Modern coin collectors often like odd and error coins but we rarely hear of ancient collectors who specialize in such things. This is mostly because every ancient die was a one of a kind production so there are more variations than similarities in some issues. This post is to share that ancient oddities exist if you wish to seek them out. Neither of these coins is much to look at but finding EF+ examples will take a while and cost an arm and a leg if they even exist. First is an overdate tetradrachm of Ptolemy II (285-246 BC) of Egypt. This series bore a Greek numeral date to the right of the eagle giving the year of the king's reign (I need not point out that BC dating had not been invented - right?). This appears to read lambda gamma or 33 (the Greeks used a different letter for the tens place than the ones). However under the gamma is what appears to be a delta or 4. That would seem to make this a year 33/34 but overdates should always have the larger number on top. I believe this one would be 34/33 except that the excessive wear has flattened the more deeply cut delta to the point that it is overshadowed by the original gamma. To prove this, I need to find a nicer specimen but this is the only one I have seen. I could just be the correction of an error. Perhaps time will tell. The second tetradrachm of Syracuse in Sicily is a bit of a dog but nice ones of these are way out of my price range. It is a known and cataloged variety (Boehringer 703 - V345/R481) showing a massive die break behind and above the head of Arethusa on the reverse. As this break progressed, the mint workers must have been well aware that any strike could be the last for this very expensive die so it appears they were favoring the broken side by inclining the die resulting in a bit flat strike on the damaged side. Die breaks are common on ancient coins but most are just cracks. I only have a few that show hunks missing. It is amazing that a society which valued coin art enough to produce some of the finest coin art ever made would use those dies after they were completely wrecked. I suspect that the cutter was working feverishly on a replacement for this die hoping to finish before this one gave out completely.
Nice coins, the theory on favored use of the cracked die is interesting. I do work with overdates, but from a much later era. I have seen some examples that illustrate what your Ptolemy tetradrachm appears to show, ie. a reverse overdate. I see two possibilities. First, that the engraver prepared a die for use only after the date became valid, but circumstances forced reworking of the die for use before it was meant for service. Your coin makes me wonder about that, since the gamma is so much bolder than the lambda. Second, the cases I see, in which a die is used into the following year and has to be forward dated, but the engraver or date puncher does not apply enough force to sink the new digit deeper than the preexisting digit. Also, supposing that the die worker attempts to add material to the die to plug up the old digit while tooling it, at some point in the die life that material can fall out, gradually or suddenly betraying the old image. In any case that Egyptian example is great eye candy for variety collectors, thanks for posting.
Dates are relatively rare back then. Corrected letters are more common but that does not always involve the dating devices.
Thanks for posting thoughs! The closest thing I have to an ancient error is an improperly heated planchet.
Unless really splashy, ancient errors usually sell for less than well made coins. You might find interest in some of the 'conditions' I listed here: http://dougsmith.ancients.info/grade2.html
:thumb: Doug: I really enjoyed the above link with the excellent pictures of examples. It is one of the best articles I have ever read on the subject of Ancient coin collecting. :thumb: Thank you. guy
