Hello friends, I have some coins marked down to move. Please PM me if interested. Happy collecting! J 1. SOLD I don’t need to go into great detail about large Ptolemaic bronzes. Suffice it to say that this is a magnificent example with superb detail, pristine surfaces, and no monkey business - no tooling, no false patina, no cleaning scratches, nothing. A well-struck, perfectly preserved specimen. This coin comes with a CNG tag, but I could not find it online - perhaps it was sold in the early days of CNG, before the internet. $150 Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt. Ptolemy III Euergetes. 246-222 BC. Æ Triobol, 34mm, 34.07g, 12h; Alexandreia mint. Series 5. Struck 230-222 BC. Obv.: Diademed head of Zeus-Ammon right. Rev.: Eagle with closed wings standing left on thunderbolt; filleted cornucopia to left, XP monogram between legs. Reference: Svoronos 965; Weiser 72; SNG Copenhagen 173-5; Noeske 120-2. Notes: ex-CNG ________________________________________ 2. Very little is known of the Bosporan king Tiberius Julius Thothorses (c. AD 278-308/9), other than his genealogy and approximate dates of rule. He reigned during the Roman Crisis of the Third Century and First Tetrarchy, but is not recorded to have achieved anything noteworthy. (Perhaps he was a good and wise ruler? - They don’t get the press that scoundrels seem to garner.) Wiki says a great deal of lead was added to the bronze coinage during his reign, but whoever contributed that information did not cite a source. The coin does feel heavy for its size. Bosporan issues have a unique and fascinating style, and this coin is no exception. I’ve provided two images, as the patina is glossy and difficult to image without glare. The second image includes an outline of the date. The tamga is the royal emblem of the house of Teiranes. This is an exceptional example of the type, with wonderful detail and perfect surfaces - a gem in a sea of rough coins. $44 Bosporan Kingdom, Tiberius Julius Thothorses, c. AD 278-308/9 AE Stater, 20mm, 7.6g, 12h; Uncertain mint (Panticapaeum?), AD 290. Obv.: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΘΟΘΩΡΣΟΥ; Diademed, draped bust of king right. Rev.: Laureate head of Diocletian right, tamga in right field // ΖΠΦ (587 = 290 AD). Reference: cf. Anokhin 735, Mionnet 2, 160ff. ________________________________________ 3. Here’s a youthful bust of Caracalla with superb style and sharply-struck reverse. An outstanding representative of the type. $45 Caracalla, AD 198-217 AR denarius, 3.2g, 19mm, 6h; Rome mint, c. AD 201. Obv.: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG; Laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right. Rev.: VIRTVS AVGG; Virtus, helmeted, standing right, holding Victory and spear. Reference: RIC 4a Caracalla 149, p. 234. ________________________________________ 4. SOLD Here is a Constantinople-only issue of Constantine I, Roma seated. I’ve included two images, one that demonstrates the forest-green patina, the other a reflective image showing the even strike and smooth surfaces. In this grade, this scarce LRB would run you seventy-five to a hundred retail. $45 This coin comes from a period of artistic renewal at the Constantinople mint, and the analysis from RIC is worth reading... “...Constantinople, after having been an ordinary mint, striking the usual kind of coins, emerges as something exceptional. The time was probably early 327. Four entirely new types were created for Constantine, GLORIA EXERCITVS, GLORIA ROMANORVM, LIBERTAS PVBLICA, and SPES PVBLIC, and a third officina was added to the mint. Here the reverses record a summing up of the Civil War II, the glory of the army constituting the glory of the Empire, the death of the tyrant (Spes public) granting liberty for all. At the same time this change occurs, the bronze coinage for the first time employs the title MAX(imus) AVG(ustus) in the obverse legends. In the first stage, Constantine still appears with laureate head on the obverse; in the following stage, when the same reverses were repeated in a seven-officina issue, we find a diademed head, with the diadems showing a successive development from plain and ladder-shaped diadems to rosette diadems.” (RIC VII, pp. 566-567) Constantine I, AD 306-337 Æ Follis, 2.9g, 20mm, 12h; Constantinople mint, 327-328. Obv.: CONSTANTI-NVS PIVS AVG; Diademed, draped bust right. Rev.: GLORIA RO-MANORVM; Roma helmeted, seated left on shield, holding long scepter, Victory on globe in right hand, Z in left field // CONS Reference: RIC VII Constantinople 23, p. 573. ________________________________________ 5. You all know him as that wild and crazy guy, Charles the Mad, prone to fevers and incoherent babblings, getting chased by lepers, killing his own knights, running wildly through the hallways, forgetting his name, forgetting his wife’s name, and thinking he was made of glass. (Sounds like one of my college dorm parties, actually.) Here’s a lovely Blanc Guénar with copious detail and nice surfaces. $45 Charles VI "The Mad" 1380-1422 AR Blanc Guénar, 2.9g, 29mm. Obv.: + KAROLVS: FRANCORV: REX; Shield of arms. Rev.: + SIT: nOmE: DnI: BENEDICTV; Cross with two crowns and two lis. Reference: DuP 377 ________________________________________ 6. Tipu Sultan was the ruler of the South Indian Kingdom of Mysore during the late 18th-century. He was a pioneer in the use of rocket artillery, an ally of Napoleon, and the bane of the British East India Company’s existence. He was eventually killed in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, defending his fort at Srirangapatna. He is regarded as somewhat of a hero in certain Indian and Pakistani regions, but a tyrant and religious bigot in others. These fanams are readily available in lower grades, but this is the finest one I’ve ever come across - perfectly centered, strong strike, no circulation wear, impeccably preserved. An absolutely gorgeous little gold coin. (Thank you to THCoins for assistance in reading the date.) $79 Mysore, Tipu Sultan, AD 1782-1799 AV Fanam, 7.74mm, 0.37g, Patan mint: 1789. Obv.: HA (Initials of Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan's father) within inner linear and outer dotted borders. Rev.: 1218 (= AD 1789) / Zarb Patan (Patan mint), within inner linear and outer dotted borders. Reference: KM 128.1 Notes: Tipu Sultan introduced his own Mauludi date system, replacing the Hijiri calendar, thus the dates on these coins are to be read differently than those of other Islamic issues. ________________________________________ 7. SOLD Andrew Jackson and his Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury issued a resounding economic blunder known as the Specie Circular in 1836. Banks were required to accept only gold and silver in payment for land. The idea was to bolster reserves, as the banks at this time were issuing piles of unbacked paper money (shinplaster). The law backfired as citizens hoarded their coins and made a run on the banks. On May 10, 1837, banks in New York suspended specie payments altogether, meaning, your paper money was now worthless. The reasons for the Panic of 1837 and the recession that followed are numerous and complex. Wiki is a good start on the subject, but the economic analysis of this period is still hotly debated. At any rate, the hoarding of official coin always results in a plethora of token issues, in this case Hard Times Tokens. This Hard Times Token is Rulau HT 67. It is always interesting to me to find a coin or token that references a specific historical event, in this case the suspension of specie payments on May 10, 1837. NOVR refers to November 27th, 1836, on which date bankers from nineteen states met in New York, and set the resumption of specie payments to May 10, 1838. The phoenix would rise from the flames of burning shinplaster. (As it was, the recession lasted a few more years - recovery did not come quickly.) $39
