AE semis Asido (Medina Sidonia) Spain 1st century BC Obverse, facing head of Hercules Reverse, Two Tuna fish with punic legend This particular coin is very special to me in many ways ,with a little more history than some of my others. I was stationed at the Naval Base Rota Spain about 30 years ago. I would go metal detecting with a Friend of mine almost every Sunday. One day we decided to look for some new places and drove around for hours looking. We tried a lot of spots but found nothing. At our last spot for the day I found this coin in a farm field close to modern day Medina Sidonia. One of my Spanish Friends Juan Antonio (a Roman coin collector) had always expressed an interest in this coin, and before I left Spain in 1991 I traded it to Him. I thought about my Friend Juan Antonio for years afterwards wondering what had happened to my Friend. Then in 2013 I happened upon an E-bay seller with Roman coins from Spain and He was in a town close by to my Friend so I sent Him a message through E-bay asking Him (in my bad Spanish writing ability) if He might possibly know my Friend. I waited anxiously and within a day or so the seller responded and said He knew Juan Antonio. I made contact with Juan Antonio and friended Him on facebook and even called Him on the phone. In one of our conversations I asked about the coin I traded to Him, He told me He still had it and that many people had tried to buy it from Him or trade for it but always kept it because of the friendship we had. Not long after, I sent Juan Antonio some Spanish coins I had lost interest in. And with in a few weeks I received a package back from Him. In it was the Asido semis. He told me He knew what it meant to me and wanted me to have it back. So about 23 years later I had my coin back in my collection. I have done a few searches for this particular type of coin and it seems pretty rare.
Very nice. I only see these with a profile of melkart, I would say it is rare as well. Other names for the mint include Cadiz or Gadir. Is it 20mm or closer to 15mm?
Thank you David This is similar to the coins of (modern day Cadiz) , Gades , Gadir, but is different in the punic legend and is from Asido. Gadir surely had some influence it its style as it was not very far away. I found this definition, and it is melkart. Melqart was written in the Phoenician abjad as MLQRT (Phoenician: ). The same name is also sometimes transcribed as Melkart, Melkarth, or Melgart. The name is a variant of MLK QRT ( ) and means "King of the City".[1] In Akkadian, his name was written Milqartu. To the Greeks and the Romans, He was identified as Hercules. I am not sure what would be the correct name to use in describing this coin. It is 19mm .
I am bumping this thread to ask if anyone here has an idea of how many of these have been in auction since the internet. If anyone has access to that could you please share it? I have two of them, the second one I bought when I happened upon it for sale and feel very lucky to have the two I have.
LOVE that coin! I've been looking for one ever since seeing yours. I recall I saw one up a couple months ago... but not which auction. I count about ten on ac search https://www.acsearch.info/search.ht...s=1&thesaurus=1&order=1¤cy=usd&company= My closest to the type: Gades, Spain AE As 100-20 BCE Obv. Head of Herakles-Melqart left, wearing lion's skin. Rev. Two tunnies left, pellet within crescent between, punic legend around. Burgos 1339. Brown patina
Fantastic FIND! Super that a friend cared that much to give it back to you... Nice story. I really like that semis. Although my Semis is not as hard to get (FIND in your case!), I have always enjoyed Ancient Spain coins. My Semis: Spain Osca Æ Semis 25mm 8.0g 1st C BCE Bearded male hd R Horseman galloping R holding spear star SNG Cop 325 Burgos 1918
