Featured Follow the coin theme GAME - ancient edition - post ‘em if you got ‘em

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Collect89, Jul 21, 2017.

  1. ambr0zie

    ambr0zie Dacian Taraboste

    upload_2021-9-9_21-38-41.png

    IONIA, Phokaia. Circa 521-478 BC. AR Tetartemorion. Head of griffin left / Incuse punch. Cf. SNG Kayhan 514–6 (hemidrachms) and 1428 (diobol). VF, toned, a little off center. It is possible that this issue may belong to Abdera or Teos, both of which also issued early silver coins with griffins on the obverse.
    0,18 g, 7 mm

    Next - another coin where issuing city is not 100% clear/known.
     
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. zadie

    zadie Well-Known Member

    tk9TYZb7X2HqmAQ35SkwAod4gc8HC6.jpg


    Republican Cistophori. L. Sempronius Atratinus (?) Quaestor. AR Cistophoric tetradrachm. Pergamon (?), 40-39 BC. Serpent emerging from cista mystica; all within wreath / Serpents entwined around bowcase. Q to left, thyrsus entwined by serpent to right. ATRA monogram above. 25.3mm, 12.59 g. SNG France 1766; Metcalf, “A Note on the Later Republican Cistophori,” SNR 88 (2009), pp. 205-8, pl. 15.

    This type highly resembles the ordinary civic issues of Pergamon in both style and legend. As such, it often gets missatributed. However, it turns out this enigmatic little coin belongs to a wider series of imperatorial issues struck in Ephesus and Pergamon, or neither.

    The monogram has historically been attributed to Lucius Antonius as proquaestor propraetore after the previous governor, Q. Minucius Thermus left him in command of Asia in 49. Later analysis has lead to other attributions as well. Including that of M. Antonius, who was quaestor in Asia in 113 BC and the grandfather of both Lucius and Mark Antony.

    Metcalf brings forth a theory of his own; Combining hoard data and interpreting the monogram as standing for ATPATIN in greek makes for quite a compelling argument that the issuer of this coin is indeed L. Sempronius Atratinus, a legate of Mark Antony, Atratinus served as praetor suffectus in 40 and propraetor in Asia in 39. Just prior to the battle of Actium, he defected to the side of Octavian and ended his political career as governor of Africa in 23. For which actions taken there he was granted a triumph in 21 BC.

    Next: Provincial from the late republic
     
  4. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    Two coins I bought as a pair, both originally sold at the 2012 Triton XV auction of the "BCD Collection":

    1. Thessaly, Thessalian League (under Roman Republic from 146 BCE, Province of Macedonia). Late 2nd-mid 1st centuries BCE, AR Stater ( = Double Victoriatus* = 1.5 denarius), Magistrates Sosipatros and Gorgopas. Obv. Laureate head of Zeus right / Rev. Helmeted Athena Itonia advancing right, holding shield with left hand and preparing to hurl spear with right hand; vertical legend ΘΕΣΣΑ-ΛΩN to left and right of Athena; [ΣΩ]ΣIΠ-ATPOΣ above spear; ΓOPΓΩΠΑΣ in exergue. BCD** Thessaly II 861.2 [CNG, The BCD Collection of the Coinage of Thessaly, Triton XV Auction, Jan. 3, 2012, Lot 861.2 (this coin)]; HGC 4, 209 [Hoover, Oliver, Handbook of Coins of Northern and Central Greece: . . . Thessaly . . . ., Sixth to First Centuries BC, The Handbook of Greek Coinage Series,Vol. 4 (2014)]; SNG Soutzos 397 [Tsourti, E. and Trifiro, M.D., Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Greece 5: Numismatic Museum, Athens, The A. G. Soutzos Collection (Athens, 2007)]; Klose pp. 339 & 346, 2 (same dies) [Klose, D.O.A, "Zur Chronologie der thessalischen Koinonprägungen im 2. und 1. Jh. v. Chr., Ein weiterer Schatzfund aus Südthessalien," in Peter, Ulrike. ed., Stephanos nomismatikos: Edith Schönert-Geiss zum 65. Geburtstag (Berlin, 1998), at pp. 333-350]. 22 mm., 6.08 g., 2 h. [According to BCD: From Franke Hoard, Greece, found Summer 1983.]

