Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door— Only this and nothing more." Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore; Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door— Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door— Perched, and sat, and nothing more.- The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe My latest coin didn't arrive so dramatically, and hopefully not as ominously! It's a type I've always wanted, but they can be quite elusive. Domitian Æ Semis, 2.90g Rome mint, 90-91 AD Obv: IMP DOMIT AVG GERM COS XV; Bust of Apollo, draped, r.; in front, branch Rev: S C in exergue; Raven stg. r. on laurel branch RIC 710 (C). BMC 453. BNC 484. Acquired from Den of Antiquity, May 2022. Domitian's smaller bronzes rarely feature a portrait of the emperor. This semis from 90-91 sports a bust of Apollo on the obverse and, appropriately enough, his divine messenger a raven on the reverse. Perhaps an allusion to Domitian's support of the arts. The reverse 'in hand'. Hopefully no disaster will befall my household for welcoming such an ill omened animal into my home! Feel free to share your coins featuring ravens or Apollo. Thanks for looking!
I'm usually not a fan of the much smaller AE denominations of Romans, but this one I like. Cool reverse.
Nice one. I don’t have a Raven, but an old Caracalla with Apollo with the foot on a cippus. Alexandria Troas 24mm 8.75g Belinger A298 P.S. Nice and soft hand skin David. Do you moisturize ?
That is a great-looking raven, @David Atherton Sometimes the raven shows up on Greek coins, like this common one from Sardes: Lydia, Sardes Æ 14 Semi-Autonomous Issue (c. 14-37 A.D.) Head of Herakles right / ΣAΡΔIANΩN to right of Apollo, naked, standing left, holding raven on right hand, laurel branch in left, V on rectangular Θ monogram in left field, within wreath. (5.43 grams / 14 mm) eBay Mar. 2021 Attribution Notes: This matches the Wildwinds plate coin, with extensive citations: BMC 29; Paris 1119; SNG Tuebingen 3790; Hunter 4; Johnston Sardis 201-202; Gökyildirim Istanbul 500; GRPC Lydia 151. See also (54-68 A.D.): Themis Numismatics Auction 7, Lot 545, 27.06.2020 https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7140859
Plenty of eagles in my collection, but no ravens. That coin is way cool. I do have this attractive Apollo, with a rather Polyclitan composition.
Great addition, David. Very nice raven design. Here is my Syracuse bronze with Apollo. SICILY, Syracuse. 334-317 BC. Timoleon and the Third Democracy. Æ Litra Obv: Laureate head of Apollo; Campanian helmet right Rev: Pegasos flying left; monogram above. 20mm, 5.69 g, 7h CNS 86 DS 46 R 11; HGC 2, 1488. CNG Auction, Dec 2021.
Hmm, you're right, vcoins only has one example, in rather ugly condition. As someone who likes spooky shows and Poe, I really like the raven!
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming.....Ravens, Ravens, where might you be? Oh there's the duo, fly to me! Fittingly photographed against a blood-red background: TITUS (79-81). Denarius. Rome. 80 AD. Obv: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG PM. Laureate head right. Rev: TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII PP. Tripod with fillets, upon which sit two ravens and wreath surmounted by dolphin. RIC 128. Note: Vesuvius eruption series, Apollo issue. Very nice coin, @David Atherton - outstanding raven on that reverse!
