Introduction: New Member

Welcome to CT @Herodotus you have joined a great community. It's always nice to have another collector of Seleukid coins on the forum. Just be careful because it wont be long before you find yourself with coins you never knew existed because a fellow CTAF member posted the type. I'll add my favorite Seleukid AE right now.

 

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Copyright 2016 @TIF

 

Awesome start! Welcome to the party!

Erin

 

I wonder those over in the US-coin forum ever have any fun like we do? Or, is all they ever discuss grades, problems, and doubled-dies? We have that list of 12 new threads to the right and when I click on a US thread it always seems to be about some microscopic thing that might 1) ruin the value, or 2) greatly increase the value. Why don't they collect ancient coins--coins that are interesting and fun?

 

Greetings, @Herodotus ! Enjoy the bar/pub environment of Ancients. There are few places in the world that you would have this most attentive audience to show off your coins, ask questions, and hopefully learn from others of kindred mind... I enjoy it.


RR Anon AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm 310-300 BCE 20mm 7.28g Mars-Horse Romano FIRST Silver coin of Rome


RR Anon AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm 275-270 BCE ROMANO Apollo-Galloping Horse Sear23


RR Anon 265-242 BCE AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm Roma-Victory Crawford 22-1 Sear 25


RR Anon Ca 240 BCE AR Heavy Quinarius Drachm 16mm 3.0g Rome Helmet Hd Mars r - Horse’s hd sickle Cr 25-2 Syd 25 RSC 34a Rare


RR Anon 234-231 BCE AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm Apollo-Horse prancing Obv-Rev Crawford 26-1 Sear 28


RR Anon AR Heavy Denarius Quadrigatus Janus 225-215 BCE 21mm 6.7g Cr 28-3 Sear 31


RR Anon AR Heavy Quinarius Drachm Half Quadrigatus 225-212 BCE 3.1g 18mm Janus Jupiter in Quadriga L Victory ROMA Cr 28-4 S 35 SCARCE


RR Anon AR Heavy Quinarius Quadrigatus Drachm 216-214 BCE Janus ROMA Jupiter Victory Quadriga LEFT Cr 29-4 Sear 35 Scarce

 

Welcome to the lovely, attractive and dark side. Your deep interest in ancient coins derives from your passion to History and culture. Hope you enjoy it here. Herodotus paid tribute to the Nile river. For this great historian, the Nile had provided Humanity with the ancient Egyptian civilization.. As for elephants who first survived in Africa including Egypt. Well.. Here's a Big one which was struck under Antiochus III.

 

Welcome, @Herodotus ! I think you'll find this an informative, entertaining and friendly board! Nice Seleucid elephant!

Here's a Seleucid with an elephant head on a serrated flan:

Laodike IV, wife and sister of both Seleucus IV and Antiochus IV.
Selucia in Pieria, 175-164 BC.
AE 3.33 gm; 15 mm.
Obv: Veiled bust of Laodike IV, r.
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ (of King Antiochus), elephant head l.; prow.
Refs: Houghton, CSE 113 (plate coin); Forrer 183.

 

By the way, we fondly call those serrated Seleucids "bottle caps" for obvious reasons.

 

Welcome. Don't worry about the addiction, it will start to wane after you are dead. So not permanent.
Just picked this one up

Antiochus I
Mint: Ai Khanoum
AR Hemidrachm
281 to 261 BC
Obvs: Diademed head of Antiochus I right with elderly features. Dotted border.
Revs: BAΣIΛEΩΣ on left ANTIOXOY in exergue, horned and bridled horse head right with flame like forelock. Δ in circle upper right before horse's forehead.
12mm, 2.09g
Ref: cf. SC 433.1; HGC 9, --
Note: Unpublished with control before horse's forehead.

As for your elephant I believe that is a torch behind. I happen to have both types.

 

summo utrem

SELEUKID BOTTLE CAP


Seleukid Demetrios I Soter 162-150 BCE AE 17 serrate 16.8mm 3.9g Antioch on Orontes mint Horse Hd L - Elephant Hd R- SC 1646 SNG Spaer 1299-1304

 

Welcome to CT, @Herodotus ! I was a huge baseball card collector growing up in the 80s too...I sold most of them off years ago (major regret), but still have my Darryl Strawberry rookie card

Anyways, here’s my favorite Seleukid coin.


Antiochos IV Epiphanes (AE, 20.5 mm, 6.33 g), Antioch on-the-Callirhoe (Edessa), 168-164 BC. Radiate and diademed head of Antiochos to right. Rev. ANTIOXEΩN TΩN EΠI KAΛΛIPPOHI Zeus Aëtophoros standing left, holding scepter.

 

Welcome to Coin Talk. I stalked for several months before joining. Then I joined. This is NOT the place to come to get over an ancients addiction. The place is full of enablers!

Seleucid elephants with horse head countermarks. Countermarks! Now that's a great area to collect, if you like a lot of difficult attributions and making wild guesses.



