This thread is about unusual objects on ancient coins. If you have one, name the object and post an identified example. I'll begin. First object: Birdbath Gordian III, 238-244. 33 mm. 14.77 grams. Roman provincial cons of Seleucia ad Calycadnum in Cilicia. Aphrodite right holding mirror, cupid (Eros) to left and birdbath to right. The obverse has a countermark-- a delta with a dot inside. SNG Levante -- but 773 is similar but with a cupid on each side and no birdbath SNG France 2 Cilicie --. 1020 and 1021 have two cupids. BMC Greek --. Von Aulock --, as 5839 again with two cupids. SNG Copenhagen VI Cilicia --, cf 215 with two cupids. Imhoof-Blumer Grieschische Münzen, plate XI.16, an example with a birdbath, in Berlin. The firm of Brian Kritt had one in list 25, Feb. 1994, lot 54. It seems this birdbath type is rarer than the similar two-cupid type. Does anyone else have an example? If you have a coin with an unusual object on it, post it to this thread. If you have another example of a previously posted object, show us your example.
Never thought I'd see a bird bath on an ancient. Very cool! How about some tongs, anvil and hammer to make an ancient coin? T. Carisius. Circa 46 BC. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.34 gm). Head of Juno right / T. CARISIVS above minting implements, all within wreath: wreathed cap of Vulcan, resembling reverse die, above moneyer’s anvil between tongs and hammer. Crawford 464/2; Sear, CRI 70; Carisia 1a. NVF, Purchased from Savoca Jan 2022 "The identification of the obverse bust as Juno is questionable since she is not wearing the usual stephane of the Queen of the Olympians and wife of Jupiter. Although accompanied by one of her ancient titles moneta, from moneo (‘warn, advise or council’), it is eminently probable that by this time Moneta was a minor personification in her own right. The same personification can be seen on the reverse of Domitian’s Moneta August aes issue of AD 84, which celebrates the reopening of the mint after the fire of AD 81."
Not that uncommon on Levantine coins but still quite bizarre looking object, Baetyl: Elagabalus (218-222). Arabia, Bostra. Æ (17mm, 3.69g, 6h). Laureate head r. R/ Baetyl of Dusares between two objects on table, all on altar with stairs; shown in perspective. Spijkerman 44; SNG ANS 1216. Rare, VF Baetylus (also Baetyl, Bethel, or Betyl, from Semitic bet el "house of god"; compare Bethel, Beit El) are sacred stones that were supposedly endowed with life, or gave access to a deity. According to ancient sources, at least some of these objects of worship were meteorites, which were dedicated to the gods or revered as symbols of the gods themselves.
Good idea for a post! It made me go through my images looking for weird objects. I found these two. A boar's jaw bone. 290-220 BCEAe 19mm 6.4g Obv. Laureate head of Apollo right Reverse: Spearhead above jawbone of Calydonian boar, grape bunch to left Ex Bargain Bin Ancients Or how about a two-headed owl? I mean, of the fantastic animals I could dream up, that wouldn't be too high on the list. Kings of Thrace. Agathokles, son of Lysimachoscirca 290s-283/2 BCE Adramyteion AE Bronze, 13 mm, 1.90 g, 11 h Laureate head of Apollo to right. Rev. AΓA-ΘO Double-bodied owl standing facing. HGC 3 -. Terin Series 7, 8 Ex Leu
I unfortunately don't own this coin, but I was just reading about it earlier today at Liv Mariah Yarrow's blog, and thought it would fit perfectly here. It's a lottery machine and lottery ball, as control marks on a specimen of the Roscius Fabatus denarius. See https://livyarrow.org/2021/06/11/more-roman-technology-via-fabatus/: Lotto machine for randomizing ball draws! CNG 64, 805: “L. Roscius Fabatus. 59 BC. AR Serrate Denarius (3.92 gm). Head of Juno Sospita right, wearing goat’s skin; lottery machine behind / Female standing right feeding serpent; lottery ball behind. Crawford 412/1 (symbols 103); Sydenham 915; Roscia 3. … The symbols on this particular issue of L. Roscius Fabatus depict components of an ancient lottery system. While Crawford misdescribed these symbols as a well and an unknown symbol, their actual identification is possible by comparison with contorniates made hundreds of years later which depict the identical equipment (see, e.g., Alföldi 203). Furthermore, it may be deduced through the comparisons with the contorniates that the lottery system they were parts of related to the determination of the starting positions in a chariot race.” Prof. Yarrow also posts this picture of a contorniate depicting a similar device:
I know of coins with a human foot for the design, and coins with the rear end of a horse, but I don't have any to show. So, I'll continue with an astragalus (an ankle bone). Wikipedia says "Dice were originally made from the talus [astagalus] of hoofed animals, leading to the nickname "bones" for dice." Here is a tiny silver fraction from Teos with a griffin right on one side and a gaming bone on the reverse: 6th-5th C. BCE according to Klein 8 mm. 0.22 grams. Teos, Ionia. Klein 475 "tetartemorion" CNG ticket says "Troas, Assos(?)" SNG Danish -- There are coins depicting a person in the acting of gaming with an astragalus, but the astragalus is tiny and only a very small part of the design. Show us something unusual!
Very wonderful archaic griffin and astragalus (knucklebone)! Here's a young woman taking her chances "letting the die (astragalus) be cast": CILICIA, Tarsos. Circa 370 BC. AR Obol. Female kneeling left, casting astragaloi / Youthful male head right. Condition: Very Fine Weight: 0,4 gr Diameter: 10 mm Purchased from NBS Aug 2021 An astragalus of mine and a large 65 gr hunk of aes premonetale shaped like a knucklebone: Now, to add to the unusual how about a strange weapon invented towards the end of the Roman wars with Macedon only referenced on this here coin: ThessalianLeague, Thessaly,Greece, c. 170 B.C. GB84862. Bronze chalkous, Warren, "Two Notes," NC 1961, pl. I, 11; BCD Thessaly II 24.2; HGC 4 236; Rogers 4 var., VF, dark green patina, cleaning scratches, earthen deposits, Demetrias(?) mint, weight 2.535g, maximum diameter 14.7mm, c. 170 B.C.; obverse Macedonian shield with star in central boss; reverse kestrosphendone (dart sling) with dart inside, ΘEΣΣA/ΛΩN divided in two lines, the first above, ending below; ex John Jencek; "The object on the reverse was long considered somewhat mysterious. Roger identified it as a lyre. Robinson suggested a diadem or more probably a sling. Warren argued it is a stylized depiction of a dart sling, or Kestrosphendone, a weapon first introduced during the Third Macedonian War between Rome and Perseus of Macedon. Warren suggests this type was struck at Demetrias, under orders from Perseus, to commemorate the success of the weapon."
Nice provincial with Aphrodite @Valentinian! Here are a couple with unusual objects. Liknon Bithynia, Nicaea. Geta, AE17. Infant Dionysos Obv: Π CEΠTI ΓETAC K, bare head r. Rev: NIKAIEΩN, Infant Dionysos in Liknon cradle r., raising hands; thyrsos behind. The Liknon was a braided grain basket used in ancient times by farmers to separate grain from chaff and also served as a cradle for newborn. Two-headed horse Thrace, Perinthos. AE23. Osiris and Isis Obv: Jugate heads of Osiris and Isis right. Rev: PERIN-QIWN, bull standing left, two-headed horse below. 23mm. c350 BC.
