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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Plumbata, post: 3235073, member: 96864&quot;]After a sad day yesterday with no mail, St Nick must&#039;ve been disguised as the mailman today!</p><p><br /></p><p>Several highly anticipated parcels arrived today, the first unwrapped being another batch of Greek silver fractions and bronzes from a trusted dealer I&#039;ve patronized from the beginning. The package felt heavier and lumpier than it should have, and the first thing that poured into my hand was this, completely loose as you see it now:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]845599[/ATTACH]&nbsp; [ATTACH=full]845602[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I could hardly believe it! He must have remembered me asking about sling bullets a year ago, and sent me this wonderful and unexpected gift with the batch of Greeks I had built up. I couldn&#039;t imagine a better gift, as 5 or so weeks ago I had seen the same type of bullet offered by Roma, but a week later my deep-pocketed German nemesis who consistently bids over 300 a piece for bullets had the lead so I regretfully moved on.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is a ~4th-3rd Century BC Greek Lead sling bullet, 32.01g, 32mm, embossed with a Bee (to &quot;sting&quot; the enemy) on one side and &quot;ΚΑΛΑ&quot; on the other, the meaning of which I will have to research. It is deformed from impact, but that&#039;s what they do when launched in anger so thankfully it&#039;s still an appealing artifact. </p><p><br /></p><p>Besides the batch of Greeks and a few Sigloi from my sling-bullet Santa, I got a Macedonia, Tragilos C. 450-410 BC 0.18g, 7mm hemiobol/trihemitartemorion with Grape bunch / T-Ρ-I-A within quadripartite incuse square. The coins of Tragilos appeal to me, and while my only other is the classic Barley-head hemiobol I&#039;d like to build a run of all the accessible bronzes too.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]845618[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>A peculiar &quot;aberrant&quot; saw-toothed iron spearhead also arrived, a style that is uncommon and mysterious to me, but my hunch is they are Iron Age Celtic or Thracian throwing-spears. It is 17cm long and 40.5g. It joins 2 other longer sadistic-lookin&#039; spearheads, one with saw-teeth on the larger barbs which point up on one side and down on the other, and the other with 2 sets of barbs, both being unlike anything else I&#039;ve come across. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]845621[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><i>Also </i>arrived was an instant collection of stone artifacts, unidentified by the seller (otherwise expensive as the market is strong) but obviously Australian Aboriginal pieces, evidenced by the dark thermoplastic Spinifex grass resin used to haft the tools and the crude but effective &quot;construction&quot; of the Silcrete blades. The 2 adzes are probably Aboriginal too but aren&#039;t as immediately identifiable and unique as the Aboriginal blade style. This is the first time I&#039;ve handled such items but assume they are post-18th century. Veritable babies! </p><p>[ATTACH=full]845630[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Longest blade is 20cm, which ain&#039;t bad for such pieces.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]845631[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>And since your eyes are probably bleeding from all the non-coin rubbish <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]845636[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]845637[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;Post whatever you like, though any coins from Tragilos would be very interesting to see![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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