My Ancient Coin Collection : Version 1 : Group Photos : Part 1 : Greek

Here are group photos, of the obverse and reverse, of my ancient Greek coins.
Let's see your ancient Greek coins.
Coin 1 : Ionia EL 1/48 Stater. 600 BC To 550 BC. Uncertain Mint. Diameter = 4 mm. Weight = 0.34 grams. Obverse Lion's Paw. Reverse Incuse Punch.
Coin 2 : Aegina AR Stater. 510 BC To 490 BC. Sear 1851. Diameter = 19 mm. Weight = 12.3 grams. Obverse Turtle. Reverse Incuse Punch. Countermarks.
Coin 3 : Mysia Parion AR 3/4 Drachm. Circa 480 BC. Sear 3917. Diameter = 12.14 mm. Weight = 3.07 grams. Obverse Gorgon. Reverse Incuse Punch.
Coin 4 : Sicily Kamarina AE Onkia. 413 BC to 405 BC. Sear 1064. Calciatti III.54.18. Diameter = 13 mm. Weight = 1.16 grams. Obverse Gorgon. Reverse Owl Grasping Lizard.
Coin 5 : Mysia Adramytteion AE. 400 BC To 300 BC. SNG BNF 3. Diameter = 12 mm. Weight = 1.59 grams. Obverse Zeus Facing 3/4 Right. Reverse Eagle And Grain Ear.
Coin 6 : Syracuse Agathokles AE Litra. 317 BC To 289 BC. Sear 1200. Diameter = 21 mm. Weight = 7.83 grams. Obverse Artemis With Quiver At Shoulder. Reverse Winged Thunderbolt.
Coin 7 : Alexander III The Great Posthumous Issue AR Drachm. 323 BC to 280 BC. Uncertain Mint In Western Asia Minor. Price 2733. Diameter = 16 mm. Weight = 4.16 grams. Obverse Heracles In Lion Skin. Reverse Zeus On Throne.
Coin 8 : Alexander III The Great Posthumous Issue AR Tetradrachm. 280 BC to 200 BC. Odessus Mint. Price 1163. Diameter = 28 mm. Weight = 16.74 grams. Obverse Heracles In Lion Skin. Reverse Zeus On Throne.
Coin 9 : Mopsos Cilicia AE. 200 BC To 1 BC. Sear 5576. SNG Copenhagen 170. Diameter = 20 mm. Weight = 6.97 grams. Obverse Zeus Right. Reverse Lighted Altar On Legs.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

That is a GREAT collection!

 

sand, Nice group with 2 handsome portraits of Heracles .

 

Ha! I had temporarily forgotten, about the debate, regarding who is on the obverse. After your post, I edited my OP, and changed it, from "Alexander III The Great" to "Heracles In Lion Skin".

 

Nice collection. I would add a Athenian tet and its a nice representation overall of Greek classical coinage.

Showing a group photo of my ancients I am afraid would require aerial photography. Don't worry, I have just been doing this for 25 years.

 

Nice looking set, congrats so far.

 

You are too modest. Your coins would require satellite imagery. Try to pick a day to lay them out when there won't be a hurricane. Don't say you never have hurricanes up there. Ask Greenland.

In 2" flips, you would cover a square foot with 36 coins or 18 if you were showing both sides. I do wish I could get you to photograph your coins individually. The British museum did theirs and, last I heard, they still had more than you.

Sand: While I will never be a fan of group shots of coins, yours are as well done as I have seen. Getting the exposure right for various metals all at the same time suggests you know what you are doing. They are good images.

 

@sand........That's a really nice group!.....I have exactly the same number of Greek coins as you although no silver!.......Really like the Aegina with nice surfaces...
Here's my 9 Greeks in bronze...

 

Thanks @medoraman.
I completely agree, regarding the Athena Owl tetradrachm. A nice classical style Athena Owl tetradrachm, has been a "whale" coin for me, for almost as long as I've been collecting ancients, which is 3 years. But with my budget constraints, and with my high standards for that particular coin type, it's been tough. Especially during the pandemic, because the prices of nice examples of those coins, seem to have skyrocketed. Oh well. In a way, it's nice to have a coin type, which is out there, floating in the air, just barely out of reach.

 

Oh heck yeah. I actually feel let down when I land a whale, but I have so many coins I look for that I have many, many whales. There should always be whales you haven't landed yet. Its the pursuit that is thrilling

 

Thanks @Spaniard.
Nice bronzes. My favorite is the Poseidon on the lower right.

 

Hey Sand! Nice collection! I agree about the Athenian tetradrachm being missing. But I absolutely believe you will get one with time. I don't have any of the coins you have, but I particularly like the fact that you have an EL 1/48 stater and an Aegenitian stater. I really want both, but they are expensive. When I got the coin that was my avatar some years ago, I had to sell a lot of my things to be able to afford it. But now I have much fewer things that I could sell.

I also wanted so say something else, something I've been wanting to say for many months, though I've never got around to it: When viewed from my mobile device, you have the most beautiful avatar design I have ever seen. It is so beautiful that it hurts! Where did you get the idea to make it? Was it from those sand bottles of layered sand?

I love the low contrast between the nighttime red sand and the dark blue sky, but the high contrast of the sky and the moon. It's really simple, minimalist, and yet so expressive and beautiful. Somehow the mood of it reminds me of the mood of one of the few pieces of contemporary art that I actually and really like, though there's certainly no desert sand there: Peter Doig's Milky Way:

 

Thanks @Nathan B.
That's a nice looking Owl tetradrachm, in your avatar.
The story of my Aegina turtle stater, is similar, in some ways, to the story of your Owl tetradrachm. I purchased the stater, 2 years ago, before the pandemic. At the time, it was the most money, that I had ever spent, for a single coin. However, fortunately, I didn't have to sell anything, in order to buy it.
I don't know, if the pandemic has driven up the prices, of Aegina turtle staters, like it has, for the Owl tetradrachms. Maybe it has.
The electrum 1/48 stater, on the other hand, I purchased last month. The price was high, for me. More than I paid, for the turtle stater. Near the upper limit of my budget. And it had sold at auction, earlier this year, for half the price, that I paid for it. But I was glad to get it.
Thank you, for your kind words, regarding my art work.
I like your interpretation, of it.
I also like the Peter Doig Milky Way painting. I had never seen that before.

 

Hi Sand! Thanks for your own kind words. Yes, I really do like your avatar. Regarding Athenian Owls, maybe they've gone up a bit--it's a bit hard to say. Mine is an AU, which was important to me, but you can get nice NGC-graded EF's for under $1000 USD. It's a matter of being patient, looking at the lots, and to some extent choosing which side of the coin is more important to you. If you want both sides to look nice, you pay a premium for that, and those coins are also harder to find. But patience and perseverance can certainly pay off. Good luck!

By the way, I'm glad you liked Peter Doig's "Milky Way."