*Cough*. Thanks for sharing your coin AncientJoe. Really, whenever I see this obverse I mentally shunt it into the "Unaffordable So Don't Look" category. Just beautiful!
I love me some Carthaginian coins, and their period(s) in Sicily produced some pretty cool coins. As if the Herakles tets weren't beautiful enough, the issues with Tanit/Persephone would be the ones I'd personally chase after to add one to my collection (at some point... In the far future... When budget is bigger). In all honesty, there is one ending in just a could days that I was vying for when I saw its start amount was 250 CHF... but now that it's close to ending, it around 3 times that with pre-bids, and I can only imagine will be higher when it hammers. So I'll have to be happy with some of my (much) smaller AR coins and AE coins. What they lack in chunky silver they make up for in interest lol Punic Occupation of Sicily, Akragas, Sicily AR Quarter Shekel, Circa 213-211 BC, 2nd Punic War Obverse: Wreathed head of Triptolemos right. Reverse: Free horse prancing right, Punic letters “HT” below. References: SNG ANS 1233; SNG Cop 380; HGC 2, 173 Size: 14mm, 1.86g Ex: Artemide Aste Auction 50E (2/29/2020), Lot #86 Zeugitania, Carthage, Circa 300 BC AE ½ Shekel, Uncertain Sicilian Mint Obverse: Date palm with fruits. Reverse: Horse standing right, head turned to look back. References: MAA 22, SNG Cop 126 Size: 16.3mm, 2.91g Zeugitania, Carthage, 400-350 BC AE Unit, Carthage or Sicilian Mint Obverse: Head of Tanit left, wearing wreath of grain and earrings. Reverse: Horse galloping right. References: MAA 15, SNG Cop 96 Size: 16mm, 5.1g Zeugitania, Carthage, 400-350 BC AE Unit, Carthage or Sicilian Mint Obverse: Head of Tanit left, wearing wreath of grain and earrings. Reverse: Horse galloping right. References: MAA 15, SNG Cop 96 Size: 16mm, 4.32g Notes: Very unique rendering of horse on reverse, with long neck design. Zeugitania, Carthage, 350-320 BC AE Unit, Possibly from other mints (Sicily?) Obverse: Palm tree, with two clusters of dates. Reverse: Head of horse right. References: SNG COP 102, Müller 317-318, MAA 20 Size: 17.8mm, 5.5g Zeugitania, Carthage, 350-320 BC AE Unit, Possibly from other mints (Sicily?) Obverse: Palm tree, with two clusters of dates. Reverse: Head of horse left (variation). References: MAA 20 var (horse head left), SNG COP 102 var (same), Müller 317-318 var (same) Size: 17mm, 3.10g Notes: Overstruck on type MAA 15 (400-350 BC). Zeugitania, Carthage, AE Unit Struck ~350 BC just before the 3rd Carthaginian invasion of Sicily 345-340 BC Overstruck on coin from 400-350 BC, West Sicilian mint Obverse: Youthful male head (Trittolemo?) to left between two grain ears. Reverse: Horse galloping right. References: SNG COP 120, MAA 19 (overstruck on MAA 18) Size: 18 mm, 3.46g Notes: Interesting overstrike; the head of Tanit is visible on the reverse, and the horse standing before palm tree on the obverse. (Top two images are of coin, MAA 19, compared to a coin it was overstruck on at bottom, MAA 18.) The male image lacks signs of a deity and may be one of the leaders of the Punic forces.
I know this is not a Carthaginian coin from Sicily, but it is probably my favourite coin of all, it is even my avatar. I think I’ve shared it before, but here we go again...
Thanks Egry! The Carthaginian gold was the coin that first drew me into ancients. The first time I saw one I fell in love with it's artistry and uncluttered design. Especially the proud horse! I finally got one earlier this year. This is the coin I show friends when they want to see examples from my collection.
A.J., That's a breathtaking example of numismatic art ! It can stand next to the finest Greek decadrachms & not be out of place . I hope the Greek artist who engraved the dies was paid well . How would you date the coin & how much does it weigh ?
As others have said, your's is a lovely coin and lively horse. I notice what looks like Punic lettering above its hind end (mostly triangular with a descendent "tail"). I want to say I have similar, though very worn, area above mine's posterior. Earlier this year I got MMA ("Les Monnaies De L'afrique Antique"), and Alexandropoulos doesn't mention any lettering or symbols on these. Zeugitania, Carthage, 203-201 BC BL 1½ Shekel or Tridrachm, Second Punic War Obverse: Wreathed head of Tanit left. Reverse: Horse standing right, head left; pellet between hind legs. References: SNG COP 396, MAA 81c Size: mm, g (I still need to record these lol) Notes: Black surfaces; The billon of this issue has extremely low silver content, such that nearly all examples appear to be bronze. (Google translated)
Since you asked: ZEUGITANIA, Carthage. Circa 310-270 BC. Stater (7.58 gm; 19 mm). Wreathed head of Tanit left, wearing triple-pendant earring and necklace; pellet in field before neck / Horse standing right on single ground line; three pellets below. Jenkins Lewis Group V, 280-97; MAA 10; SNG Copenhagen 975.
Jest luvum! Africa, Zeugutana, Carthage Anonymous BCE 310-290 EL Dekadrachm - Stater 18.5mm, 7.27g Obverse: Wreathed head of Tanit left, eleven pendants on necklace; pellet before neck Reverse: Horse standing right; three pellets below exergue line Ref: MAA 12; SNG Copenhagen 136
Thanks! It weighs 16.90g and is dated 320-310 BC. It definitely has a very similar style to Euainetos dekadrachms, including the obverse shell although unless the engraver lived to a spry 120+ years old, it can't have been executed by the same hand.
Justin, thank you for the research! MMA is definitely a book on list to acquire. With the other encrustations, I had not noticed that those might be symbols. Definitely something worth a further look into. PS: I checked Müller, Numismatique de l'ancienne Afrique. (Copenhagen, 1860 - 1862, available online thru archive.org). On number 231, Müller does not list symbols or letters above the horse.
One of my favorite Horse stances on a Carthage coin... Carthage Carthage mint 2nd Punic War 203-201 BCE BI 1½ Shekels (can be TriDrachm) 24mm 9.4 g Wreathed Head Tanit - Horse standing R head L, raised foreleg Pellet SNG COP 394
Wow, I didn't know Google Translate could handle uploaded documents! When did they add that functionality, or was it there all along? I just tried it-- did a screen shot of the preface of Dattari. First attempt didn't work because the shot was captured as a .png. I converted it to a .pdf and the returned result was a blank page . I tried once more, first cleaning up the image a bit and sharpening the text but it still returned a blank page. Do you have any tips for using an uploaded document in Google Translate?
You don't need to create an image file to translate it. Google the phrase "Google lens" and you will see what I mean.
I use the Google Translate app on my phone and use the Camera option and it does it in real time (well, you hold still on the text for a second and the overlay pops up). I then took a screenshot of the results. For full page reading I use the "Scan" option in the camera mode and it's like you take a photo and it, then take a couple seconds to analyze it, it then highlights all available words ir recognizes using OCR, I use the select all option and it turns all that into translated text to read (though it's all mashed together, so you do some contextual sleuthing using the original layout. Edit: I recorded a quick screen capture of the few options available: real-time translation, scan from camera, and scan from imported image... Any of which will deliver you a page of translated content in some 5 seconds.
Thank you. I downloaded... very interesting from a small test that I did. Had no clue this was available.