A coin type that was in my bucket list for a long time, but for some reason these coins are really expensive compared to other hemidrachms. However I recently got this nice example from @zumbly, and to boot it, the coin is an ex BCD with a handwritten tag stating stating, “T/ne ex Thess., Jan. 87, £50”, which makes it the oldest provenance in my collection. I really like the detail of Thassalos' face even on this tiny worn coin. Thessaly, Trikka 2.76g, 15.9mm 440-400 BC BCD Thessaly II 781.1 (same dies); HGC 4, 311 Obv: Thessalos, petasos and cloak tied at neck, holding band around head of forepart of bull right. Rev: [T]-P-IK, forepart of bridled horse right; all within incuse square. Old school polaroid cut-outs of the coin, I really appreciates BCD's laborious effort to take photos of his coins and then making cut-outs of the polaroids! (although I wonder why). And here is the modern day sport of Jallikattu played in the state of Tamil Nadu. I like how this photo represents the coin, where the youth who is holding onto the hump and horn is getting dragged along with the raging bull, only the Petasos cap is missing!
Thessaly, Larissa, 400-360 BC, AR Drachm, Youth wrestling bull left/Rev. horse prancing right, 3.77g BMC 39
That's an attractive hemidrachm. Maybe it once resided in the same box as mine (also ex-BCD)? Thessaly, Trikka, hemidrachm, 2nd half of 5th c. BC. Obv: Youthful hero, Thessalos, holding a band with both hands below the horns of the forepart of a bull right. Rev: T PI KAI N, forepart of horse prancing right. 16 mm, 2.86 g. Ref: BCD Thessaly 775.7 (same dies); see SNG Copenhagen 262–265; see BMC 1–9; see CNG, e-auction 129, lot 94 (identical dies). Ex BCD collection.
Congratulations! It's always very much appreciated when BCD’s tag(s) have been preserved -- but quite a nice prize to get his tag AND photo! A number of his Thessalian photos were also shown in a previous thread in 2016 (in which @ab initio himself chimed in to respond that, yes, he did take those Polaroid photos and cut them out himself): https://www.cointalk.com/threads/bcd-coins-whats-included.281007/ One reason (but only one) I've been interested in and included many of his coins in my "Modern History of Ancient Coins" sub-collection (or "Modern Social Lives of Ancient Coins," I can't decide): Though he had coins with 5- and 6-figure price tags, he seemingly devoted great attention to many thousands of ordinary small bronze coins and silver fractions (at least in the mid-to-high tens of thousands of them, including the massive CNG group lots of BCD Thessaly Duplicates, maybe more). The amount of time and effort he put into the Thessaly coll. alone boggles the mind. I've got somewhere around 50-100 ex-BCD coins (some here will have many more, since CNG sold group lots containing hundreds and even 1,000+ coins of his from single cities – all with tags!). Most of mine have tags, but only two with his cutout photos. I’m always sad when any collector tags have been lost by their prior stewards, so I’ve been taking photos of all mine (I have a small in-progress database of collector tags). It’s always great to see others photo their tags (in case they’re ever lost, the info is preserved). Here are a few (tags not to scale!!): But I don’t seem to have photographed my two pairs of ex-BCD photos before putting them in the bank with the ex-BCD coins! But here are the coins, a pair of obols, Duplicates from the BCD Collection of Lokris-Phokis: This Larissa Drachm was BCD Thessaly II 218. It was illustrated in Lorber’s (2009) SNR article on the “Thessaly, 1993 Hoard (CH IX, 64)” – though I didn't get photos with the coin, I’m fairly confident the photo she used BCD’s:
To me the tags and polaroids are equally special as the coin itself, while a provenance is great, something that's tangible is even greater!
Here is my only ex BCD coin, AR hemi drachm, Thessaly, Lamia. I have the small photo tags and have not photographed them as yet. I see I also have not yet taken a proper pic of this coin.
Glad you're enjoying it, @JayAg47! I love this series and, yes, always a bonus when you can see Thessalos's face. Here's one of mine, holed, and ex BCD as well. THESSALY, Trikka AR Hemidrachm, Holed. 2.65g, 16.5mm. THESSALY, Trikka, circa 440-400 BC. BCD Thessaly II 769 var. (arrangement of ethnic); HGC 4, 311. O: Thessalos, petasos and cloak tied at neck, holding band around head of forepart of bull right. R: TPIK-K-AION (counterclockwise, retrograde), forepart of bridled horse right; all within incuse square. Ex BCD Collection; ex Spink’s 46 (9 Oct 1985), lot 99 (part of) Another one, from Larissa: THESSALY, Larissa AR Hemidrachm. 2.96g, 17.3mm. THESSALY, Larissa, circa 450-430 BC. Lorber, Thessalian, Series 4, 18c (O10/R9) = CH 9, 77, inv. D/E-2-12 (this coin); BCD Thessaly I –; cf. BCD Thessaly II 178; HGC 4, 459 var. (horse left). O: Thessalos standing left, holding band across horns of forepart of bull leaping left; TO below. R: Λ-Α-P-Ι, forepart of bridled horse right within incuse square. Ex BCD Collection; ex Thessaly hoard, circa 1996 (CH 9, 77, inv. D/E-2-12)
