BCD Incerta-- certainly fun

I think TIF was probably on the right track about ΠΛΩ being the name of a magistrate. Here's another AE of Salapia with the name of the magistrate Plotios spelled out in full (ΠΛΩTIOY) on the reverse. Not my coin :

 

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TIF,

In the first post you mention that the coins are ex BCD . I find this pedigree a bit confusing as BCD didn’t collect Italian coins. Where did you get the info that these are ex BCD?

Barry Murphy.

 

Naumann has been selling group lots labeled as "BCD Incerta". There are some BCD tags in the groups but mostly unmatchable to the coins within and Naumann separated the coins from the tags.

Perhaps these leftovers are leftover in part because they weren't within BCD's collecting sphere? @ab initio, can you clear this up for us?

Here is the listing for the lot.

Also, to anyone reading this thread... please don't help me with any attributions unless I post an individual coin with my thoughts-- then consider it fair game. For me, the fun and the entire point of buying the lot is in hunting for attributions . The hurricanes and continued overwhelming expenses have decimated my coin budget and I have to stretch out my enjoyment for every purchase for as long as possible.

 

Thanks for that insight, Z! Perhaps Plotios is the same magistrate who issued my coin!

 

Cool I got a lot as well and they've been lying around for nearly a month already.

Good luck with the IDing!

Here are mine...

ATB,
Aidan.

 

Interesting and intriguing group of coins
I don't know if november is rainy and foggy were you are, but IDing and studying such a lot would be a perfect activity for a november weekend here

Q

 

So there's the lot that I didn't manage to win! I guess I shouldn't be too surprised to see it turn up here. Let us know if you have any success with it.

 

Looks like a fun group!

I tried to pick up a couple more of these lots in the next auction but the biddng went insane!!

 

I think this one with the standing female figure holding a branch in her right hand and a circular object (shield) in her left hand ...



... is this one:

Oh, man! Sorry to spoil your fun

 

We came close to a bidding war, it seems I threw in a few low bids and ended up only with this.

I might get to these this month, Cucumbor I've been trying to catch up with photographing other coins and did a half marathon yesterday (lovely weather for it), so they're not at the top of the "to do" pile yet.

I'll post any updates on IDs and will look out for same from other Incerta sleuths.

ATB,
Aidan.

 

That's gotta be it. Awesome! (Would also explain CNG's precise dating. I wonder why they didn't mention it.)

 

The ΠΛΩ isn't visible on the other two coins. There are other Athena/owl bronzes of that size from other cities in Apulia which are dated the same (such as the quincunx shown by @Alegandron), so maybe there was good evidence for the dates of the other coins and the similar iconography coupled with ΣAΛ visible on the CNG example's obverse led to the presumed similar time of issue .

 

Oh right. Duh. I should have said: helps confirm CNG's precise dating.

 

Looking at the tags I see that BCD bought some of these from Dan Clark back in the 80's. I remember his catalogs, huge lists of unillustrated lots, often with brief descriptions. I can imagine maybe he was buying some by description only (I know I bought thousands of coins from him that way). Besides, I sold BCD many non-Greek coins over the years.

 

The BCD "unknowns" were gathered over a period of intense collecting that lasted about 45 years. Some were exhaustively researched in a good general library and some were not given much attention as their style suggested areas outside BCD's interests (Mainland Greece). It is a pity the coins are separated from their tags as provenance information can sometimes help (although, as we all know, bronzes sometimes traveled long distances).

 

Thank you for the additional information .

 

Great group of coins TIF, and an intriguing owl. Here's one from down the road


Calabria Tarentum AR Drachm

Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet adorned with Skylla preparing to hurl a stone

Owl standing to right on olive branch, head facing; ZOR (magistrate) to right, TAP to left.

3.07g

Circa 281-276 BC.

Vlasto 1048. McGill 135, Cote 348, Sear 367v.

 

As @ValiantKnight pointed out, there seems to be a Vandal in the house.

Admittedly I don't know much about that period in coin history. At first I thought it might instead be an earlier coin of Carthage-- the obverse figure, although tiny and off center, looks more like a tiny Tanit than a diademed ruler. Wishful thinking. I didn't find anything like it for earlier Carthage or North Africa in SNG Copenhagen volume 8. As best as I can tell at this point it time it probably does fall under the later Vandalic umbrella. The reverse certainly looks like the style of other tiny Vandal palm trees even if the obverse looks off. To be fair, the obverse styles seem haphazard in all small Vandalic bronzes so reservations based on the portrait style are probably misguided.


VANDALS, Pseudo-Imperial coinage
c. 5th-6th century AD, uncertain North African mint
Æ nummus (7 mm, 0.57 gm). Uncertain North African mint
Obv: diademed (laureate??) bust right; star or degraded legend in left field
Rev: palm tree
Ref: BMC Vandals 68-72

The BMC Vandals catalog entry, with weight in grains and size in inches:

 

One of my favorite things in the whole world is IDing a lot of ancient coins. Looks like you have some real beauties in there as well! Enjoy!

 

Definitely a nice rare find in a group lot