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Ionia, Kolophon
AR Tetartemorion.
Late 6th Century BCE.
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo facing.
Reverse: TE monogram within incuse square.
References: SNG Cop 133; SNG Kayhan 356.
Size: 7mm, 0.25g.


Next: another coin from Kolophon

 

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Oldest

Persia Achaemenid Empire Darius I 510-486 BCE AR 0.11g 5mm 1/32nd Siglos Persian hero-king in running incuse Klein 758 Rare

Next up: Another Oldest

 

Lucania Sybaris drachm
Bull standing to left on dotted ground line, head turned back to right; all within border of dots VM in exergue

Bull standing to right, on dotted ground line; around, border of dots; all incuse.

LUCANIA, Sybaris

Circa 550-510 BC.

2.04g

HN III 1736. SNG ANS 847 ff.

Chipped. Old cabinet toning.

Ex-Londinium

Next: Another oldest

 

APOLLONIA PONTIKA
AR Hemiobol
OBVERSE: Anchor, A in field
REVERSE: Swastika with two parallel lines in each quadrant
Struck at Apollonia Pontika, circa 500BC
.28g, 6.54mm
SNG BM 149; Moushmov 3146
ex. Aegean Numismaics

Next: A coin from Apollonia Pontika

 

Up next: Test Cut

 

MACEDONIAN KINGDOM
Fourree Tetradrachm. 16.61g, 31.7mm. Irregular mint, imitating Aspendos, circa 208/7-195/4. In the name and types of Alexander the Great. Cf. Price 2876ff (for prototype); Leu Web Auction 3, Lot 197 (same dies). O: Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress. R: AΛEΞAN∆POY, Zeus seated left on low throne, holding long scepter in his left hand and eagle standing right with closed wings in his right; to left, AΣ.

Next: Imitative coinage

 

Tiberius Tribute Penny from India

Next: coin issued by an unmarried man

 

Nerva was childless and the historical record is completely devoid of any mention of a wife, so I'm going with him.


Nerva, AD 96-98.
Roman AR denarius, 2.65 g, 17.1 mm, 6 h.
Rome, 18 Sept - Dec AD 97.
Obv: IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR P II COS III P P, radiate head, right.
Rev: LIBERTAS PVBLICA, Liberty standing left, holding pileus and scepter.
Refs: RIC 31; BMCRE 61; Cohen 117; RCV --; ERIC II 83.

Next: pileus.

 

PONTOS, Amisos
AE18. 4.26g, 17.6mm. PONTOS, Amisos. Struck under Mithradates VI, circa 120-100 BC. HGC 7, 249; SNG Cop 161-2. O: Winged bust of Perseus right. R: AMIΣOY, Cornucopia flanked by pilei surmounted by stars.

Next: Coin of another Pontic city

 

Mithridates VI Chabakta, Pontos - Bronze Coin (100 B.C. – 85 B.C)
Obverse: Helmeted head of Ares right.
Reverse: [X]ABA-KTΩ[N] across fields, sword in sheath, star in crescent at upper left, monogram at lower left.
Reference: SNG Copenhagen 205-206.

Next: Coin featuring the god Ares

 

Ares


Sicily Messana Mamertini 288-278 BCE AE 28 16-8g Ares - Bull Butting

Next up: Mamertini

 

SICILY, Messana, the Mamertinoi
AE Pentonkion. 11.5g, 27.8mm. SICILY, Messana, the Mamertinoi, circa 211-208 BC. CNS 25: SNG Cop 446; HGC 2, 849. O: Laureate head of Ares left. R: MAMEPTINΩN, warrior standing left, holding spear and leading horse left; Π (mark of value) to left.

Next: Depicting a son of Mars

 

Both sons of Mars:

SEXTUS POMPEIUS FOSTLUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS POMPEIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Head of "Minerva or Pallas" (personification of Rome) with winged helmet, earrings and necklace, looking to the right.
Below the chin, it is the "X" (although its value then was 16 aces) and behind the bust is a small jar
REVERSE: FOSTuLVS left and Sextus. Pompeius. to the right of the field. She-wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus.
Behind Ruminal fig tree is represented with three birds in their branches. On the left, the pastor Faustulus figure in an attitude of admiration for the wonder he sees. ROMA in ex
Struck at Rome 137 BC
3.63g, 19.5mm
Cr235/1a; Syd 461; Pompeia 1

Next: A coin with the value indicated (as above with "X")

 

Kolophon AR hemiobol Apollo??? / HM reverse


Next: a facing head not a gorgon

 

Stater of Kroton 400-375 B.C. 7.71 grms 21 mm Obv. Head of Hera facing slightly right wearing stephane Rv. Herakles reclining
Next coin Coin or Kroton

 

AEOLIS, Gryneion. Circa 3rd Century BC. Æ 16mm (3.42 gm). Three-quarter
facing head of Apollo, turned slightly left, wearing laurel wreath /
, mussel shell. BMC 1

Looks better in hand.. I need to reshoot this coin for sure....

