I'm new to ancients and obviously haven't seen everything, but occasionally while browsing I stumble upon something 'new' that takes my breath away. Such coins are almost always out of my financial reach but that doesn't lessen the enjoyment. Below are some examples. Feel free to post your unexpected delights here Currently for sale in CNG's coin shop: http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=250515 "ARKADIA, Stymphalos. Circa 350 BC. Stater (Silver, 24mm, 12.04 g 8). Laureate head of Artemis to right, wearing a rosette and crescent earring from which hang five pendants, a necklace of pearls, and with her hair tied in a bun at the back. Rev. ΣΤΥΜΦΑΛΙΩΝ Herakles, nude but for his lionskin wrapped around his left arm, striding to left and preparing to strike with his club held over his head with his right hand; between his legs, ΣΟ. BCD Peloponnesos 1705. BMFA 1269. Gulbenkian 560. Kraay/Hirmer 514. Extremely rare. A superb piece, beautifully toned and very probably the finest known example. Some very minor traces of corrosion, otherwise, good extremely fine. From the ‘Outstanding Collection’, Leu 81, 16 May 2001, 226 and from the Argos Hoard of 1966 (IGCH 130). This exceptional coin was originally owned by one of the great collectors of the mid 20th century, who bought it privately in the late 1960s, and by whose heirs it was sold in Leu 81. The head of Artemis on the obverse is both elegant and youthful - not at all as hard and dangerous looking as she appears on other Stymphalian staters (see BCD 1700 and 1704; it is close to 1705 but is slightly more youthful). On the reverse Herakles strides left to attack something or someone, but who? People have always assumed he was attacking the Stymphalian birds but, as has been pointed out before, he drove them off using his bow, not by attempting to brain them with his club! It seems more likely that this Herakles, whose pose is so reminiscent of that of the Athenian tyrant slayer Harmodios, actually symbolizes the liberation of Stymphalos from Spartan domination after the battle of Leuctra." From http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=230509 : "ARKADIA, Arkadian League. Megalopolis. Summer 363 - Spring 362 BC. Stater (Silver, 12.13 g 9), signed on the reverse by the magistrate Oly(mpios). Laureate head of Zeus Lykaios to left. Rev. Youthful Pan, nude and with his head facing, seated to left on a rock that is covered by his mantle, holding a lagobolon in his right hand and resting his left elbow on the rock; to left, Arkadian League monogram; at the foot of the rock, syrinx and, in small letters, ΟΛV. BCD Peloponnesos 1512(this coin). BMC 48 = Kraay/Hirmer 512 (same dies). D. Gerin, “Les statères de la ligue Arcadienne,” SNR 65 (1986) p. 17, 22 (this coin). Jameson 1276 (same dies). Kunstfreund 203 (same dies). Very rare. Beautifully toned, of superb late Classical style, and struck in high relief. Extremely fine. From the Spina Collection and from the BCD Collection, LHS 96, 8 May 2006, 1512, and from a Peloponnesian Hoard found before 1937 (IGCH 60). This is one of the great late Classical Greek rarities and is a real masterpiece of the die cutter’s art. The head of Zeus is truly outstanding in the nobility of its conception, and the youthful Herakles is also exceptional: he is paralleled by youthful gods on contemporary issues from elsewhere in the Peloponnesos (as Pheneos and Stymphalos for example)."
Here is a coin that I thought was very interesting, but obviously a bit too steep for my humble budget (it was estimated to sell for $15,000 but ended-up going for $32,500) http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=246524 => wow, how fricken cool is that, eh?
This thread underscores the fact that you don't need to actually collect coins to enjoy the hobby and science of numismatics. My interest in Constantine-era coins has compelled me to study volumes VII and VIII of RIC. I go through the catalog of coins and see how many I can find on the internet, whether for sale, or on sites like Wildwinds, Coinproject, acsearch, etc. I then copy the images and paste them into a list, something like this... This exercise has considerably improved my knowledge of this coinage, and honed my cherry-picking abilities. I've managed to find a handful of coins of considerable rarity, that were overlooked by collectors that only saw their condition.
Ha ha ha! This means I've seen something before Steve, imagination that! JK Steve. I actually saw both of the first two types in the same catalog, in fact they were right above each other. It was Triton XV. Although they might have been from different cities...
=> I also saw them during the Triton auction (I was merely pointing-out that this coin is pretty cool, but definitely outta my league) ..... sadly, due to X-mas and my Annual Truck insurance, I wasn't able to make a bid during that fantastic auction (man, there were certainly some gorgeous examples!!) I mean really => how cool is an incuse-coin with a map as the reverse?!! (cool) => I am looking forward to seeing some of you groovy dudes posting your spoils from that auction!!
I did consider this piece but did some homework on the debate between whether or not it is really a map and the consensus seems to be that it is not a map, at least from the dealers I spoke with. I have to agree with TIF's beautiful examples - those are some stunning coins. I saw the first at NYINC yesterday and it is even more beautiful in person. I nearly bid on the second coin when it was sold at Nomos but I hadn't seen it in hand and was suspicious of the low bid (perhaps there was something not visible in the pictures). The style is indeed spectacular and a type I would definitely like to acquire at some point. As for CNG, I struck out on all of my bids, some of which were for 6x the estimate. Perhaps we should make a thread of all of the coins we tried to acquire and failed?
