ЯЗΤЯОGЯАDЗ LETTERS RETROGRADE

It’s the weekend & I thought we might start a fun thread. Please post some coins with retrograde letters so folks (like me) can learn something from you all. I find that sometimes I confuse an occasional retrograde letter for a normal letter that is just in a group that is supposed to be read from right to left or vice versa.

Here is a tet from Messana that includes retrograde Ns. I believe that all the letters on this coin are read "base-out" in a counter clockwise direction as "MEΣΣA.ИIOИ"



SICILY, Messana
AR Tetradrachm
480-461 BC

17.21 grams, 25 mm.
Obv: Biga of mules (an apene) driven right by seated charioteer. Nike above crowning mules.
Rev: Hare bounding to right with spray of olive beneath. MEΣΣA.ИIOИ. (retrograde Ns)
Grade: a nicely toned Good Fine coin with claims to aVF.
Other: Similar to Sear 843 & 847. SNGANS.314.


ЯЗΤЯОGЯАDЗ LETTERS RETROGRADE
Post 'em if you got 'em.

 

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Edited: Never mind, I'm an idiot that also confuses retrograde with letters meant to be read from right to left.

 

Me too.

Here is a tet from Akragas which I think also has a retrograde N. This one is a little confusing because it is read clockwise and the first letters are upright & read left to right. The last letters are base-out and read left to right (I think).
AKRA(C)-AИTOΣ (retrograde N)


SICILY, Akragas.
AR Tetradrachm.
472-420 B.C.
16.88 grams, 25 mm
Obv: Crab as viewed from top
Rev: Eagle standing left with city name
AKRA(C)-ANTOS (retrograde N)
Grade: aVF or nearly so including nice
centering, ancient fabric & tone
Other: SNG.Cop.41, BMC 37
From Classical Ancient Coins 1/2016

 

@Collect89 Did you buy it from a reputable dealer? There are a lot of round lumps and holes in its surface. Perhaps the ancient experts an tell me I'm seeing things?

What's the edge look like and the weight. There is some nice looking crystallization on the hare.

 

Kool idea, C89 ...

Ummm, I do recall this humble number (retro-K)



... I'll have to go check my stuff for more examples

 

That's what I'm talking about.

Wait, is that K upside down & base-out or retrograde? Flip the coin over & it's a normal K.

Edit to add: The K is normal. It's the lion that is retrograde.

 

Retrograde L


Luceria
AES Grave
Anonymous 217-215 BCE
Uncia 7.35g
Obv: Frog
Rev: Corn Ear, pellet, retrograd L
Thurlow & Vecchi 285

 

InArchaic Greek there were three acceptable ways to write. When writing left to right, letters would be made as we consider correct today. When writing right to left, ALL letters would be made mirror image but letters like A and O don't change when you flip them so who would notice? The third method was called Boustrophedon (as the ox plows) where on line went one way and the next the other. Collect's Akragas is a fine example of Boustrophedon on a coin. The Messana is a problem since the last letters NION read the same if considered base out and left to right or base down and Boustrophedon. However the retro N's suggest the cutter was thinking the latter. If the legend were to be taken as base out and encircling, the N's should go the other way.

I recently posted a Kroton coin in another thread with legend OPQ which is just plain old wrong since the P needs to go the other way if the Q is on the right. The cutter could have moved the tail of the Q to the circle on the left and made the legend clearly left to right. Remembering that dies were cut backbards to make the coins read correctly, I'd just call this a plain old error.


Both of my Akragas coins show AK above the eagle and PA retrograde below making them also Boustrophedon. The smaller, second one even shows an Archaic form of the letter Rho (P) which happens to look like the modern R proving what goes around comes around.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon

 

Retrograde KAPV


Campania, CAPUA
2nd Punic War - Hannibal promises Capua as Capital of Italia after Rome destroyed
216-211 BC
Obv: Bust of Diana right, with bow and quiver over shoulder
Rev: Boar right, one pellet above, KAPV (retrograde - Oscan) in exergue
Size: 20.72 mm
Weight: 6.56g
Ref: SNG ANS 210

 

I did not know these things! Thanks!! Today's to-do list: learn something new. Check

 

Retrograde B:


The Social War, Marsic Confederation
AR Denarius
3.60g, 20mm, 8
Corfinium mint, 89 BC.
Obv: Laureate head of Italia right, wearing pearl necklace; ITALIA behind, X (mark of value) below chin
Rev: Italia, seated left on shields, holding sceptre in right hand and sword in left, being crowned with wreath by Victory who stands behind; retrograde B in exergue. Ref: Campana 105, Series 7a (same obverse die); Sear 228 w/ control mark inverted B; HN Italy 412a
Comments: Cleaning marks to rev.
18 known Rare

 

Mirror-image KAMArina:


SICILY, Kamarina
420-405 BCE
AE tetras, 3.34 gm
Obv: Large head of Athena left, wearing crested helmet with wings
Rev: Owl standing left, with lizard in talon; KAMA (retrograde) upward in right field; three dots in exergue
Ref: Westermark / Jenkins 198 (see FIG. Pl. 35 / 198.24), SNG ANS 1230 Calciati III no. 28/4 (dotted-border type)

 

The "D" in the "DOM" of the reverse legend is in retrograde on this die. These were struck at a regional mint in the newly-established Roman colony of Narbo in Gaul(modern day Narbonne, France) and I believe current thinking is that the dies were cut by engravers not otherwise accustomed to cutting Roman dies.

 

The weight is 17.21 grams. I got the Messana coin from Pegasi at a NYINC show. The dealer cooked-up a nice deal for me because I was trading/upgrading a lower grade Messana Tet which was also from Pegasi.

 

A-1 dealer...guess I'm seeing things.

 

OMG you have a frog! You must post it in the thread "Ancient Coin Animals by Alphabet".

 

Ummm, does Philip-II count? (maybe not retrograde, but very artsy and cool, eh?)






Ummm, these are probably cheatin' too, eh?

 

AH! BROCKAGE... retrograde ROMA!


RR AR Denarius ERROR BROCKAGE ROMA Helmeted Head-Incuse and reverse of obverse - 2nd-1st C BCE - Reverse: ROMA in retrograde

 

... it's kinda hard to tell, eh? (depends upon which way you spin a couple of 'em)

=> cool thread, regardless

Cheers

 

Left to right on one side, retrograde on the other.... those cheeky Greeks.


BRUTTIUM, Kaulonia
Circa 475-425 BC
AR Nomos
7.97g, 21.8mm
SNG ANS 180; Noe, Caulonia 93; HN Italy 2046
O: KAVΛ, Apollo, naked, advancing right, holding a branch in uplifted right hand; small messenger-daimon running left on Apollo's outstretched left arm; stag standing right, head turned back.
R: KAVΛ (retrograde), Stag standing right; laurel branch to right.