I had a Christmas gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket and stimulus money, and since I cannot spend St. Patrick's Day the way I'd like (at my favorite tavern, gorging on corned beef & cabbage, not sober) because of COVID, I decided to visit my local coin dealer. He has nice ancients, but they tend to be priced retail, which is fine, but out of my price range. But today he had two Persian sigloi, a type I did not have. At $28 and $10 I thought they were a pretty good deal. The flip on the $10 said it was 4 grams which seemed light, but when I got home, it was 5.5 grams, just like the other one. He also had some world crowns and minors I had a hankering for - the Dominican Republic peso is horrible, but better than a lot of them (those things really circulated - I think because they have very low silver content, but they look like a typical 90% Latin American crowns of the era). The Iran crown has been on my low-grade bucket list for decades - they used to be cheap but they have gone up a lot lately - $30 may not be a deal, as it is hairlined, but I like it. The 1916 Peru sol is lustrous beneath the tone. The 1750 Holland 2 stuiver is a cutie. The Mexico 5 peso was priced at $10 - its melt is $16.75 at the moment, so my hoarding instincts got a little bump as well. Anyway, here's the haul, with the the 2 Persian sigloi - I am looking forward to attributing them. At the moment all I know is that they are "dagger" types. Dutch cutie...not ancient, but I just had to share: This is the $28 siglos: The $10 siglos - more wear, but interesting banker's mark/countermark on the reverse: Maybe not as exciting as gallons of cheap, green beer, but at least I won't have a headache tomorrow. By all means, share your Stimulus Sprees, sigloi or whatever you want. And a happy St. Patrick's Day to you all.
Nice haul, I think I like the Dominican Republic Peso the best, from the pic anyways, go figure. Darius II - Artaxerxes II, (420 - 375 B.C.) Persian Empire, Lydia, Anatolia AR Siglos O: Kneeling-running figure of the Great King right, bearded, crowned, dagger in right hand, bow in left hand, waist indicated, pellets on sleeves. R: Oblong incuse. Sardes (Sart, Turkey) mint 14mm 5.2g Carradice Type IV (middle) B, pl. XIV, 43; SNG Kayhan 1033; SGCV II 4683
Thanks Mat - that's a nice-looking siglos you have there. And since you brought it up, here is the Dominican Rep. peso - it looks better in a holder, far away, but it is not completely smooth:
Maybe acetone would help it a bit, still, for the price, I think it's nice. But I am not a condition snob.