Duplicate countermark

I picked up this coin from the Stancomb Collection.
Can anyone tell me why it has been countermarked twice with
the same device ?


Moesia, Kallatis Æ20. Circa 3rd-2nd centuries BC.

Veiled head of Demeter to right; c/m: head of Hermes right wearing petasos

[ΔI within Ivy wreath; ΚΑΛΛΑ above].

SNG Stancomb 92 (this coin); for type cf. AMNG I, 225 and HGC 3.2, 1931.

5.17g, 20mm.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.

 

I don't know why it would be countermarked twice, but that is a fascinating coin!

 

Cool coin! I'm not sure quality control was always very high when it came to countermarking, which often seems to have been done in a hurry.

Just wondering about your attribution. Does that obverse bust looks like a burly Hercules type rather than Demeter?

These can be very difficult to attribute - at least for me. That Hermes in petasos countermark looks very much like one I posted a while back looking for info - I had not encountered Kallatis, but I plan on looking into this. Scythia was the closest thing I could come up with.

Here's mine - Hermes with a star as well:





Kingdom of Scythia Æ 19
Ailios (c. 180-150 B.C.)
Jugate heads of the Dioskuri r. / [BAΣIΛEΩΣ AIΛIOΣ], jugate foreparts of two horses right. [TK monogram below].
Draganov 40 (?).
Countermarks: Hermes head in petasos and 8-rayed star, both in 5 mm circles.
(4.40 grams / 19 mm)


Attribution Notes:

Attribution is a guess; countermark of Hermes is found on Ailios issues. What little of the host is visible seems a possibility.

Tomis, Moesia, or Olbia are other possibilities. (Posted on CT Feb. 2020, but nobody responded.)

 

Looks like workers were being paid "al marco".

 

I believe the Banker was a stutterer...

 

The existence of the coin with one of those marks and one star makes me wonder if the person doing the marking got confused as to which mark had already been applied and repeated it. Obviously I know nothing but these little mysteries are part of the hobby. When we don't necessarily know what one mark means we are not likely to have a grasp on two.

 

This is Stancomb's attribution, based I think on another example of the same coin on which " ΔI within Ivy wreath; ΚΑΛΛΑ above " was visible,
unlike mine.

 

I did a "Kallatis AE" Google image search and came up with this Vcoins listing with an obverse bust of Hercules - the profile looks a bit more like your coin? Believe me when I say I'm no expert!

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/sh...3rd2nd_centuries_bc__18mm/477269/Default.aspx

 

@Marsyas Mike - thanks for your help. I agree that Hercules is a possibility, but one cannot be certain.