A nice looking coin @David Atherton. Here is a denarius from the alliance of Lepidus and Mark Antony before joining with Octavian to from the 2nd Triumvirate - with raven:
That's an amazing coin, @David Atherton. Congratulations! I have only one raven, the one on this Vitellius denarius: But I have lots of coins depicting Apollo. Many portrayals of him, especially on Roman Republican coinage, depict him as rather androgynous. Macedon, Philip II (359-336 BCE) (posthumous), AE 19. Obv. Head of Apollo right, hair bound with taenia [diadem] / Rev. Youth on horseback right wearing petasos, vertical thunderbolt below, ΦIΛIΠΠOY above. SNG ANS 839, 880-882 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, USA, The Collection of the American Numismatic Society, Part 8: Macedonia 2 (Alexander I-Philip II) (New York 1994)]; http://www.coinproject.com/coin_detail.php?coin=183292; cf. SNG Alpha Bank 427 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Greece 2, The Alpha Bank Collection. Macedonia I: Alexander I - Perseus (Athens, 2000)]. 19 mm., 6.19 g., 12 h. Ex. Savoca Coins, DePew Collection. Roman Republic, L. Memmius, AR Denarius, Rome Mint, 109-108 BCE. Obv. Male head to right (Apollo?), wearing oak wreath, star (*) [= monogrammed XVI; mark of value] beneath chin / Rev. The Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), cloaked, with stars above their heads, standing facing between their horses, each holding a spear and the bridle of his horse, with each horse raising its outside front hoof; L•MEMMI in exergue. Crawford 304/1, RSC I Memmia 1 (ill. p. 65), Sear RCV I 181 (ill. p. 107), BMCRR II Italy 643, RBW Collection 1145 (ill. p. 237). 19 mm., 3.95 g. Purchased Jan. 6, 2022 at Roma Numismatics E-Sale 93, Lot 897. Ex. Andrew McCabe Collection; ex. Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 7, 27 May 2014, Lot 1944; ex. Aureo & Calico, Auction 159, 3 March 2004, Lot 1056. [Footnote omitted.] Roman Republic, L. [Lucius] Calpurnius Piso Frugi, AR Denarius, 90 BCE. Obv. Head of Apollo right (control marks H behind and F below) / Rev. Horseman galloping right w/palm frond (control marks G above and H below), L• PISO FRUGI beneath. Crawford 340/1, RSC I Calpurnia 11, Sear RCV I 235/1, BMCRR 1938-2129 [this combination of two-letter control marks is not recorded in BMCRR; cf. BMCRR 2120 (H, F on obv. paired with C, A on rev.)]. 17 mm., 4.02 g. Roman Republic, Mn. Fonteius C.f., AR Denarius, Rome Mint 85 BCE. Obv. Laureate head of Apollo* right, MN. FONTEI behind (MN and NT in monograms), C.F below chin, thunderbolt below neck / Rev. Cupid or winged Infant Genius seated on goat right, caps (pilei) of the Dioscuri above, thyrsus of Bacchus below; all within laurel-wreath. RSC I Fonteia 10 (ill.), Crawford 353/1c, Sydenham 724a, Sear RCV I 271 (ill.), BMCRR Rome 2478. 20 mm, 3.93 g. Roman Republic, Lucius Marcius Censorinus, AR Denarius, 82 BCE. Obv. Laureate head of Apollo right, traces of control mark (unidentifiable) behind / Rev. The satyr Marsyas standing left, gazing upwards, raising right hand and holding wineskin over left shoulder; tall column behind him, surmounted by statue of draped figure (Minerva [RSC] or Victory [Crawford]); L. CENSOR downwards before him. Crawford 363/1d, RSC I Marcia 24, Sear RCV I 281 (ill.), BMCRR 2657. 18 mm, 3.80 g, 5 h. [The coin refers to the legend of the satyr Marsyas challenging Apollo to a flute-playing contest. As the winner, Apollo got to choose the punishment for the loser -- namely, skinning Marsyas alive. Traditionally, the gens Marcia was descended from Marsyas; hence the reference.] Roman Republic, C. [Caius/Gaius] Calpurnius Piso L.f. [son of Lucius] Frugi [son-in-law of Cicero, married to Tullia], AR Denarius, 67-59 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head of Apollo right in high relief, hair long and in ringlets; behind, control symbol ɸ (Greek letter phi) (Crawford obverse die 32; Hersh 1976* obverse die O-33) / Rev. Naked horseman galloping