    [​IMG]

    2. Thessaly, Thessalian League (under Roman Republic from 146 BCE, Province of Macedonia). Mid-late 1st century BCE, AR Stater ( = Double Victoriatus* = 1.5 denarius), Magistrates Italos and Diokles. Obv. Head of Zeus right, wearing oak wreath, [ITAΛOY] [behind head, off flan] / Rev. Helmeted Athena Itonia advancing right, holding shield with left hand and preparing to hurl spear with right hand; vertical legend ΘΕΣΣΑ-ΛΩN to left and right of Athena; ΔIO-KΛHΣ above spear, N-I across field. BCD** Thessaly II 874.4 [CNG, The BCD Collection of the Coinage of Thessaly, Triton XV Auction, Jan. 3, 2012, Lot 874.4 (this coin)]; HGC 4, 210 [Hoover, Oliver, Handbook of Coins of Northern and Central Greece: . . . Thessaly . . . ., Sixth to First Centuries BC, The Handbook of Greek Coinage Series,Vol. 4 (2014)]; McClean II 4797-4798 [Grose, S., Catalogue of the McClean Collection of Greek Coins, Fitzwilliam Museum, Vol. II, The Greek Mainland, the Aegean islands, Crete (Cambridge, 1926)]. 20 mm., 6.09 g., 12 h. [According to BCD: From Hoard found Dec. 1996, West of Karditsa,Thessaly, Greece.]

    [​IMG]


    * [Applicable to both Thessalian coins] CNG did not use the term “Double Victoriatus” in the Triton XV catalog, and apparently has not used it in general since at least 2006, because of the absence of evidence that that term, rather than simply "stater," was used contemporaneously in Thessaly.

    **[Applicable to both Thessaly coins.] BCD = [Sorry, you'll have to figure that out; I don't want to be accused of being a gossip! Hint. Try Google.]

    Next: Another coin from Thessaly, Republican Provincial or otherwise.
     
  5. Andres2

    Andres2 Well-Known Member

  6. shanxi

    shanxi Well-Known Member

    G_336_Larissa.jpg
    Larissa, Thessaly
    AR Drachm
    Obv.: Head of the nymph Larissa facing slightly left
    Rev: Mare with foal, both standing right; ΛAPIΣ above, AIΩN in exergue.
    Ag, 5.98g
    Ref.: CNG 292, Lancaster 2012, Nr. 85 (same dies)

    Next: foal
     
  7. Moishi Cohen

    Moishi Cohen Active Member

    E8F14D9A-400B-4561-907D-0806F715937F.jpeg Here is my Corinthian Stater the archaic art is awesome
     
    Hrefn, sand, shanxi and 11 others like this.
  8. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    Very cool coin!
     
  9. Moishi Cohen

    Moishi Cohen Active Member

    Thank you
     
  10. TuckHard

    TuckHard Well-Known Member

    12 hours

    Michen.png
    Mon city-states of the Gulf of Martaban
    Sometimes attributed to the kingdom of Michen
    Present-day Myanmar
    c. 775 to 835 AD
    AR Bracteate | 0.03 grams | 7mm wide
    Obv: Degraded srivatsa in shape of a flower with stem and dimple
    Rev: Repoussé reverse

    Next: coin minted around the beginning of the ninth century
     
    shanxi, octavius, Alegandron and 4 others like this.
  11. ValiantKnight

    ValiantKnight Well-Known Member

    Al-Hakam I, Emirate of Cordoba
    AR dirham
    Obv: (center, in Arabic) "There is no God but Allah. He has no equal"
    (in margins, in Arabic) “In the name of Allah. this Dirham was struck in al-Andalus in the year six and ninety and one-hundred ” (AH 196)
    Rev: (center, in Arabic) "Allah is One God. The eternal and indivisible, who has not begotten, and has not been begotten and never is there His equal"
    (in margins, in Arabic) “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. He sent him with guidance and the true religion to reveal it to all religions even if the polytheists abhor it”
    Mint: Cordoba (al-Andalus)
    Date: 811-812 AD
    Ref: Album 340