Seleucid Kingdom Æ 21
Antiochos III the Great
Military mint in Ekbatana c. 210 B.C. / countermarked in Coele-Syria c. 202-198 B.C.
Antiochos III as Apollo right / ΒΑΣΙΛEΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, elephant & mahout right.
CM: Anchor & Horse’s Head
SC 1084e; ESM 656; Spaer
819-821
(8.01 grams / 21 mm)

Seleucid Kingdom Æ 24
Antiochos III the Great
Military mint in Ekbatana c. 210 B.C. / countermarked in Coele-Syria c. 202-198 B.C.
Antiochos III as Apollo right / [ΒΑΣΙΛEΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ], elephant & mahout right, [tripod & monogram?]. SC 1272
Countermark: Horse head.
(14.06 grams / 24 mm)

 

Thanks. I really like the bottle cap ones too.

I had a pretty hard time attributing this next coin. I couldn't make out what was going on here at all. I spent a fair amount of time studying it in the light. Being that it is around 13mm also didn't help in my attempts at deciphering the devices.

I was unable to see any sort of portrait(?) on the obverse(?), and then it hit. That sort of looks like an elephant head. If it weren't for my first coin in this thread, I may not have had the revelation. Thanks to the internets, the rest came easier. I now can now identify the off-centered veiled bust.



Seleukid Kings, Antiochos IV (175-164 BC). Æ Serrate. Antioch, c. 175-173/2. Veiled and diademed bust of Laodike IV r. R/ Head of elephant l.; below, prow

Here are a couple more Pachyderms that were included in my large lot. The obverses aren't much to look at, and the reverses/legends are much better in hand. Of special note: One of them has a counterstamp of an anchor.



(LEFT)Antiochos III ‘the Great’ 222-187 BC Laureate head of Antiochos III as Apollo / Mahout on elephant; tripod to left, horse head below; anchor countermark

(RIGHT)Antiochos I 280-261 BC Shield decorated with head of Gorgon at center / Elephant walking right, anchor above, monogram below

 

Nice anchor countermark! You might want to check out this thread - lots of good information on military mint countermarks of the Seleucids, etc.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/elephant-coin-with-anchor-counterstamp.324268/

 

Welcome to the club!

I bought this little elephant on a whim a few years ago - looks like I may need to update the photograph.

Kingdom of Bactria
Menander I Soter, r. c. 165/55-130 B.C.
AE Square Chalkos, 13.13 x 13.34 mm x 2.3 grams
Obv.: BASILEWS SWTHR MENANDROU around Elephant head right with trunk raised, wearing bell around neck
Rev.: Kharosthi around Club of Herakles; monogram to left, A to right
Ref.: Bopearachchi 28E

 

I actually stumbled across that linked thread when first attempting to attribute my coin.

Rereading it in its entirety, the posts in that thread just gave me the realization that there are likely two counterstamps on my coin. The area under the body of the elephant looks somewhat squared off and indented.

The attribution I listed(mentioning a horse's head) was copied elsewhere from a different coin(same type).

Cool stuff.

 

Well,

Look what just showed up in Saturday evening's mail.

Did I mention, that I had a problem?






No elephant head under the quadriga, but nice for me nonetheless.

This one came mis-attributing the moneyer as L. Antestius Gragulus 136 B.C.

Upon, closer inspection it looks more like P. Maenius Antiaticus M. f. 132 B.C.

That'd be Victory at the helm, not Jupiter.

Can someone confirm my thinking about the mark on the obverse? All that I can seem to find is it referred to as a 'value mark'.

My educated guess is that it represents XVI(16), as I remember reading somewhere that the value of a Denarius changed to sixteen Asses at one point. Whereas, at its inception, the original mark of X(10) represented ten Asses, hence its namesake 'Denarius'.

 

Oh jeez I’ve about 1000% done with idiots claiming to have found a matte proof in pocket change, or post 100x electron microscope images to try to “prove” their “double die.”

I don’t often see people enjoying their hobby like I see you guys doing.

Just one of the many reasons I’ve shifted almost completwlt away from US coins altogether.

 

Welcome @Herodotus! Great introductory story. I hope we'll be able to see and read more about your coins in the years to come.

Coincidentally, one of the first mixed group lots I ever bought also yielded a Seleukid bottlecap of the same type. I still derive the most pleasure from this hobby when I get to sit down and slowly go through a small pile of unattributed coins.


SELEUKID KINGDOM. Antiochos VI Dionysos
AE24 Serrate. 7.03g, 23.8mm. Antioch mint, circa 143-142 BC. SC 2006; HGC 9, 1043. O: Radiate and diademed head of Antiochos VI right, wreathed with ivy. R: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOY above elephant walking left; ΣTA above cornucopiae to right, EΠIΦANOYΣ ∆IONYΣOY below.

 

You are confirmed on each point. Congratulations on your 'problem'. Many of us share in your affliction.

When the denarius was revalued from ten to sixteen asses, a few coins were made with XVI in place of the X denomination mark but most continues to use the old symbol as 'denarius' rather than a numeral. Then someone introduced the monogram as on your coin that corrected the 'error' but maintained the simplicity of the mark. You may want to add a coin with XVI to your collection just to tell this story.


Elephant down below