Excited to report that I purchased my second Labyrinth coin from Knossos on Crete over the weekend. Check out my first coin here...though be careful to find your way back https://www.cointalk.com/threads/th...use-of-the-double-axe-maybe-im-amazed.376155/ Though, rather than give another write up on how cool these coins are I need help figuring out who is on the front of mine. Neither ACsearch or Wildwinds have a left facing obverse in bronze listed. I assume it's Zeus... or maybe Minos, but who knows? This one is much larger at 10,02 grams it is nearly four times heavier than my first labyrinth! Crete. Knossos circa 200-100 BC. Bronze Æ 24 mm, 10,02 g fine Any help identifying my new enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a labyrinth is appreciated as well as all your labyrinth coins of course!
I had an eye on that one, but failed to offer on it. Nice to see it going to a good home. EDIT: As for who's on 1st? Logical guess would be Zeus. Kunker sold one similar a while back and theirs was labeled Zeuskopf(not to be confused with sheiskopf) ANTIKE MÜNZEN DER INSEL KRETA DIE SAMMLUNG DR. BURKHARD TRAEGER KNOSSOS Æs, um 221 v. Chr.; 8,91 g. Zeuskopf l. mit Lorbeerkranz//Quadratisches Labyrinth, darüber Kopf des Apollo Karneios r. zwischen K-N, l. NW, unten [IS], r. Q Jackson S. 289, XXII, Pl. 49, 29; Svoronos 109, Pl. VII, 4. R Grüne Patina, schön Exemplar der Auktion Elsen 63, Brüssel 2000, Nr. 360. Zeus head l. with laurel wreath // Square labyrinth, above the head of Apollo Carneios
ANS http://numismatics.org/collection/1895.33.4 http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.40369 http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.40370 http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.40366
Thanks @Herodotus ! Looks like I need to start using other search engines! Ps, Google won't translate sheiskopf for me Ooooh, that last one on your list @Ed Snible has left facing Apollo! I didn't even know that he was on these... added to the list Time to channel my inner Theseus...
For free-to-use auction history engines, I've found myself perusing SIXBID-Coin-Archive as my primary go-to; even before ACSearch -- Which requires a sub. for hammer prices, or having to do the legwork oneself by going to an auction house's site; in the hopes that they have an archive available for the auctioned coin in question.
Kopf means head, of course. Sheisse in Yiddish = Scheiße in German = a common four-letter word in English beginning with sh.
So your the one that knocked me off......, I had a long standing proxy bid just under what you paid, live was about 2 AM here in Australia so I thought I would try my luck. Congrats that type are getting scarcer so congrats on a great pick up.
So you're the one that jacked the price up You've got good taste and I too know the pain of European auction houses that have auctions that I never get to enjoy live. In my glutinous defense, once I'd gotten the little one I had to get a big boy. I forgot to share the little guy in the OP. A very different looking Zeus than my new coin: CRETE, KNOSSOS. AE (2.54 g), approx. 200-67 BC BC: head of the bearded Zeus to the right. Back: Labyrinth between ΚΝΩΣΙ / ΩΝ. Svoronos, Crete 116.2.00, Lindgren. Nice. Ex BAC Numismatics 2/9/20201
I don't have a labyrinth coin. I'll have to share a bit of linguistic trivia: all of these -inth words are thought to be remnants of the language of the Minoan civilization: labyrinth, plinth, Corinth, hyacinth.
Nice labyrinth coins. I picked up half a labyrinth in a lot of Spanish coins last summer. At least one description called it a shield.
I absolutely get a thrill out of that coin and would love to see the other half... wherever it may be. Mine is much more worn and yours detailed. Augustus Hispania, Uncertain mint.. 27 B.C.-A.D. 14 Æ as (24 mm, 7.25 g). 'Moneta castrensis'. Mint in northewestern Spain, Probably struck before 23 B.C. [IMP] AVG DIVI F, bare head left; palm branch before, winged caduceus behind / Round shield with four linear outer panels and round central boss. ACIP 3301; RPC 3. Fine, earthen-green patina. Ex: Silicua Subastas "The 'Moneta castrensis' coinage, lacking any sort of ethnic or magistrate, is impossible to place with certainty. Most examples are found in northwestern Spain, and stylistically show some affinity to the Spanish issues of Carisius. The obverse legend places the coinage after 27 B.C., and the fact that the coins lack any indication of the tribunican power suggest a terminus post quem of 23 B.C. It is most likely that the 'moneta castrensis' coinage was struck to finance Rome's efforts during the Cantabrian Wars, which brought an end to Spanish self-determination and finalized the province's subjugation." I do believe it's a shield, possibly, with a circular labyrinthine design. Like with so many coins, would love to have met the fella that did the die engraving.