Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;rrdenarius, post: 3331339, member: 75525&quot;]I enjoy watching live coin auctions. Today I had two coins on my watch list. Unfortunately they were 200 lots, or over an hour, apart in the auction. I watched the auction off and on, and a group of coins peaked my interest.... silphium coins from Kyrene. I bought one of them! The seller&#039;s pics are below.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]882747[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]882748[/ATTACH] </p><p>Africa. Kyrenaica, Kyrene. AE, 31 BC.</p><p>Obv - Head of Libya right, diademed. She has ringlets for bangs and behind her head. The nose looks like it is falling off. A few cleaning scratches do not add to the coin’s beauty.</p><p>Rev - Silphium plant. I think some letters and minor plant details fell victim to corrosion in the ground or a zealous cleaner.</p><p>SNG Cop. 1312-1313</p><p>3.28 grams</p><p>19.0 mm</p><p>About VF, Brown patina</p><p><br /></p><p>I found 648 examples of sylphium on acsearch. The coin below is the best fit, but is not that close. My coin looks concave, but the coin below (from Gemini VII) looks to have a flat field outside the features.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]882760[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The sylphium plant was reputed to have special properties. The last known plant was served at a feast of Nero. Silphium seed look like hearts and might be the origin of Valentine hearts. </p><p>[ATTACH]882757[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]882758[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I have a coin that I think shows a silphium seed. Most folks call it a leaf. You can decide for yourself. I have shown this coin of C.PISO before.</p><p>[ATTACH]882755[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]882756[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>To answer [USER=44357]@AncientJoe[/USER] &#039;s questions in a recent post:</p><p>- Do you work off of a &quot;wantlist&quot;? How has your wantlist changed over time? How rigid are you with following your wantlist and plans?</p><p>Yes, I work from a want list. The coin I targeted was #315 in the RR section (which I won and will post when it arrives). Watching an auction for an hour and a half led to an itchy bidding finger.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in