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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;AncientJoe, post: 1867351, member: 44357&quot;]I&#039;ve neglected to post several of my new coins for quite some time and will hopefully get into a more regular cadence of uploading.</p><p><br /></p><p>I bought this coin out of the most recent Gemini sale. After being somewhat underwhelmed by the picture in the catalog, I assumed I wouldn&#039;t be bidding on it. However, upon seeing it in hand, I was blown away and knew I would have to chase after it anticipating considerable competition. I&#039;m becoming increasingly surprised by the range in photography quality by auction houses and dealers: the Gemini picture didn&#039;t show any of the iridescence in this coin and I think that is a very important aspect of its overall aesthetics. I won it considerably under my max bid, which is always a good feeling.</p><p><br /></p><p>The sale was on the Sunday after the long NYINC show, so I imagine most dealers were already on their way home: the auction was one of the fastest I&#039;ve ever witnessed, and I almost missed bidding on it myself but luckily happened to check the progress, assuming I&#039;d have a hundred lots to go but mine was up in 20.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin comes from the Millennium Collection sold by Goldberg in 2008 which had a stunning array of coins (including an aureus featuring the Colosseum). I&#039;m very pleased to have acquired it, considering its pedigree and condition, and that it didn&#039;t increase in price much over the 2008 sale.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y342/AncientJoe/1_zpsadec7b45.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Aegina. Aegina, c. 380-360 BC. AR Stater (12.01 g). Top view of tortoise with segmented shell. Reverse: Large &quot;refined&quot; skew pattern incuse with five segments. Pozzi 3666; cf. Dewing 1686; cf. SNG Cop. Suppl. 264; SNG Delepierre 1545 ff. The tortoise of remarkable high relief, sharply struck, and perfectly centered on a flan of extraordinary size. Toned, with residual luster of lighter color. Rare in this quality.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>I took some perspective shots as well:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y342/AncientJoe/4_zps4dedf7bb.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y342/AncientJoe/3_zps682df7bc.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y342/AncientJoe/2_zpse78ed36e.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some snippets from various auction houses describing the tortoise coinage of Aegina:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;The silver issues of Aegina were immense: it was one of the chief trading coinages of the 6th and earlier 5th centuries, especially in the Peloponnesos, the Islands and in Central Greece where its weight standard was dominant. Exactly why turtles or tortoises appear on the coinage of Aegina is not clear: it was not a sacred animal. One suggestion is that early, pre-coinage silver ingots in use in the Aegean area were plano-convex in shape; and that on Aegina they were colloquially known as ‘turtles.’ Thus, when coins were introduced, using the turtle as a coin type was a reference to the older, pure-silver ingots that had previously been used in trade.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;It is usually assumed that the later issues of Aegina, from the 5th century on into the 4th, bear a tortoise rather than a sea turtle because of her loss of any pretension of sea power due to her defeat by Athens. This seems rather illogical, however, since states do not usually commemorate their defeat on their own coinage! On the contrary, this change almost certainly has to do with changes in religious ritual.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;The island of Aegina was probably the first state in European Greece to issue coined money (mid-sixth century BC). The Aeginetans were famed for their seamanship and were a considerable naval power in the Aegean area. Their didrachm-stater of about 12.6 grams became the accepted standard for numerous mints in the Cyclades, in Crete and in Asia Minor, as well as in Greece itself. In 445 BC, the Thirty Years Peace guaranteed Aegina&#039;s autonomy, and a new variant of the Aeginetan coinage was introduced. This depicted the turtle (now usually described as a tortoise) with a segmented carapace in place of the smooth shell of the archaic period. However, with the outbreak of Peloponnesian War in 431 BC, the Aeginetans were expelled from their homes and the island was occupied by Athenian cleruchs, a situation that prevailed until the Athenian defeat in 404 BC.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Let me know if you have any questions, and please post your turtles as well, especially the earlier sea turtles if you have them![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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