Featured Follow the coin theme GAME - ancient edition - post ‘em if you got ‘em

Bare-chested -- but seen from behind.


Julia Domna, AD 193-217.
Roman AR denarius, 3.58 g, 16.8 mm, 5 h.
Eastern Mint, AD 193-196.
Obv: JULIA DOMNA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, r.
Rev: VENER VICTOR (sic), Venus, naked to waist, standing r., holding apple and palm, resting l. elbow on column.
RIC-633; Cohen-189.

Next: Misspelled inscription.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

On the obverse - note the RVRVS where one should find RVFVS.



Next: errors, mispellings, or ancient imitations

 

Back to Venus but different 'error'. These are rare spelled out and not abbreviated but this die replaced the R's with B's.


Next: an error more extreme than spelling

 

Papal States/ Bologna
AV 10 Zecchini 1787
Bologna Mint
Pope Pius VI
reverse legend complete screwed up! Next up: Early Papal States coin.

 

Imitative AR tetradrachma, 17.07 g, 9 h. (found in Rafah, Palestinian Territories, ancient Raphia). 2nd half of the 4th c. BC. (not my coin ! but funny)

The coin imitates the types of the Athenian intermediate pi-style tetradrachmas of the 4th c, and could have been minted in Egypt (before 343) or in the Philistian area. But why is there a tiny olive or laurel-leaf growing on top of Athena's ear? Obviously the person who carved the obv. die did not understand the motives on Athena's helmet were leaves...

NEXT : an ancient imitation of the Attic owl.

PS : Too bad ! Before I posted this Panzerman had just been posting his own. How can I suppress my own post on this thread?

 

While you could edit and leave the thread blank - it is also a lovely coin and perfectly reasonable to note as you have.

Here's a favorite coin - a gift from a time when I was living in Bologna. (earlier than the coin posted, but perhaps not "early")

Bologna, Innocenzo XII (Antonio Pignatelli), 1691-1700, Æ Mezzo Bolognino 1692, 6.40g, 27mm
Obv: BONONIA - DOCET, stemma di Bologna semiovale in cornice
Rev: MEZO - BOLOGNINO, leone rampante su cartiglio a volute; sotto, 1692

Next: another coin from Italian States

 

A mezzo ducato, Naples, 1554-1556, Philip II of Spain, minted when he was married to Mary I of England.

14.7 grams



Next: Ah, Sicilia! That beautiful, wonderous and historical island. How about a beautiful ancient, in any metal, from any city-state.

 

From Syracuse Sicily:



next: Pyrrhos

 

I read that the owl that appeared around this time on Tarantine coinage was a symbol of allegiance to Pyrrhos, who used the owl as an emblem. It certainly fits the time, place, and history. And my owl definitely looks a lot like the one on @Andres2 's reverse.
So here we go (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong):


Next: silver from Magna Graecia.

 

Okay, I'll toss in another Tarentum nomos


CALABRIA, Tarentum
circa 344-340 BCE per CNG's cataloger; 380-345 BCE per Cote/Ratto;
AR nomos (didrachm); 21 mm, 7.72 gm, 9h
Obv: Warrior, holding small shield in left hand, dismounting from horse galloping left; horizontal T below
Rev: Phalanthos (Taras?), holding helmet in right hand, riding dolphin left; TAPAΣ to upper right, I and waves below
Ref: Fischer-Bossert group 47, 657 (V252/R509); Vlasto 437 (same dies); HN Italy 876; Côte 152
Ex Dr. Spencer Paterson Collection of Ancient Coins, Sept 2019
Slabbed prior to its most recent sale to me and quickly de-slabbed upon arrival; NGC XF, 5/5, 4/5, Fine Style.
Prior sales: CNG's Coin shop (date unknown); Roma Auction 6 lot 327 (Sept 2013)
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-first-tarentum-dolphin-rider.347715/

Next: more Magna Graecia

 

Next up: 2 animals facing making it look like a facing shot of a single animal

 

This design is often understood as two confronted boars' heads creating the optical illusion of a single facing animal head:


Lesbos, uncertain mint, AR 1/24 stater, ca. 500–450 BC. Obv: two boar’s heads facing, above, BPO. Rev: fourpartite incuse. 8 mm, 0.59g. Ref: SNG Copenhagen 288 var; HGC 6, 1071 var (unrecorded with this ethnic).

Next: Another coin from the island of Lesbos

 

LESBOS, Mytilene
521-478 BCE
EL hekte, 10.5 mm, 2.6 gm
Obv: forepart of winged boar right
Rev: incuse head of lion left; rectangular punch behind
Ref: Bodenstedt Em. 10; HGC 6, 935; SNG von Aulock –; Boston MFA 1678; BMC –

Next: another island off Asia Minor

 

Island off Asia Minor


Troas, Tenedos (Island off Troas)
Late 5th-early 4th C BCE
AR Obol 8mm 0.60g, 3h
Janiform hd female-male - Female on L, Male on R / Zeus and Hera
Labrys within incuse square
SNG Ash 1235 HGC 6 387 Sng Cop 509 R

Next: another island coin

 

ISLAND OFF THRACE THASOS
AR Trihemiobol
OBVERSE: Satyr running left, holding kylix
REVERSE: ΘΑΣ − ΙΩΝ Amphora Struck at Thasos, 411-350BC
0,7 g, 12 mm;
SNGCop 1030

Next: Thasos

 

next: another island coin

too late, Thasos it is

 

Diobol AR
13 mm, 1,08 g
THRACIA. Thasos. .
Ca. 500-480 BC Av.: Ityphallic satyr on his knee to the right. Rev .: Quadripartite incuse square. Le Rider 4, SNG Cop 191-194 (Lete), HGC 6, 333.

Next - another coin depicting a situation a lady or gentleman should NOT be depicted in

 

Possibly the most disgraceful thing a major empire out and out celebrated from their past, the abduction, rape and forced marriages of the Sabine woman:

Next up: bizarre imagery