Featured An Aqueduct, a Statue and an Elegant Portrait of Roma

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a depiction of a person or an animal on an ancient Chinese coin (or token) before. How fascinating!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Guess I should confess that wasn’t the actual tag; I spent 10 minutes making it up. I was hoping no one would think I was really so egoistic as to have my collection name take up half the real estate on a tag, the placed on top of a column, and have the actual attribution and provenance info in a font so small as to be unreadable. Truthfully, i’m too lazy to make and print tags and just have all the info on an excel spreadsheet.

 

I enjoyed the joke very much. But apparently everyone else thinks you have an enormous ego!

 

I’m still gonna use it now sooo....

 

I bought quite a few coins from CCE in the 80's and 90's. He did shows in the midAtlantic and issued lists and auctions which I still have in a box in the attic along with the other dealers who sent me stuff back then. I had no idea that he lasted long enough to have a website or even own a computer. In those days I received several coin catalogs each week and saved all the illustrated ones (and have no idea what to do with them now). This was long before everyone could go online and see 10,000 coins for sale so I spent hours agonizing over those lists.

 

Actually, I might start using it myself!

If you're seriously considering printing out the tag, you might want to go with the slightly modified version below. I think the wider border makes it look more professional and a little less obnoxious.

What enormous ego?

 

You’re right that is MUCH better and should certainly put to bed any question of you ever having been motivated by egotism in your display.

In fact I wasn’t going to say anything but I was actually thinking about reducing the size of the font of the attribution information. I don’t mean to criticize but it does get in the way a bit visually.

 

.

On a serious note...

I still have four coins from the Demetrios Armounta Collection. One had no prior provenance information, but of the remaining three, two came with Seaby tags dated to the 1960s, and a third came from a 2008 CNG auction.


ROMAN REPUBLIC. Ti. Quinctius
AR Denarius. 3.83g, 20mm. Rome mint, 112-111 BC. Crawford 297/1b; Sydenham 563; Quinctia 6. O: Laureate bust of Hercules left, seen from behind, wearing lion skin across shoulders, club over right shoulder. R: Two horses galloping left; a desultor riding the nearest one; •/X above, rat below; TI and Q; D•S•S incuse on tablet in exergue.
Ex Demetrios Armounta Collection (with old Seaby tag indicating 12 Sep 1963 purchase date)


CORINTHIA, Corinth
AR Stater. 8.58g, 21.4mm. CORINTHIA, Corinth, circa 375-300 BC. BCD Corinth 115; Pegasi 402. O: Pegasos flying left, qoppa below. R: Head of Athena left, wearing Corinthian helmet; A below chin, Thessalian helmet behind.
Ex Demetrios Armounta Collection (with old tag indicating purchase from Seaby on 10 August 1965 for £8)


AKARNANIA, Leukas
AR Stater. 8.3g, 20mm, AKARNANIA, Leukas, circa 320-280 BC. Pegasi 132 (same rev. die); BCD Akarnania 269 var. (? behind head). O: Pegasos flying left, Λ below. R: Head of Athena left, wearing Corinthian helmet; mast with yard-arm behind.
Ex Demetrios Armounta Collection; ex Norman Frank Collection (CNG E200, 3 Dec
2008), lot 39

 

This is very helpful. Based on your other coin’s provenances it would seem that the collector was active from the early 1960s almost up until the collection sold in 2013 as indicated by the CNG 2008 provenance.

My guess is that Demetrios Armounta purchased the OP coin at a show from CCE. Based on @dougsmit ’s comment that he is surprised that CCE lasted long enough to have a computer I am guessing that these printed tags were probably not included with the coins in the 90s when he was purchasing from them.

So a private purchase in the 2000s seems likely. Wish I could peg it down to a specific date or auction listing though

 

Gorgeous coin.

 

Thank you sir!