If you could solve one mystery about ancient coins...

I would like to know how the dies were cut! Holding the coin is merely difficult, cutting the dies must have been impossible. The artistic tetartemorions, the full cursive inscriptions on Sasanian obols. I can't imagine them being created with hand tools.

 

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I'd like to know where they were buried.

 

What the specific value of Siliquae were in the Late Empire.
What were prices in the 4th century.

 

Just guessing it may have been to deter people from clipping?

 

Best to start your own thread, you will get more help.

 

Welcome @der. JWT is correct. It will be easier if you start a thread with each coin. Most, if not all, are identifiable.

 

Yes, and it's probably best to ask about each coin in a separate thread, with a separate large photo of each coin. Be sure to include the size and weight. You should be able to get identifications for all of them.

 

welcome, der

=> start a new thread for each coin (good luck)

 

Instead of "probably somewhere in Ionia c 650 BC", I would like to know exactly when and where a pattern was cut into a die, creating the first coins. Also, who decided it was a good idea.

 

A follow-up question - did they use magnifying lenses?

 

Prices and values have always been of interest to me. While I know there are some documented values they really don't tell us much. I know there is a quote somewhere about a denarius a day as wage for an average laborer but then labor is entirely open to interpretation. One person might earn 10 percent of another but both may consider themselves average. Even here in the US I hear about averages. Means little really. People can often live like kings in parts of the country but like paupers in other areas despite earning the same wage. Impossible to know. But it would be neat!

 

I feel they did use magnification. Unless earlier humans had naturally occurring eyeballs with stereoscopic powers, well, I dont see how they could have done it when I need a magnifier now to see the detail they accomplished then.

 

There once was a theory that proposed that cutters were quite nearsighted but scholars put that idea down for some reason. I do know that, without glasses, my eyes focus at about 6 inches making me a better choice for close work than serving as a lookout atop a watchtower.

 

Anatomy class gave me the idea of animal lenses after we dissecting a cow eye. Even hard and dried lenses magnify well.

 

I preferred enjoying my Braille Anatomy classes in school... more fun...

 

oh yeah, cool RG. is that a fresh unpreserved eye? we do cow/sheep eyes that have been preserved...and not fresh...and all the clear lens and cornea (except the fluids) are discolored.

 

I would love to know the complete provenance of all my coins. Failing that, I'd like to know what coins were in Emperor Augustus' collection.

 

Why does that second book exist?!?

 

It would be either:

1. When and why these were made. How much were they worth? And what do the inscriptions mean?



2. When were the first spade and knife coins made? Are they actually the world's first coins?

 

Find a portrait of Scipio Africanus