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That is very cool, I was your underbidder, I just thought it was an example with character. While you continuing your research on Provenance Remember anything pre 1969 will refer to this denomination as a folles. It is one of the pitfalls I have run into. Last night I was reading some Metcalf papers from 1964 and the subject are hoards with the Manuel Folles. Tetarteron as a term for this denomination starts with Hendy in 1969.

 

12 hours

Xin Dynasty of China
Issued under usurper Wang Mang
14-23 AD
AE 5 Zhu | 1.96 grams | 21.5mm wide
Obv: Huo Quan, dash at bottom right of hole
Rev: Plain
Ref: Hartill #9.40

​

Next: Another blue coin

 

next: another blueish coin

 

My Hadrian Aegyptos as it arrived from Athena, complete with an artificial blue patina:



Now, it looks like this:



Next: a Hadrian denarius from the Travel Series, other than Aegyptos.

 

Thanks for letting me know @BenSi and for the tip about nomenclature (I enjoy when they just called it "flat coinage")! I certainly wondered who else was in the contest for that one, so it's a pleasure to hear from you. Once in a while an auction listings will say who the underbidder was at an old important sale -- always an interesting bit of the history that we rarely learn now that bidding is usually anonymous.

 

12 hrs,
I don't have a travel series, but just got this early issue!

Next, another 'Designatus'

 

Here's a Domitian as with a designatus legend error (DE for DES).

Obv.: IMP CAES DIVI VESP F DOMITIAN AVG P M - Laureate head right
Rev.: TR P COS VIII DE VIIII P P - Minerva advancing right, with spear and shield
Exergue:

Mint: Rome (82 AD)
Wt./Size/Axis: 12.04g / 27mm / 6h
References:

• cf. RIC 110

Acquisition: Mark Lehman AP Auction 10-Aug-2014
Notes: May 31, 20 - The reverse has error DE for DES




Next - another legend error

 

The die-engraver omitted the P in TR P from this one.


Domitian, AD 81-96.
Roman AR denarius, 3.44 g, 17.2 mm, 7 h.
Rome, AD 91.
Obv: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR XI (error; should read TR P XI), laureate head, right.
Rev: IMP XXI COS XV CENS P P P, Minerva advancing right, brandishing a javelin and holding a shield.
Refs: RIC 156; RIC² 724; BMCRE p. 336, note; Cohen 269; RCV --.

Next: More bungled inscriptions.

 

The die-engraver ommited ...to be legible



PHRAATES IV, Drachm
S.53.- Aria
3.92 g - 20 mm
Diademed bust left, star at left, eagle at right.
Archer seated right, Incoherent legend.

Next: another Parthian coin with an incoherent legend

 

The Greek legend on this coin is not completely coherent - here's what I see:some "King of Kings" and "Epiphanes" with lots of "blah blah": ΒΑIΙΛEΛ ΒΑIΙΛEΛ BAIIΛNOY VIXVIOΛ I•IΛLII_Q •IIII• ΠPΦANOY IIΛΛHX
Parthian Empire, Sanatrukes / Parthamaspates (c. AD 116), AR Drachm, 3.85g, Ekbatana
Obv: diademed bust left, wearing tiara with earflaps
Rev: archer seated right on throne, holding bow, monogram beneath bow

Next: more from Parthia (coherent or not)

 

Kings of Parthia. Vologases I (2nd reign, c. 58-77 CE) AR Diobol (13.5mm, 1.21 g, 12h). Langnas "Fractions" 21 (this coin) = PDC 23257 (Sellwood p. 1); Ex David Sellwood and Bob L. Collections; CNG 510 (23 Feb 2022), 365.

Photo Credit: CNG (though I've wondered if they mightn't have used Bob's photo?)


Haven't yet had a chance to photo this one, but have already shared it quite a few times!

NEXT: Another Parthian, large or small, but NOT a drachm!

 

PARTHIA
Orodes II 57-37 BCE
AR Drachm 18mm 3.3g -
Killed Crassus - gold -
Ekbatana mint
stars crsnt
Arsakes on throne bow anchor
Sellwd48.9

Next: more Parthia

 

and to satisfy the call for "NOT a drachm" - here's a tetradrachm of Vologases III:

Next: anything ancient from within 1000 miles of Ecbatana

 

Next: Roman coin with Victory over Parthia (VIC PAR)

 

MARCUS AURELIUS, Sestertius
Rome, 166
27.29 g - 31.5 mm
S 5010 - C 807 - RIC 931
M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, Laureate head right.
TR POT XX IMP IIII COS III, Victory standing facing, head right, holding palm and placing shield inscribed VIC PAR on palm tree.

Next: another Marcus Aurelius

 

With Lucius Verus
next/ Lucius Verus

 

Next: old cabinet toning

 

Here’s at least 44 years of cabinet toning with a wish for Happiness of the People. Full story on this coin of the Munoz collection is here:
https://www.sullacoins.com/post/my-investment-thesis

Next: interesting provenance

 

That's a great coin and another great blogpost on the Muñoz collection! I bought the following ex-Muñoz (in large part) specifically for the provenance (sadly mine didn't come with the 1978 ticket -- that's awesome!).

Mine is still in the NGC holder from the CNG-ANS-Bartlett sale (Keystone 4), since that was part of the provenance. In a post with a different theme I would comment more on the field symbol (plow) of which I cannot find any other examples sold or published or referenced:




1. CNG Keystone 4 (2 September 2021), Lot 9
2. NGC 5872733-041
3. Ex-American Numismatic Society (2018-2021) [Duplicate, never accessioned into museum coll.]
4. Robert W. Bartlett (USA, d. 2017) Bequest (several dozen of his coins remain in the ANS, mainly his Sestertius coll.)
5. Superior, 10 June 1981, lot 1512 (hammer $90), illustrated on p. 141
6. The Miguel Muñoz Collection, Part Three, “The Dean of Mexican Numismatics,” well-known author of books on Mexican coinage, president of the Mexican Numismatic Society / Sociedad Numismatica de Mexico.

The sale of the Robert W. Bartlett Bequest at CNG was wonderful as a catalog of the US ancient coin market in the 1970s-1980s. Many dealers, auctions, and coin shows are described in the provenance notes that one never sees mentioned elsewhere. I have many more notes saved, but here are my final paragraphs:

...the catalog of his collection provides an especially rare snapshot of this important moment in the history of the American ancient coin market.

Within the framework of the American market, Bartlett bought quite widely: in many ways (by mail bid, from FPLs, in person), at many locations and events (local dealers, many coin shows), and from a wide variety of dealers and auctioneers (small and large, long-term and flash-in-the-pan, from Arizona to Nebraska to New England), and from other collectors. To examine his collection’s catalog is to look through the register of the American numismatic market of the early 1980s, featuring many famous sales and collections, but – perhaps more importantly – packed with listings from long-shuttered firms now familiar only to bibliophiles (those that produced catalogs), fellow dealers (who frequented the same shows), and the most mature of collectors (New England Rare Coins, Auctions West (Los Angeles, CA).​

NEXT: Interesting Provenance again!