Greek cities not seen every day

I'm not saying the cities that contributed to this post are rare and they certainly are not valuable but they are evidence that there were places making coins that were not represented on this list every day. These coins all came from the Ferericksburg show Friday. They ranged from $10 to $45 and I overpaid for a couple (easy to do at shows).
Understatement:

This post is dedicated to my friend zumbly. You are asked to post you coins from these cities. Of the seven cities, six were not previously represented in my collection. That does not mean a thing. All cities here are listed in Sear.

Kentoripai, Sicily, AE 16 hexas (two dots on reverse) after 241 BC
I might have left this one if it only had a plow but there is a bird sitting on the plow. The Demeter head added little to me but the two denomination dots and the bird made me want it.


Seuthos II, King of the Odrysai, Thrace AE16 c.324 BC eagle/wreath
This is a junker and was overpriced considering but I have never seen one like it and I like birds. Go ahead, make me feel bad and show me yours.


Kolophon, Ionia AE16 Apollo/horseman with lyre and KO above 320-294 BC
I thought this was just a $10 example of a common Philip II which many of you have but this is a later city coin. I regret that it has lost the magistrate name under the horse but we can't win them all. I was going to give this away as a cheap starter Greek but when I realized it was different, it got a place in the collection. Don't show me your Philip but show me your Kolophon riders.


Eumeneia, Phrygia AE16 before 133 BC Zeus/wreath
I liked the wreath tied at the top and the Zeus face but mostly this appealed by it being a city named for a king (Eumenes) who did not get a lot of towns like some of his peer group.


Komana, Pisidia AE15 1st century BC Zeus/lion
Cute lion


Leontinoi, Sicily AE13 (trias?) Apollo/tripod, lyre grain kernel - Is there legend at reverse top? If I had it to do over I might have skipped this one but the glossy green payina looks better 'in hand'.


Philip I, Damascus AE25 Ram
Yes, I'd rather have a nicer one but he is a nice woolly sheep. Show me yours that makes it look baaad. Sure I have heard of Damascus but it was not in my collection.

Ides and I differ in that he would skip these in favor of better types and better examples.

Above #3 is right many more times than not but I am an addict and would rather have a dozen coins than part of one for the same price. I would love to have coins Ides would approve of but, more, I want more and more. Addicts are like that. At least I do have a reason for each of these coins. I left a thousand that whispered more silently at the show.

#6 above is one on which we agree. This list has several people willing to help the rest of us grow as collectors. When I need someone to tell me where I have erred, she is my go-to expert.

 

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I happen to have a hexas of Kentoripai. I like yours better. I don't know of any other types that have a plow-only reverse - plows are usually pictured as part of a larger scene. My example isn't great, but I think these coins are pretty damn scarce, so the collector of Sicilian issues should probably grab any half-way decent example that isn't too pricey. I see some dealers asking $350 for coins that are only slightly better than ours. This is probably a prime example of rarity NOT translating into market value.

I would like to know if there are any other ancient plow-only types, though. Has anyone seen one from another city?



Centuripae (Kentoripai), Sicily
AE Hexas, 16mm, 3g, 12h; after 241 BC
Obv.: Head of Demeter right, ear of barley behind.
Rev.: KENTO-PIΠINΩN; Plow, bird right on share, two pellets to left.
Reference: SNG Cop 216

 

Great post, why not get as many mints as possible! I only have Damascus.

Antiochus XII
Damascus
87 to 85 BC
Obvs: Antiochus diademed and unbearded right
Revs: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOY EΠIФANOYΣ ФIΛOΠATOPOΣ KAΛΛINIKOY, Tyche
AE 20x21mm, 7.8g

Demetrios III
Mint: Damascus
96 to 95 BC
AE 20
Obvs: Diademed radiate and bearded right.
Revs: BA[IΛEΩ[ ΔHMHTPIOV ΘEOV ΦIΛOΠATOPO[ [ΩTHPO[, Nike holding wreath and palm within dotted border. IIЄ in ex, A monogram to right. NI ΦI to left.
19x20mm, 7.66g

 

Doug, I know you have a handful of Seleucid issues, so the Philip I may not be your first coin from Damascus. Still, it's a great find - I would have over-payed for that one in a heartbeat. It is absolutely NOT something you see everyday - funny what you can find digging around in dealers' old boxes, huh?

I have many coins minted in Damascus, but the two rarest come from the Nabataean king Aretas III's brief tenure as protector of the city, beginning in 82/83 BC. He minted a set of denominations in the Seleucid style, bearing his name. The larger bronzes are quite rare. The smaller one is extremely rare, mine being the third known example (Meshorer published the other two). There is only one known tetradrachm, in the BMC...



Also, don't you have a bronze of Tigranes II? That would also have been minted in Damascus. Or am I thinking of someone else?

 

Like Zumbly and Doug, I also enjoy having coins from uncommon locales.

