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<p>[QUOTE="Marsyas Mike, post: 4426072, member: 85693"]Interesting coin. I'm not sure the countermark in such instances were necessarily meant to deface the king's (or god's) image.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are a few reasons why countermarking happens - I'm sure I've missed some reasons, but these come to mind:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. To validate a "foreign" coin for use in an area far from where it was minted.</p><p>Here are a batch of modern (18th-19th century coins) with countermarks revalidating them for use far from their place of origin (France/Switzerland; Spanish Colonial/British Honduras, England, Sumatra, Portugal; British India/Sumatra, England/Costa Rica; United States/Azores):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1109156[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>2. To validate a counterfeit coin - the Romans did this a lot with the TICA and AVG countermarks on worn & underweight provincial as imitations in the 1st century.</p><p> </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1109152[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>2. To change the value/denomination. Here is "DVP" stamped on a worn imitative sestertius of Claudius re-values it to a dupondius, etc. In my collection thanks to jamesicus (thank you!):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1109150[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>3. To obliterate a ruler. Here a Galba (in Greek) countermark is placed deliberately over the face on a Nero as. This may have also revalidated the coin for use, or its denomination, or geographical validation, but there is no way to know. The examples of these I've seen all have the countermark applied over the face this way, which makes it a good guess that obliterating Nero was part of the plan:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1109151[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>4. Unknown. A lot of ancient countermarks are mysterious. I just got this one recently - a triple countermark issue from Lacicea ad Mare for Antoninus Pius. This could show more than one reason - revalidation, re-valuation, or use in new territory. I doubt we'll ever know. (Or I am revealing my lack of Howgego in my library <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie80" alt=":shame:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1109160[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Antoninus Pius Æ 24</b></p><p><b>Yr. 188 (140-141 A.D.)</b></p><p><b>Syria, Laodicea ad Mare</b></p><p>[AVTO KAI TI AIΛI AΔΡI A]NTΩNE[INOC CEB](?), laureate bust right / IOYΛIEΩN</p><p>TΩN KAI ΛAOΔIKEΩN, Tyche bust left, ΘE-HΠ P in fields.</p><p>RPC 6265 temp.; BMC 61.</p><p>(7.34 g. / 24 mm)</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Countermarks: </b></p><p><b>CM 1:</b> Laureate head Antoninus Pius right, in 4 x 6 mm oval punch, Howgego 113 (156 pcs).</p><p><b>CM 2:</b> Bust of Tyche right (?), in 4 x 5 mm oval punch, Howgego 203 (?) (4 pcs).</p><p><b>CM 3:</b> SA[E] in rectangular punch, 8 x 4 mm. Howgego 572</p><p><br /></p><p>I was lucky to find another example of this coin - see FORVM Automan Collection: <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=546&pos=28" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=546&pos=28" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=546&pos=28</a></p><p><br /></p><p>***</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the OP host coin, there is a very interesting article by Reid Goldsborough on these:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://rg.ancients.info/lion/lysimachos.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://rg.ancients.info/lion/lysimachos.html" rel="nofollow">http://rg.ancients.info/lion/lysimachos.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The countermark I've usually seen on these is like this one (category 2, probably) :</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/cm-lysimachos-river-god-reclining-nov-2019-0-jpg.1091201/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p>I left the attribution off per OP request.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Marsyas Mike, post: 4426072, member: 85693"]Interesting coin. I'm not sure the countermark in such instances were necessarily meant to deface the king's (or god's) image. Here are a few reasons why countermarking happens - I'm sure I've missed some reasons, but these come to mind: 1. To validate a "foreign" coin for use in an area far from where it was minted. Here are a batch of modern (18th-19th century coins) with countermarks revalidating them for use far from their place of origin (France/Switzerland; Spanish Colonial/British Honduras, England, Sumatra, Portugal; British India/Sumatra, England/Costa Rica; United States/Azores): [ATTACH=full]1109156[/ATTACH] 2. To validate a counterfeit coin - the Romans did this a lot with the TICA and AVG countermarks on worn & underweight provincial as imitations in the 1st century. [ATTACH=full]1109152[/ATTACH] 2. To change the value/denomination. Here is "DVP" stamped on a worn imitative sestertius of Claudius re-values it to a dupondius, etc. In my collection thanks to jamesicus (thank you!): [ATTACH=full]1109150[/ATTACH] 3. To obliterate a ruler. Here a Galba (in Greek) countermark is placed deliberately over the face on a Nero as. This may have also revalidated the coin for use, or its denomination, or geographical validation, but there is no way to know. The examples of these I've seen all have the countermark applied over the face this way, which makes it a good guess that obliterating Nero was part of the plan: [ATTACH=full]1109151[/ATTACH] 4. Unknown. A lot of ancient countermarks are mysterious. I just got this one recently - a triple countermark issue from Lacicea ad Mare for Antoninus Pius. This could show more than one reason - revalidation, re-valuation, or use in new territory. I doubt we'll ever know. (Or I am revealing my lack of Howgego in my library :shame:) [ATTACH=full]1109160[/ATTACH] [B]Antoninus Pius Æ 24 Yr. 188 (140-141 A.D.) Syria, Laodicea ad Mare[/B] [AVTO KAI TI AIΛI AΔΡI A]NTΩNE[INOC CEB](?), laureate bust right / IOYΛIEΩN TΩN KAI ΛAOΔIKEΩN, Tyche bust left, ΘE-HΠ P in fields. RPC 6265 temp.; BMC 61. (7.34 g. / 24 mm) [B]Countermarks: CM 1:[/B] Laureate head Antoninus Pius right, in 4 x 6 mm oval punch, Howgego 113 (156 pcs). [B]CM 2:[/B] Bust of Tyche right (?), in 4 x 5 mm oval punch, Howgego 203 (?) (4 pcs). [B]CM 3:[/B] SA[E] in rectangular punch, 8 x 4 mm. Howgego 572 I was lucky to find another example of this coin - see FORVM Automan Collection: [URL]http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=546&pos=28[/URL] *** As for the OP host coin, there is a very interesting article by Reid Goldsborough on these: [URL]http://rg.ancients.info/lion/lysimachos.html[/URL] The countermark I've usually seen on these is like this one (category 2, probably) : [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/cm-lysimachos-river-god-reclining-nov-2019-0-jpg.1091201/[/IMG] I left the attribution off per OP request.[/QUOTE]
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