I just can't decide how to present my new coin. I could bill it as my last coin of 2019 (it is - I got such good service from Bargain Bin Ancients that it arrived in 2019 by two days). I could update my ten favorites of 2019. It is not in the ten BUT it is related to the first coin shown on my ten-list. I could use it to bump the list of lists which I may do anyway because I want to keep that thread on the first page. I could show it as just a little bit different from other coins I have with Herakles and a horse. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I had no intention of buying any more coins in 2019 but for some reason (maybe it was the 10% off offer?) I looked at the Bargain Bin Ancients website and there it was. It was fairly priced (and that does make a difference to me!) so I ordered it. You may know I like 'educational coins' and this one makes the coin on my top ten list a lot easier to understand. I won't repeat a lot of what has been said about this type in the last few years. My coin from the top ten was first posted here by SteveX6 shortly after he bought it from CNG. Pavlos had a great post discussing the overstrike. Those interested can use CT search and find these threads on the question of Boeotia Federal Coinage overstruck on a coin of Antigonos Gonatos of Macedon. I could post links but part of the reason we are here is to teach how to use the great resource CT is and learning to search for what you want is an important thing for the skilled CT user. AMCC2 included a specimen of the type. In fact, the overstrike is actually very common but few are as good looking as mine with detail showing on both sides from both strikes. My new coin is the second below. I rotated it to match the traces of undertype on the first coin below. I regret that this new coin is not the pretty brown of the overstruck one but even its smooth black surfaces are better than most of these we see. I like owning plain undertypes of the overstrikes I have. That may not be the best reason for buying a coin this late in the year but it is what it is and I'm glad to have it. Thanks Brian! The good service made this the last coin of 2019 for me. I wonder if I will buy anything in 2020. Will I buy ten coins worth posting next December? Will I be collecting next December? Too many questions.
More fuel for the "Coin Pairs and Why They Need Each Other" - easier with the pair to see the coin underneath. A great photo, as always, even the red and green patinas of the two coins complement each other well.
Nice one! Your new pickup definitely adds much to my appreciation of the ex Steve coin. A worthy way to end the year, IMHO. You probably know the favorite overstrike in my collection... small chance I’ll ever own an example of the undertype. Maybe in my next lifetime! You seem to have many questions about your upcoming collecting year. I only have one - which interesting coin you’ll be showing us as your first pickup of the new year. Have an excellent 2020, Doug!
If you want to be really sure my first coin of 2020 is really, really special, I do have a want list: 2016: #1 CRETE, Gortyna AR Stater. 11.77g, 29.8mm. CRETE, Gortyna, circa 330-270 BC. SNG Cop -; cf. Svoronos 58 and 62 (obv and rev type). O: Europa seated right in plane (platanus) tree, resting her head pensively on her left hand. R: Bull standing to right, head turned back left to lick its flank. Notes: Notes: Overstruck on a stater of Knossos, circa 425-360 BC (Svoronos 23), with visible undertypes of the Minotaur on obv and Labyrinth of Knossos on rev.
Its a deal. I get it next time around. That has to be the ugliest coin so high on anyone's want list. Ugly but wonderful.
What a great thread, which must not be relegated to p. 2. Here's the example of the overstrike from AMCC 2, which has the obverse overstruck on the obverse of the undertype, unlike Doug's: And the writeup: BOEOTIA, Federal coinage, c. 220s BCE under Antigonos III Doson, AE18. Overstruck on Antigonos Gonatas, 277-239 BCE. 2.74g, 17mm. Obv: Head of Demeter or Kore facing slightly right. Undertype: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin. Rev: ΒΟΙΩΤΩΝ, Poseidon standing left, foot set on rock, holding trident. Undertype: B - A, Horseman right, ANTI monogram below. BCD Boiotia 100-109; Undertype: SNG Cop 1214-21. Very clear undertype, including the Antiogonos monogram. The dating of these coins, which are normally found overstruck, follows E. Vlachogianni, "A hoard of coins from Thebes," NomKhron 19 (2000), pp. 55-113. This places it squarely within the reign of Antigonos III Doson, who is otherwise difficult to represent numismatically in bronze. Antigonos III led Macedon’s last resurgence before its final defeat (to the Romans) under Philip V and Perseus.
Thanks for picking up my slack, Sev! I should have posted this coin but I haven't even photographed it yet. Your images are probably better than mine will be anyway . (This was one of my AMCC2 wins )
