In my last auction my main targets had unexpected and discouraging prices. This is another discussion, but for me, no matter how much I like the coin, I try not to overpay. Paying 50 EUR for a coin when I was expecting a 40 EUR hammer price is something. Paying 150 is not something I am willing to do. So many coins I was hunting flew away, but I can't complain at all. The "consolation prizes" are not bad at all and I certainly wasn't in the position of buying random coins just to buy something - what I won wasn't on the top of the wish list but not bad either. This was my first win in the auction Caria. Uncertain mint circa 500-400 BC. Tetartemorion AR 7 mm, 0,19 g Confronted bull heads / Forepart of bull right, within incuse square. SNG Kayhan 969 (my attribution - the house just provided the size, weight and "Caria uncertain mint") I have noticed these types in previous auctions but I had different targets and didn't try to get one. The coin ticks many boxes for me - small coin (I like tetartemorions a lot and I am still amazed when seeing how Greeks were able to put such small details on it) - animals on coins - ... and a new city, although it is not clear which one Obverse centering issue does not bother me as the design is clear and, being a small coin, it looks much better in hand. I would like to see theories about this "Uncertain mint". Is it a lost city or not clear which one? And of course, small coins with animals or coins from "Uncertain mint" are welcome.
Great post. I am amazed at the Die-Cutter's ability to place images / art on such a tiny canvas! I really like those butting bull heads on yours, @ambr0zie ... very cool! That is a lot of subject matter in such a small space. There are several of my Tetartemorions - Tets (Tetas?) that are difficult to find their true origin mint/city. As I have asked on other Forums, plausible explanations have been that Tets are not hoarded (super-low monetary value), so they become single finds. However, the single finds are generally in ancient market areas so it can be inferred that they Tet is from the City that they were found. However, that theory is not conclusive... folks did travel to other market areas! Here are some of my "Uncertains": ASIA MINOR Uncertain mint AR Tetartemorion Lion - Incuse 5mm 0.13g CILICIA Uncertain mint Early-mid 4th C BCE AR Tetartemorion 5mm 0.17g Persian king running dagger and bow - Crowned hd Achaemenid king CNG E239 Troxell Kagan 4 Mylasa in Caria, or Ionia Miletos (uncertain) AR Tetartemorion 5.6mm 0.21g Roaring Lion Hd - Bird Klein 430 SNG Kay 941 Uncert West Asia Minor Karia 5th C BC AR tetartemorion 5mm 0.15g Female - Frprt man-faced bull r Kayhan 968 exc rght
Certainly not a match but yours reminds me of my 'Uncertain, Caria' AR 0.13g, 7mm coin I am calling a hemitartemorion based on its similarity to SNG Kayhan 968 which weighs 0.29g and is called a 'Milesian standard tetartemorion'. I really doubt the use of the denomination names here and have no idea how the weight system worked there and then. Kayhan also shows shows this type in a much larger size (2.21g) with bull right but SNG Kayhan 969 is left facing and 0.31g. That is hardly a match. I suspect there are a hundred variations on these bull filled coins soit is tempting to force catalog numbers on coins that are not the same. I consider these neat little coins but they are not for collectors allergic to question marks. I was just given a tiny silver that came with an incorrect ID but I believe I am right calling it a Unofficial or Celtic imitation of Emporion, Spain, 0.16g and broken but others I have found online that are intact make me wonder if that is not close to correct weight. My problem is that I have not found any 'official' coins of this type but there are a lot of 'imitations' mostly flagged as rare. It has a head and a Pegasus rendered in poor style. I have never seen another but suspect someone found a bunch and I got the worst one which explains why it was a gift. Better examples still have poor style but sell for more. If anyone knows the story on these, please tell me. This has been referenced as Burges 1196 and CNH 16A (addenda) but I do not have those to check.
Caria, Uncertain is quite the frequent attribution. Koray Konuk has written about a lot of the Carian mints and a lot of the uncertain coins. I don't recall whether these double-bull foreparts / bulls specifically are included in any of his papers, but I'd be surprised if not. (If I recall correctly, he may have cataloged SNG Kayhan, and is at least partly responsible for HNO (Caria): http://hno.huma-num.fr/ ) Koray Konuk's Academia.edu page has a number of his texts avail. re: coinage of Caria, the Hekatominds, and Asia Minor. One type that interests me are the tiny coins with the ram obverse and male head reverse. I love the tiny coins. And I also love the scholarly debate surrounding the coin. (The "question marks" are where the interesting stuff is.) It's not my tiniest coin, but I have none tinier with more detail (I should have left/right switched here, ram is obv.): Hekatomnos, Satrap of Caria. AR Hemitetartemorion (Milesian standard, 4mm, 0.12g). Uncertain mint (Kasolaba?), c. 392-377 BCE. Obv: Head of ram right. Rev: Head of young male right. ΕΚ to right (for Hekatomnos?). References: HNO Caria 1922 (as Kasolaba); SNG Keckman 867; SNG Kayhan II, 1674; Konuk, Kasolaba 14 (as Kasolaba); Konuk, Identities 7 (as Mylasa?). Published (online): Historia Numorum (Caria) Online n° 1922 (temporary) 1922 (this coin = example 3). Provenance: Ex-Elvira Clain-Stefanelli (1914-2001) Collection (possibly also Vladimir's [1914-1982]), previously known as “The Demarete Collection" (Stack's Bowers); Ex-Naville Auction 68 (3 October 2021), Lot 81. Similar types have been identified as municipal and Satrapal issues (of Hekatomnos or perhaps even King Abdemon in Cyprus) and assigned to numerous mints in Troas (Kebren), Cyprus (Salamis). Konuk recently interpreted the "EK" as referring to Hekatomnos. He has assigned this or similar variants to at least three different mints in Caria recent decades (Halikarnassos, Kasolaba, and Mylasa). Further complicating things, various denominations have been labeled as hemitetartemoria (like mine), tetartemoria, hemiobols, obols, and intermediate denominations such as tritetartemoria, and alternative classifications such as 1/24th Siglos and 1/12th Siglos. Different-sized coins are often confused both in commerce and scholarly literature, as types that may have genuinely been struck at different mints or in different periods but have similar imagery. My "large" one is a Hemiobol (8mm, 0.40g); for type: HNO 945, same dies as SNG Keckman I, 879 = HNO 945, ex 13 (photos). It's hard to see but it has the characters ( - ?) that Konuk ID's as the ethnic for Kasolaba (oops, got obv/rev switched again):
Strange is our obsession with these tiny coins where we consider a hemiobol to be 'fat'. True, we could have a contest for the most interesting collection limited by a total weight of ten grams. My 0.2g ram/lion coin below is from Kebren in Troas. Many cities issued similar types and relatively few place legends on the tiny coins. It is no wonder that we have so many attributed to 'Uncertain'. We have to accept some coins a bit lower grade than would be popular in tetradrachms. While several times too heavy for this thread, my 0.8g Syracuse octopus gained its place as my smallest coin with a spelled out (unabbreviated) Syrakosion obverse legend rather than the more usual Syra. At least that legend will not be challenged by new studies reorganizing the uncertain issues. Somewhere on CT is a discussion of 'most letters' on 'smallest flan'. These are small, very small.