For this I quote a wonderful write up by our member @Orielensis :

Gryneion, a port town in Asia Minor located about 20 miles from Pergamon, is mentioned in Herodotus Histories (1.149.1) as one of the twelve great cities of Aeolis. After the battle of Salamis in 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes gave Gryneion to an ally, the Greek aristocrat Gongylos of Eretria. Gongylos’ heirs might have still held the town in the late 5th c. BC, yet Gryneion was at that time also a tribute-paying member of the anti-Persian Delian League – the political situation in Aeolis was muddled and apparently resulted in some degree of autonomy for the city, as is indicated by the epicraphic use of the word polis for Gryneion. In 336/5 BC, in the context of the unsuccessful Macedonian invasion of Asia Minor, Parmenion sacked the he town and sold its inhabitants into slavery. Gryneion was rebuilt afterwards, and in the Hellenistic period belonged to the territory of the Pergamene Attalids. It was politically merged with the neighboring Myrina before the region was annexed by Rome in 129 BC.

The Gryneian coins are tentatively dated to the 4th or 3rd century BC, and to my knowledge it is not fully clear whether they were minted before or after the Macedonian invasion. In any case, they visually refer to two important factors of the city’s economy and culture. First, the fishing port of Gryneion was famous for its mussels, depicted on the reverse. In fact, its mussel banks are even mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History (lib. 32, cap. 21).

Secondly, there was a sanctuary of Apollo and oracle at Gryneion, which arguably served as the cultic center of Aeolis. The head Apollo on the obverse of all coins almost certainly is a reference to this religious site and its deity, which features prominently in a key passage of Vergil’s Aeneid. When Aeneas decides to leave Dido and go to Italy, he declares in his farewell speech: sed nunc Italiam magnam Gryneus Apollo, Italiam Lyciae iussere capessere sortes; hic amor, haec patria est! (“But now Grynean Apollo, the oracle of Lycia, bids me to seek Italy, great Italy; there is my love, there is my nation!”). So, if you always wanted to see a coin depicting the deity of the prophetic seat which according to Vergil caused the founding of Rome and triggered the Punic Wars, here are some!

There are some additional things I like about these coins: Gryneion never minted any silver, and the question is why. An educated guess I read about recently is that the Gryneians did a bit of outsourcing and used the silver coinage of bigger neighboring cities while only producing small copper change for local use themselves. Secondly, it’s not fully clear whether the three coin types were minted at different times or are different denominations. I suspect the latter due to their weight, but that is just me guessing. Finally, careful readers of Greek legends will notice that the coins give the name of the city as “Gyrneion” although it is always referred to as “Gryneion” in modern literature – this is a wonderful instance of a linguistic phenomenon called metathesis which causes sounds in a word to change place over time, so that the word might be pronounced more easily. Likely the city’s name was Gyrneion when the coins were minted, but had slowly morphed into Gryneion (or, in Latin, Grynium) by the time of Pliny the Elder.

Sorry - Terence beat me to it - Next: Coin of Kroton as he requested

 

BRUTTIUM, Kroton
AR Triobol. 1.21g, 11.4mm. BRUTTIUM, Kroton, circa 525-425 BC. SNG ANS 327; HN Italy 2127. O: KPO (retrograde), tripod terminating in lion's feet. R: Pegasos flying left; koppa below.

Next: Tripod

 

BRUTTIUM.KROTON.circa 480-430BC.AR.Nomos ( didrachm ). (7.67g, 20mm, 5h )
Tripod, Heron standing left, volute in exergue.
Reverse.Incuse tripod.
Ref:SNG ANS 312.
Good very fine, attractive gray tone.
Ex: David Sellwood collection. Baldwins Argentium sale 4th June 2016. part lot 23

Next: Heron

 

Just re-read the rules and updated my 'next'
Sorry, Its my first day =/

 

Here is my Bennu Bird:

Bruttium, Kroton
Anonymous Civic Coinage
BC 530-520
AR Nomos
24 mm x 7.77 grams
Obv: ϘPO left field, Lion legged Tripod center,
Bennu bird standing facing left.
Rev: Inverse relief tripod.
Other: Ref: SNG ANS 227

Next theme is any combination of relief & inverse relief design