Dolphin ride

Since antiquity, dolphins have been considered as friends of humans, many men have been - - myth or reality - deemed rescued at sea by dolphins which became a legendary mammal with great intelligence. Here is Eros riding a dolphin, please show your dolphins ! can

 

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Love this design. Nice coin of which I do not have an example.

SPAIN, ARSAOS/SAGUNTUM
AE Sextan
OBVERSE: Scallop shell
REVERSE: Dolphin right, three pellets above, script below (resembling D/|\\IS)
Struck at Saguntum, Mid 2d Century BC
4.12g, 18mm
Sear Greece I, 27

VITELLIUS
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: A VITELLIVS GERM IMP AVG TR P, laureate head right
REVERSE: XV VIR SACR FAC Tripod, raven below, dolphin above
Struck at Rome, Apr/Dec 69AD
2.9g, 19mm
RIC 109, BMC 39, S 2201

THRACE, ISTROS
AR Drachm
OBVERSE: Facing male heads, the left inverted (Polydeuces Castor and Pollucs (AKA Dioskuri)
REVERSE: Sea-eagle left, grasping dolphin with talons; ISTRIH above, Q between wing and tail, K beneath dolphin
Struck at Istros, 400-300BC
5.3g, 19mm
AMNG 434

 

Cool example!!

I have a budget version I grabbed at FAC auctions so I'll post it from their archives:
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Cordius Rufus Denarius. 46 BC. / RVFVS S C, diademed head of Venus right / M N CORDIVS, Cupid riding on dolphin right. / Syd 977, Cr463/3

 

I think mine reads Cupid.



Diadumenian
Region, City: Thrace, Deultum
Coin: Bronze
- Bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right
Cupid - Cupid riding on dolphin right
Mint: (217-218 AD)
Wt./Size/Axis: 2.19g / 18mm / -
References:

• Deultum Moushmov 3568A

Notes: Nov 17, 14 - Reference 20mm 5.71g this is lighter but only ref found. Unpublished in the major references

 

My one and only dolphin

 

A very beautiful coin!

I'm not sure the dolphin legends are true, but I'd like to believe they are.

 

My only dolphin coin.
My pic looks green. First pic is JA's

 

Great coins!

 

What a great thread this is! Ancient coins depicting dolphins are my number one collecting focus (I spend six years affiliated with a nonprofit organization doing interactive research with wild dolphins in the Atlantic ocean). I unfortunately have not yet done any photography of my coins, but snapped this image because it is perhaps the easiest dolphin coin I have to photo: Roman Republic, triens, 280 - 276 BC. Keep them coiming!

 

P MONNEY, nice new coin. I have two dolphins.

~Doug

 

What? No Olbia?

 

Great Coin @PMONNEY ! Great depiction of the Dolphin. Whether the tale is real or not, there seems to ALWAYS be some kernel of truth in any legend.






Syracuse Tyrant Gelon 458-478 BCE AR Tet 24mm 16.7g Slow Biga Victory Artemus-Arethusa 4 dolphins Sear-Greek 914
Ex: @Ancientnoob The Eclectic

 

I saw this last night while browsing the wares at Royal Athena on-line (the brick and mortar gallery is a great place to visit in NYC). Thought it fits the theme.

http://www.royalathena.com/PAGES/RomanCatalog/Bronze/Male/CNC25JE.html




ROMAN BRONZE NUDE BOY RIDING A DOLPHIN
Its body arching; from a handle.
2nd-3rd Century AD
H. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm.)
Ex Royal-Athena, 1984; reacquired for J.M.E. collection, New York, at Christie’s, New York, December 1993.
CNC25JE
SOLD not to me however.

 

marvellous ! too bad out of reach physically and financially !!!

 

Here are some more numismatic dolfins:

 

SICILY, Syracuse. 400-380 BC. AE Drachm (28mm, 29.32 g).

Obv: Head of Athena left.

Rev: Sea-star and two dolphins.

Ex Robert and Julius Diez Collection; ex Gustav Philipsen Collection [J. Hirsch XV (28 May 1906), lot 1213].

 

I was warned away from these because of fakes and tooling, but the provenance on yours takes that factor out of the equation. Very nice example. Very nice detail preserved on the reverse.

 

This unpublished coin depicts Venus riding a dolphin.


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman provincial Æ 5.84 g, 22.0 mm, 7 h.
Bithynia-Pontus, Apamea.
Obv: FAUST[INAC AUG], draped bust of Faustina II, right.
Rev: UЄNU[S ... C]ICA dd, Venus seated right, head left, on dolphin swimming left, resting right arm on dolphin, uncertain object in left hand.
Refs: RPC --; Waddington RG --; BMC --; Sear --; Mionnet Suppl 5 --; Lindgren --; Wiczay --.
Notes: Apparently unpublished. Obverse die match to RPC IV.1 4729.

While depictions of Aphrodite/Venus among dolphins are not uncommon in Greco-Roman art, I am hard-pressed after a rather thorough Google image search to find classical art depicting Venus actually riding a dolphin. In classical art, Eros/Cupid or one of the Nereids typically fill that role.

Cupids riding dolphins. Mosaic of Venus, in the house of Amphitrite, 4th century, BC. Bardo Museum in Tunisia. Image is in the public domain.


Nereid riding dolphin, Apulian red-figure pelike c. 5th century, BC, J. Paul Getty Museum.

Nonetheless, the figure on the coin is Venus, for the reverse reads UЄNUS and is the companion piece (struck with the same obverse die) as this coin featuring Neptune:


Waddington, RG, pl. XXXIX.1.

I had to go well into the Renaissance before I was able to find other depictions of Venus riding a dolphin.

Albrecht Durer's "Venus auf einem Delphin" 1503, Albertina, Vienna:



Agostina Veneziano, "Venus Reclining on a Dolphin" (after Raphael), 1515-1520, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco:

 

Do you have to be nude to be rescued by a dolphin? Evidence presented seems to indicate so. So if drowning get your kit off.