That alone makes all of the OP coins "worthy". Of the group, I particularly like (and am envious of) the Damascus sheep. The Kentoripai is also cool and the bird-on-plow certainly adds interest.

I recall seeing the Komana lion bronzes before because I had to click the description to learn it wasn't a dog .

Thank you, Doug!

 

Thanks, and what a fun group... I see them all as a mix of interesting and attractive.

I disappoint myself by having coins from only one of those cities. I've three from Kolophon, but none are Apollo/horseman, even though they all feature Apollo. On the coin below, he's paired with Homer (the city was one of several who claimed that the poet was born there).


IONIA, Kolophon
AE19. 4.28g, 19.4mm, IONIA, Kolophon, circa 50 BC, Apollas, magistrate. SNG Cop 184; Milne, Colophon 178. O: AΠOΛΛAΣ, Homer enthroned, resting chin on right hand, in left hand holding a volume on his knee. R: ΚΟΛΟΦΩΝΙΩΝ, Apollo standing right, phiale in right, lyre in left.

A coin from any of the Odrysian kings is on my want list, as is one of those from Komana (Komama? Konana? I've seen all those spellings for this city). I really like the Eumeneia as well, but my favorite of this group is the Kentoripai... what a great coin and type! HGC Sicily (current scholarship?) dates yours and two other value-marked denominations to the 2nd century BC, and suggests that based on weight, they were struck "on the declining Roman uncial standard (c. 27.6g to the as)". They call yours a sextans.

 

I also agree and think that's a 'fun group' of cool coins ...from 'obscure' cities.

I seem to be missing examples from any of those 'greek cities'---even Damascus

I think Steve's animal obsession is catching since i keep being drawn back to that cool sheep and 'cute' lion

 

Actually, I have very few Seleucid coins compared to most people and have trouble working up a lot of interest in them. I did not think of checking the mint ID's of the ones I have so you may be right that there is one mixed in.

 

I like obscure Greek coinage.

 

Just like the huge diversity of ancient coins, there is also a huge diversity of ancient collectors.

Doug is correct in his observation that I'm reflexively drawn to higher quality coins whose artistry and history appeals to me. This is not actually a cognitive process for me -- it's just how, unconsciously, my eye is drawn to coins when I'm looking online or through printed catalogs. Just as I like modern furniture rather than Chippendale, I like artistic coins whose quality is evident at a glance.

This does not mean, most assuredly, that I don't appreciate less-than-VF ancient coins (as many of my posts will attest). On the contrary, this website has broadened both my interest in, and appreciation of, coins that are outside the area in which I collect.

 

To me this is the most important feature of our little CT family. We share some common interests but not in all the details. We need not agree on everything to respect each other's may of seeing. At my coin show Friday, I saw a single coin I liked that cost almost exactly the total of the thirty I bought. It was not perfect (a RR Liberal Triens) but better than most I have seen. I prefer my pile of little junkers. Your mileage may vary.

 

I'm confused. Where are those reference quotes coming from and what post? I'm not seeing those here.

My Roman Provincial and Greek collection is really sparse so I know that I don't have any of those cities. Although I'm glad these coins are posted so that I can add them to my list of provincial coins to look for when I decide to shop again.

 

Some listed here are Greek city mints and may not have operated in the Roman period.

 

There are always multiple threads here on overlapping subjects. I prefer starting new, shorter threads rather than stealing those already wandering from subject to subject.

Many cities came and went and came again several times between 600 BC and 600 AD. Several town names record cities we have no good idea where they were located just as some coins were issued from places with names lost to us (or at least in question).

 

That's not what I mean at all, with all due respect. From the original post which was made by Doug, he quotes various people there from another post. I wanted to know what post those quotes are coming from.

 

He brought them over from another current thread:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/suggestions-for-new-collector.284319/

Specifically, this post by IOM:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/suggestions-for-new-collector.284319/#post-2528051

...

And from another thread started yesterday, the comment by Zumbly:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/two-fish-and-a-dolphin.284302/#post-2527791

...

For reasons he explained in this comment a few posts up in this thread:

 

@Gil-galad if you hit the little blue arrow next to the name in a quote bubble mitt will take you back to the thread it came from.

 

I'll be darned...I didn'tk now that!! Neat!

I dig weird coins!

I don't have many coins from really strange places...but here is one. it took me a long time to figure out where the heck this thing was from. this coin is ugly as can be (but not bad for type), but i think i had more fun sleuthing this thing than i had with any other coin so far this year.




Greek Cyclades, Siphnos, 3rd century BC

O: Head of the youthful Apollo Karneios with ram's horn, grapes counterpunch. R: Poseidon,trident in his left hand holding , dolphin on the right, grapes lower left. SNG Cop. 785, 4.8 g, 19 mm.

 

Got it!! Thanks. Just starting to warm up posting here again. I haven't posted here in about a year besides lately.

 

Yeah, I see now. Ok, I will shut up now and not to further derail the thread. lol