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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2754451, member: 56859&quot;][ATTACH=full]631584[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>SICILY, Entella. Punic issues</b></p><p>c. 300-289 BCE;&nbsp; AR tetradrachm, 24 mm, 16.8 gm, 12h)</p><p>Obv:&nbsp; head of Melquart-Herakles right, wearing lion skin</p><p>Rev:&nbsp; head of horse left; astragalos (cut over poppy) to left, palm tree to right, Punic MHSBM (approximate meaning is &quot;quaestors&quot; or financial controllers) below</p><p>Ref:&nbsp; Jenkins, Punic 366 (O115/R298), series 5b</p><p><i>Ex Gorny &amp; Mosch 138 (7 March 2005), lot 33</i></p><p><br /></p><p>This and other Punic tetradrachms have been on my wish list since I saw my first examples.&nbsp; It&#039;s hard to say why this type became such a must-have since I didn&#039;t know much about the circumstances of the coin.&nbsp; Actually, I guess it&#039;s <b>not</b> hard to say why:&nbsp; it&#039;s a beautiful coin.&nbsp; Sometimes that&#039;s reason enough <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>I assumed there would be extensive and colorful history to go with this coin, but that seems not to be the case.&nbsp; After winning the coin I began searching for interesting tidbits for a writeup.&nbsp; A first step for such things is always to check auction catalogs, especially old and higher-end catalogs which sometimes have nice blurbs that add interest.&nbsp; I checked all of my catalogs and online catalogs; checked various general and Greek numismatic books in my growing library.&nbsp; Zip, zilch, nada.&nbsp; No amusing anecdotes, no tantalizing tie-ins with history.&nbsp; Hmm.</p><p><br /></p><p>But... <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/digitallibrarynumis/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://sites.google.com/site/digitallibrarynumis/" rel="nofollow">Digital Library Numis</a> to the rescue!&nbsp; <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/digitallibrarynumis/03-index/j-1/jenkins-gilbert-kenneth-1918-2005" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://sites.google.com/site/digitallibrarynumis/03-index/j-1/jenkins-gilbert-kenneth-1918-2005" rel="nofollow">All four parts of &quot;Coins of Punic Sicily&quot;</a> are there, yay!!</p><p><br /></p><p>Some of my questions are answered in those articles:</p><ul> <li>Hoard evidence is what places these coins at Entella, which was under the control of Carthage at that time.&nbsp; The Punic Wars were still three or four decades away but there were ongoing problems with Agathokles.&nbsp; Perhaps these coins were used to pay troops and other costs of battle.</li> <li>The two main variations of this coin (&quot;quaestors&quot; issues and &quot;people of the camp&quot; issues) were probably issued concurrently and from the same location, although the reasons are cloudy.&nbsp; It might indicate that there was more than just army encampments there-- the Carthaginian state was doing more than just paying the army.</li> <li>The head of Tanit/horse head tetradrachms immediately preceded these coins.&nbsp; While this new obverse undoubtedly copies Alexander III tetradrachms, Punic Melqart had already been assimilated into Greek Herakles so the Carthaginians weren&#039;t abandoning their Punic iconography... they were just making coins that blended in better with the region.&nbsp; Alex III tets had already become extremely well known throughout the Mediterranean.</li> <li>I mistakenly thought there were hundreds of dies for the entire emission, since the Entella tetadrachms I was drawn to all had high die numbers.&nbsp; However, the die numbers for the series begin at 86 for the obverse and 227 for the reverse (earlier numbers are for earlier Punic coins in Jenkins&#039; scheme).&nbsp; The &quot;quaestors&quot; tets have only 21 obverse and 81 reverse dies; the &quot;people of the camp&quot; tets have 20 obverse and 39 reverse dies.&nbsp; That makes more sense, because it&#039;s not like you see these on every numismatic corner <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></li> </ul><p>Anyway, this minutia is probably pretty boring to most of you.&nbsp; If it isn&#039;t, you might want to read the Jenkins articles.</p><p><br /></p><p>More importantly to me is that this was struck with one of my favorite dies for the series.&nbsp; I don&#039;t always have to have highly artistic coins in relatively high grade (have you <i>seen</i> all of my grungy but beloved coins of Roman Egypt?&nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />), but for this one I held out.&nbsp; I studied archives and made note of my favorite dies.&nbsp; For the obverse, die 115 was in the top tier and reverse die 298 is interesting because it was recut.&nbsp; I was happy to see this coin at auction.</p><p><br /></p><p>Speaking of the reverse die, it began life with a poppy in the left field but was later recut into an astragalos (knuckle bone; a gaming and/or fortune telling device).</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s the a coin struck with the same reverse die as mine, before recutting.&nbsp; That&#039;s a poppy in the left field.&nbsp; Note that the obverse die is also the same as my coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]631612[/ATTACH]</p><p>(<a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=45987" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=45987" rel="nofollow">from CNG&#039;s archives</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>...</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Artistic dies, good centering, good metal, good strike, little wear... happy sigh <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Please feel free to add you Punic coins or related issues.&nbsp; Coins of Agathokles from around the same time are also welcome.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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