Good news -- after vanishing for a month, a package finally arrived.

Spaniard · Aug 29, 2020

@DonnaML.......lOVELY coins!...Glad they finally reached you.
I really like this reverse design...
Thessalian League. Around 197-150 BC. AE Trichalcon (7.64 gm, 19mm). Hippolo(chos), magistrates.
Obverse: laureate head of Apollo right.
Reverse: ΘEΣΣA ΛΩN (THESSALON) in two lines, Athena Itonia striding right, hurling spear held in her right hand, shield on her left arm; ΙΠΠ-ΟΛΟ (IPOLLO magistrates name) over spear and A-PI across central field.
BCD Thessaly II, 900.3; Rogers 21.SNG Copenhagen 315.

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Spargrodan · Aug 29, 2020

DonnaML said: ↑

I was very pleased today to receive (finally) a package containing two ancient coins I purchased from a Canadian dealer in late July. The package was mailed on July 28, but there were no tracking updates between July 29 and today. It's as if the coins fell into Niagara Falls and remained there for a month:

Tracking History

August 28, 2020, 2:19 pm
Delivered, In/At Mailbox
NEW YORK, NY 100--
Your item was delivered in or at the mailbox at 2:19 pm on August 28, 2020 in NEW YORK, NY 100--.

August 28, 2020, 8:16 am
Out for Delivery
NEW YORK, NY 100--

August 28, 2020, 8:05 am
Arrived at Post Office
NEW YORK, NY 100--

July 29, 2020, 3:55 pm
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14304
Shipping Partner: CHITCHAT

July 29, 2020, 7:44 am
Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item
NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14304

About a week ago, I filed a missing-mail report. Did that have something to do with the coins turning up? I'll never know. But whatever the reason, I'm greatly relieved. The package was insured, but I'm much happier with the coins!

I made the obvious mistake of posting about them here right after I bought them, something that undoubtedly caused the package to vanish. Now that I have them in hand, I'll post them again. Along with a question about the tags that came with them.

I bought them as a pair, at a nice discount from their combined individual prices. They were 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.

View attachment 1166575

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.

View attachment 1166576

* [Applicable to both 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.

The Triton XV auction catalog can be viewed at https://issuu.com/cngcoins/docs/bcd_triton_xv_virtual_catalog .

The coins came with their original tags from the BCD Collection (whoever BCD was or is)! Here they are, in order:

View attachment 1166588

Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to the significance of what's written on the backs of the two tags? The first one seems to read something like "Franke hd. [or Rd.] Summer 1983." The second one seems to read something like "West of Karditsa Dec. 96 hd. [or Rd.], S. Fr. 90,--" Karditsa, it seems, is a city in Western Thessaly.

Any thoughts? I'm at a complete loss. Normally one would think that dates refer to when a coin was purchased, but is there any possibility that these dates refer to when and where the coins were found? On the other hand, perhaps "S. Fr. 90.--" means 90 Swiss Francs.
Click to expand...

Nice coins I'm happy for you that they finally showed up.

ancient coin hunter · Aug 29, 2020

Glad that you finally got your package Donna. I had something similar happen when I ordered a copy of my dissertation last year from Abstracts International. There was an initial scan then nothing for three months when it magically showed up. In the interim I contacted ProQuest and they sent me another bound copy for free. So I ended up getting two copies for the price of one.

jamesicus · Aug 29, 2020

I am happy for you, Donna. I know the great feeling you get when this happens.

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Good news -- after vanishing for a month, a package finally arrived.

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Good news -- after vanishing for a month, a package finally arrived.

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