
Rev: Forepart of galloping horse r., monogram above, Greek PI below
Ref: VA 1823, Klein 367, Cop 1538
Comment: VF+ / VF , rev. bit o/c, highlighted olive green-brown patina, scarce
Ex: Rudnik Numismatics

 

Thanks for the kind word @eparch and great Spithridates coins!

I’ll post my Spithridates example Ex @Ryro !

Achaemenid Empire
Spithridates as Satrap
AE10, mint in Ionia or Lydia, struck 334 BC
Dia.: 10 mm
Wt.: 1.5 g
Obv.: Head of Spithridates right, wearing bashlyk
Rev.: Forepart of horse right; TO monogram in upper left
field, ΣΠ-I below and in right field
Ref.: SNG Copenhagen 1538; SNG von Aulock 1823; Klein 367; Babelon, Perses 380
Ex Ryro Collection

 

Since this thread was posted, I've unsuccessfully bid on two of these Themistokles fractions, including the most recent one in Leu, a Leukippos type with a very off-center obverse that nevertheless went for CHF 550 before fees.

So, while I don't have a coin issued by Themistokles to add here, thanks to a surprise find in a group lot that arrived this week, I do have something relevant to share, a Roman provincial of Athens that supposedly depicts Themistokles on its reverse. It's pretty worn, and a flan flaw obscures part of the figure, but I do still think it's a neat addition to the ol' collection.

ATHENS, Attica
AE23. 8.93g, 23.5mm. ATTICA, Athens, circa AD 140s/150s – 175. RPC IV.1 temp 3465; SNG Cop 345. O: Head of Athena right. R: ΑΘΗ[ΝΑΙΩΝ], Themistokles standing on galley right, wearing military dress, holding trophy and wreath; on prow, owl.

Unlike the provincial of Magnesia ad Maeandrum shown in the OP that explicitly names Themistokles, this one doesn't, but the provincial coins of Athens do seem to have featured a few heroically posed figures that in all likelihood celebrated its famous sons of centuries past. The hero standing on a galley with a trophy and wreath clearly alludes to a great naval victory, the most legendary of which was Themistokles' at the Battle of Salamis.

 

So cool!! Rare too! You so often find neat things in group lots, @zumbly, is it magic?

 

Yes, yes it is. How did you guess?



Great, Sev, now you made me break the thread.

 

That is a wonderful coin that I was not even aware of! You manage to come across some of the most interesting coins Z.

Wow to that CHF 550+ hammer! Makes me feel fortunate I got mine when I did.

 

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if this thread of yours contributed to that hammer!

 

I would be flattered if that were the case. I do wonder how much influence CT has on the wider ancient coin hobby. Obviously we are a pretty small group of regular posters and we influence each other tremendously but I wonder how many collectors read and never comment but are still influenced by the board.

The rise in popularity of Frank’s auctions I would guess is, at least in part, because of CT.

Either way I have a few coin write ups I’m working on of coins that made my want list because of fellow CTers.

 

We'll never know exactly how much, but for selfish reasons I have to wish the positive influence we've had on the hobby applied to everything but the hammer prices!

 

I had always wondered what the guy who invented Bacon Bits looked like.