Arrival of New Coin Purchased from Harlan Berk Sale 217: Aspendos "Wrestler" Stater

A Tekin 1st Series, perhaps? I see that the wrestlers are wearing belts instead of being completely naked.

 

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I didn't specifically ask, but have now sent a follow-up email. Perhaps there's something in the 2001 inventory number that would tell Mr. Berk where or when it was originally acquired -- it's not as if he'd be likely to remember, given the volume of coins they handle.

 

I clearly remember reading that essay of yours when you linked to it previously. Small world. You fooled me; I had no idea that Frank and Paul were both really you!

Did that coin show have a name?

 

Dug up my photos from Aspendos. These were 12 years ago, but here are several from the theater. Looking through what I thought were good shots back then makes me cringe now.







Here's one I took on the way there. This is one of the few shots from that trip that doesn't make me cringe, though nowadays I'd ask the car to stop and take it properly vs from the window.


Looks like I remembered improperly my trip to Aspendos. The one I visited by myself was Telmessos. It looks like I also visited Perge and Side. The best part though was staying a few days in Capadoccia.

Nowadays Telmessos would be particularly interesting to me as it was ruled for some time by Ptolemy Epigonos, son of Lysimachos and Arsinoe II.

 

Your photos look good to me!

 

I received a quick response: they have no further information.

 

@DonnaML congratulations. This is a fine example of a coin long in my wishlist. For some reason I can't seem to find just the right example that won't empty my wallet. I hope that this purchase will inspire you to explore the Greek scene a bit further. I know you specialise in RR, but I am sure that you also appreciate the artistic merit of Greek coinage.

Looking at those photos I see nothing wrong with them. You were very lucky to have that theatre to yourself. I would have spent hours in it

 

@DonnaML - an interesting thread - thank you for starting it with
your fine acquisition.

Mine is also Series 4, but with a countermark and an eagle under
the triskeles, both of which add interest IMHO


Tekin Series 4; SNG von Aulock 4523 (same dies)

 

Beautiful! I do think the eagle adds to the appeal. It seems that Series 4 was the most common.

 

Thanks, @Only a Poor Old Man. I do like and appreciate Greek coinage; it's just that I would bankrupt myself if I tried to put together a decent-sized collection of them on top of everything else! Especially given how overwhelmingly large a field it is. I do buy them every now and then, though -- more silvers than bronzes -- but have only about 20 in all (two of them bought many years ago), several of them what I like to call "Republican Provincial" coinage. These photos are just to give an idea; they certainly don't do the coins justice:





That's only 20 out of a total of 289 ancient coins that I have at the moment, along with 171 Roman Imperials, 63 Roman Republicans, and 35 Roman Provincials. (I may "specialize" in RRs in the sense that I find them fascinating, and always find more to write about individual types, but I've actually bought almost three times as many Imperials in the four years or so I've been actively collecting ancients.)

By the way, the Boeotian shield stater is also from a Harlan J. Berk Buy or Bid Sale, the Corinth Stater is ex. Roma Numismatics, and the two coins from Thessaly in the bottom row come from the BCD Collection via the Triton XV auction. I bought the Alexander drachm at Harmer Rooke back in 1986, and my (extremely) budget Athenian Owl from John Jencek at a NYINC in 2007. Because I know so much less about ancient Greek than Roman coins, I tend to depend more on provenance.