right wearing shaped conical cap, holding reins but carrying no palm branch or other object; above, control symbol sword [Crawford] or knife [Hersh 1976] with curved blade [Crawford reverse die 43, Hersh 1976 reverse die R-1038]; beneath horse, C• PISO• L• F• FRVG [with VG blurred on die]. Crawford 408/1a [Apollo laureate rather than wearing fillet]; BMCRR Rome 3774 [this die combination]; Hersh 1976 at p. 32, Corpus No. 89 [this die combination]; RSC I Calpurnia 24j [Apollo laureate/horseman wearing conical cap & carrying no palm branch or other object]; Harlan, Michael, Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins 63 BCE - 49 BCE (2d ed. 2015) (“Harlan RRM II”), Ch. 7 at pp. 54-59; Sear RCV I 348; Sydenham 846. 18 mm., 3.86 g. 6 h. [Double die-match to Ira & Larry Goldberg Auction 80, Lot 3048, 03.06.2014 (see https://www.acsearch.info/image.html?id=2012900), previously sold by LHS Numismatik AG, Auction 100, Lot 398, 23/04/2007. ]** [Footnotes omitted.] Gordian III AR Antoninianus, 242-243 AD [TRP V], Rome Mint. Obv. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG / Rev. Apollo seated left, bare to waist, holding branch with right hand & resting left forearm and elbow on lyre, PM T-R P V COS II PP. RIC IV-3 89, RSC IV 261, Sear RCV III 8648. 22.65 mm., 4.67 g. My only really "butch" Apollo: Gordian III with wife Tranquillina, AE 26 mm., 241-244 AD, Thracia, Anchialus [Pomorie, Bulgaria]. Obv. Confronted busts of Gordian III right, laureate, draped and cuirassed, and Tranquillina left, draped and wearing stephane; ΑVT Κ M ANT / ΓOPΔIANOC AVΓ clockwise around; CEB TPAN // KVΛΛINA in exergue; border of dots/ Rev. Apollo standing left, holding patera in right hand; left arm resting on column; ΟΥΛΠΙΑΝωΝ / ΑΓXΙΑΛEωΝ clockwise around; border of dots. RPC Online VII.2 48961; Moushmov 2939 [H. Moushmov, Ancient Coins of the Balkan Peninsula (1912)], Varbanov II 668 [Ivan Varbanov, Greek Imperial Coins And Their Values, Vol. II, Thrace (from Abdera to Pautalia) (English Edition) (Bourgas, Bulgaria 2005)], AMNG II 656 [F. Münzer & M. Strack, Die antiken Münzen von Thrakien, Die antiken Münzen Nord-Griechenlands Vol. II (Berlin, 1912)]. 26 mm., 11.91 g. Anonymous civic issue, reign of Maximinus II, AE quarter follis [?][Sear] or 1/12 nummus [?][McAlee], Antioch Mint (3rd Officina), ca. 311-312 AD. Obv. Tyche (city-goddess of Antioch) wearing mural crown, seated facing on rock, holding wheat or grain ears with right hand and, with left hand, holding a two-handled basket (filled with wheat or grain ears[?]) resting on ground to right, river god Orontes swimming below, GENIO ANTIOCHINI / Rev. Apollo standing left, pouring libation from patera held in right hand, and holding lyre in raised left hand, Γ [gamma, signifying 3rd Officina] in right field, APOLLONI SANCTO around; in exergue, SMA [meaning Sigmata Moneta Antioch (money struck at Antioch) or Sacra Moneta Antioch]. [Not in RIC; see http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/6ant_civ_4v.html.] Sear RCV IV 14927 (ill); Vagi 2954; McAlee 170; Van Heesch Type 3 [Van Heesch, J. "The last civic coinages and the religious policy of Maximinus Daza (AD 312)" in Numismatic Chronicle (1993), pp. 63-75 & Pl. 11]; ERIC II, “Anonymous Religious Coinage of the Fourth Century,” pp. 1198-1199, No. 2. 16 mm., 1.35 g. [Struck either (1) to promote propaganda against Christians and aid in their persecution (and thus traditionally denominated the “Persecution issue”; or (2) as proposed by David Kalina, for use in festivals, including the Festival of Apollo at Daphne, held in conjunction with the Olympics in Antioch in 312 AD. See Kalina, David, “Anonymous Civic Coinage,” Series 1, at http://allcoinage.com/anonymous_civic.php.]
RAVEN RImp Lepidus Marc Antony 43 BC AR Quinarius 13.9m 1.82g Raven Military mint TransAl Gaul pontif Cr 489-3 Syd 1158a RSC3
Because you posted this video, I'll post this one too. Did I say before I was a great fan of animes and cartoons?