    [​IMG]

    Next: Abbasid Caliphate
     
    shanxi, Spaniard, Andres2 and 7 others like this.
  12. TuckHard

    TuckHard Well-Known Member

    This coin came to be published only in 2001 when the type surfaced and surprised experts of Islamic coins from Central Asia. Previous to this coin being published, the earliest Islamic coins believed to have been minted at al-Shash (Chach in pre-Islamic times) was dated 35 years later: 184 AH or 800-801 AD.


    766 AD (149 AH).jpg
    Abbasid Caliphate, al-Shash province of Central Asia
    Issued in the name of al-Mahdi
    766-767 AD | 149 AH
    al-Shash Mint
    AE Fals | 2.23 grams
    Ref: See An Unrecorded 'Abbasid Fals of al-Shash, AH 149, in the name of al-Mahdi by Farr and Nastich in JONS 168
    Next: Another type (or notable variety) which was first published in the last 25 years
     
    Spaniard, Andres2, octavius and 5 others like this.
  13. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    12-hour rule (x 2!)

    Back to Roman coins, here's an example of the SAECVLARES AVGG series issued by Philip I and his family in 248 AD:

    Philip II, Caesar AR Antoninianus, 248 AD, Rome Mint, 3rd Officina. Obv. Radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right, IMP PHILIPVS AVG/ Rev. Moose [North American term for northern European elk]* standing left, SAECVLARES AVGG, III in exergue. RIC IV-3 224, RSC IV 72, Sear RCV III 9275 (ill.). 22 mm., 4.33 g., 12 h. (Games commemorating 1,000th anniversary of founding of Rome.)

    Philip II elk - jpg version.jpg

    * See Sear RCV III at p. 187: "The animal on reverse has traditionally been identified as a goat, but cf. John Twente in 'The Celator,' Jan. 2002, p. 38. There seems little likelihood of the common goat having been featured as one of the exotic animals in the arena, whereas the northern European elk (North American moose) would have been a most suitable candidate." It certainly looks more like a moose than a goat to me!

    Next: another example from the 248 AD series issued by Philip I and his family to commemorate Rome's 1000th anniversary.
     
  14. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    This one was issued for the 1000th anniversary of Rome.

    [​IMG]
    Philip I, AD 244-249.
    Roman AR Antoninianus, 23mm, 3.93 g, 7h.
    Rome mint, 5th officina, 8th emission, AD 248.
    Obv: IMP PHILIPPVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
    Rev: VIRTVS AVGG, Philip I and II on horseback galloping right; Є below.
    Refs: RIC IV 10; RSC 241a; RCV 8976; Hunter 43.

    Next: two equestrians
     
  15. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    Beautiful coin, @Roman Collector. I know that the Philip I elephant antoninianus (RIC IV-3 58, RSC IV 17, Sear RCV III 8921) is considered part of the 1000th anniversary series despite the absence of a SAECVLARES AVGG legend, but I haven't seen this coin classified that way before now. Do you have a source that includes it in the series? If so, I'll have to start looking for an example for myself! (It's interesting that the officina number is in Greek, rather than the Roman numerals used on the rest of the series.)
     
  16. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    There were two series with officina marks issued in 248: one with Greek officina numbers (no animals) and the SAECVLARES AVGG ones with animals and Roman numerals. While the SAECVLARES ones clearly refer to the millennial games, some numismatists consider both series as issued for the millenium.
     
    DonnaML and Spaniard like this.
  17. Andres2

    Andres2 Well-Known Member

  18. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    12-hour rule again

    Next, a sphinx (whether Egyptian with a pharaoh's head or Greco-Roman with a human female head, or any other kind of sphinx).

