Yesterday I bought this little coin at a fair, a Greek bronze coin with a horseman to the right at the obverse and a butting bull to the left at the reverse. Over the bull: ...ANNWN and under it ....EST with another line under it. That would be obvious: Krannon! or Crannon, a small town in Thessaly, not far from Larissa, 4th century BC (the town of Krannon is famous for its curious Jug on Wheels coins). And that was also the seller's information, with Sear number 2074. He is a respected senior numismatist. However, the standard catalog of Thessalian coins is easy to find and use: The Copper Coinage of Thessaly by the Very Rev. Edgar Rogers, Dean of Bocking (1932) doesn't mention this particular variant. Bulls to the left are not mentioned, and neither is the exergue text. Nor has such a coin been issued in Thessaly (where bulls are common). Also, the lettering at the reverse has a distinct post-Alexandrian flavor about it. I decided to ask you, my knowledgeable friends, on a Sunday afternoon, when you are all perched to see what's new at Cointalk! But I had to do all the research I could with the books and internet catalogs that I could find. And this query worked: the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum search form. Horseman and bull led me to the city of Magnesia ad Maeandrum in Ionia, 3rd century BC. Now it all fell into place: the thing behind the horseman turned out to be his billowing cloak, the lettering over the bull must be MAGN and the words in the exergue would form the name of the magistrate, and when I know it, the date of the coin may be found. Still, I can only read EΣT (=EST), somewhere at the middle or end of the name. Dimensions: 17 mm, 3.66 gr. Here it is. Two very different pics, because I'm not so good at technics. A mediocre coin, can you show some better coins of Magnesia ad Maeandrum?
Sounds like a fun bit of sleuthing! ::thumbs up:: I have a couple of earlier M-ad-M coins issued by Themistokles (465-459 BCE), a tetartemorion and an obol:
