Like potato chips, I couldn't stop at just one of Steve's coins. The budget at the time didn't allow much but I had my eye on this intriguing little Greek bronze. You may remember it from the Totally Looks Like thread-- Hermes as Andy Capp Tonight I looked through auction archives via ACsearch (which includes CNG's archives), through current offerings on Vcoins, eBay, and MA-shops, and on Forum Ancient Coin's discussion boards and members' galleries. In total and including this coin and three in the 1907 catalog by von Fritz, I found fifteen different examples. There may be different denominations of the type, or else control of flan size was poor or perhaps the type was produced over a period of time in which the size changed. Fifteen examples found, so it seems rather rare. Fortunately rare doesn't necessarily mean expensive. Isn't this a great hobby? I don't have the SNG volume cited by the seller Steve bought it from but I did some digging around the 'net and located von Fritze's 1907 catalog. The date of striking isn't clear, with auction and sale listings citing dates ranging from early 3rd to 1st centuries BCE. Von Fritze's work is in German so other than confirming the coin description, I didn't get any information there. CNG's most recent example (sold in 2015) shows c. 300 BCE, and CNG's catalogers are generally reliable in terms of current scholarship, but until I find a primary source, I'm going with a vague and broad range. THRACE, Sestos (sometimes spelled Sestus) c. 3rd-2nd century BCE AE 16.6, 2.35 gm Obv: Head of Hermes left, wearing petasos; dotted border Rev: chelys; ΣH downward in right field; dotted border Ref: von Fritz, Nomisma 1, 15 (coin 29 on plate 1 in that book) ex Stevex6 Collection image from wikipedia ... There are many rabbit holes to explore in relation to this coin . I'm not going to explore them all tonight. ... Feel free to post any Sestos coins (Greek or Provincial) or anything else that ties in
The surface has such a great, rich color. Sweet!! I've been eyeballing that Phillip I Ant with the Saecular reverse.
Interesting coin and cool tortoiseshell! I never realised that Andy Capp is what happens to Greek gods when they retire. Lol.
If there are only 15 of these you can bet that is yours is one of the nicest! Sestos Thrace, Sestos. Ithyphallic herm/Amphora Circa 300 BC. Æ12. Ithyphallic herm facing; ear of grain left, caduceus right / ΣA, Amphora. BMC Thrace pg. 198, 6; SNG Copenhagen 932.