    My one sphinx coin:

    Roman Republic, T. Carisius, AR Denarius, 46 BCE, Rome mint. Obv. Head of Sibyl (or Sphinx) right, her hair elaborately decorated with jewels and enclosed in a sling, tied with bands / Rev. Human-headed Sphinx seated right with open wings, wearing cap, T•CARISIVS above,; in exergue, III•VIR. Crawford 464/1, RSC I Carisia 11 (ill.), Sear RCV I 446 (ill.), Sear Roman Imperators 69 (ill. p. 46), Sydenham 983a, BMCRR 4061. 19 mm., 3.87 g.*

    T. Carisius sphinx jpg version.jpg

    *The head on the obverse is described simply as a “Sibyl” in Crawford, “Sibyl Herophile” in Sear, and “Aphrodisian Sibyl” (i.e., Sibyl relating to Aphrodite/Venus) in RSC and BMCRR. The Sibyl Herophile was the name of a Sibyl at Erythae in Ionia opposite Chios, also associated with Samos. Crawford notes at p. 476 that the combination of a Sibyl on the obverse and a sphinx on the reverse “recall those of Gergis in the Troad [citing BMC Troas, pp. xxx and 55], perhaps allud[ing] to Caesar’s Trojan origin,” the moneyer being a supporter of Caesar. See the examples of these coins of Gergis at https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/troas/gergis/i.html and https://www.asiaminorcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=79 . On each such coin, the Sibyl is characterized as “Sibyl Herophile.” Characterizing her as the “Aphrodisian” Sibyl would relate to the gens Julia’s legendary descent from Venus. The theory that the obverse instead portrays the head of the Sphinx on the reverse is presented in an article by D. Woods, “Carisius, Acisculus, and the Riddle of the Sphinx,” American Journal of Numismatics Vol. 25 (2013).

    The “IIIVIR” in the exergue on the reverse refers to the moneyer’s position at the mint. See https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=IIIVIR, defining the term as a “Latin abbreviation: Triumvir. On coins of the Roman Republic IIIVIR is used as a shortened abbreviation for IIIVIR AAAFF, which abbreviates ‘III viri aere argento auro flando feiundo’ or ‘Three men for the casting and striking of bronze, silver and gold,’ a moneyer or mint magistrate.”
     
    sand, shanxi, Alegandron and 8 others like this.
  19. akeady

    akeady Well-Known Member

    Here's a little sphinx.

    Electrum hekte from Mytilene, Lesbos
    Obv.: Forepart of winged lion left
    Rev.: Sphinx seated right in linear square within incuse square
    Mint: Mytilene (ca. 412-378 BC)
    Wt./Size/Axis: 2.46g / 11mm / 0h
    References:
    • Bodenstedt 63
    Acquisition: Lydia Numismatics Online auction Online Auction 1 #104 31-May-2020
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Next - some other electrum coin
     
    shanxi, Alegandron, Bing and 7 others like this.
  20. TuckHard

    TuckHard Well-Known Member

    960-1300 CE (Circa) AV 1.16 Massa 'Sandalwood' 'Ma in Nagari script' 0.16g 5mm S3 Combined.png
    Srivijaya Kingdom of Sumatra
    c. 800-1300 CE
    EL 1/16 Massa | 0.15 grams | 5mm wide
    Obv: Incused quadripartite with sandalwood flower
    Rev: Nagari script ma character, Sumatran type

    Next: a coin bearing one single character/letter/number
     
    shanxi, Alegandron, Bing and 6 others like this.
  21. ancientone

    ancientone Well-Known Member

    chalk~0.jpg
    Alexandria, Egypt. Nero AE12
    Obv: Laureate bust r.
    Rev: Wreath with large I.
    12mm. and 1.1gm.

    Next: Alexandrian Nero
     
    shanxi, Alegandron, Bing and 7 others like this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page