Hello friends, here is a selection of excellent coins at prices well below retail. Please PM me if interested. Payment can be by paypal, or postal money order, or Transferwise. Shipping is $4 for First Class parcel in the US, insurance optional, international shipping is whatever the PO charges me. Cheers and happy collecting! J ________________________________________ 1. Here’s a lovely bronze of the Pontic city of Amisos, today Samsun, a major Black Sea port in Turkey. The region had attracted settlers clear back to Paleolithic times due to its fertile land and shallow waters. When this coin was struck, the city was under the rule of the Kingdom of Pontos. This coin has an odd patina, or half-patina as it were. I can’t tell whether it was heavily encrusted and had to be cleaned to the bare bronze, or whether it was in an environment in which only part of the coin was exposed to the elements that from a patina. At any rate, it looks pretty cool - there’s the part that looks ancient, and the part that gives you a hint of what it looked like right off the dies. It also has very crisp details and excellent centering. Compare to others here. $35 PONTOS. Amisos. Struck under Mithradates VI Eupator. Æ21, 8g, 12h; c. 95-90 or 80-70 BC Obv: Laureate head of Zeus right. Rev: AMIΣOY; Eagle standing left on thunderbolt, head right; monogram to left. Reference: SNG BM Black Sea 1221-5; HGC 7, 245. From the Eng Collection. __________________________________________________ 2. SOLD ____________________________________________________ 3. Bagis was a Roman city in Lydia. Some of its coins add the additional name KAICAPЄΩN, so it apparently had the name Caesarea as well. We know very little about the town - inscriptions place it near Sirghe, on the south side of the Hermos river. It later became an Episcopal see. The coins of Bagis are quite rare - here’s the page at Wildwinds for an overview of types. I found only this example of the current type at CNG, which sold for $195. This is a bold, beautiful coin, with distinctive renditions of a youthful Senate and Apollo with harp. The surfaces are a bit rough, but the coin is clean and well-preserved. Who knows when you’ll see this one come around again! $140 (reduced from $155) LYDIA, Bagis. Pseudo-autonomous issue. Circa late 2nd-mid 3rd century AD. Æ28, 9.1g, 6h; AD 200-268. Obv.: CVNK–ΛHTOC; Youthful male bust of the Senate right. Rev.: KAICAPЄΩN BAΓHNΩN; Apollo standing right, holding lyre. Reference: SNG von Aulock 63; SNG Copenhagen 44. __________________________________________________________ 4. Septimius Severus and Julia Domna had two sons, Caracalla and Geta. Geta is here depicted on a denarius with Felicitas reverse. The two brothers fought constantly and when their father died, Geta would meet an untimely end. He was assassinated by his brother at a peace meeting, which was nothing more than a ruse to lure Geta into a trap, in which he was murdered by centurions in his mother’s arms. Caracalla would then institute a damnatio memorae, attempting to erase all record of his defeated brother. Sibling rivalry, Roman style. Here is a beautiful denarius in excellent style, with pristine surfaces. I particularly like the boyish bust. This coin would cost you at least eighty dollars at retail, see here. $52 Geta, Caesar, AD 198-209. AR denarius, 3.6g, 19mm, 6h; Rome mint, AD 200-205. Obv.: P SEPT GETA CAES PONT; Bare-headed and draped bust right. Rev.: FELICITAS PVBLICA; Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and cornucopia. Reference: RIC IVa 9a, p. 315 From the Arnoldoe Collection. ____________________________________________________ 5. You know you’re in trouble when Serapis gives you the finger! All joking aside, here’s a wonderful example of the Egyptian god avidly embraced by Romans, on a coin of the Gallic emperor Postumus. The strike and surfaces are excellent. Compare to others here. LOW price: $35 GALLIC EMPIRE. Postumus, AD 260-269. AR antoninianus, 21mm, 4.1g 12h;Treveri mint, AD 267. Obv.: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG; Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev.: SERAPI COMITI AVG; Serapis standing left, raising right hand and holding scepter. Reference: RIC 329 From the Eng Collection ________________________________________ 6. SOLD ________________________________________ 7. SOLD ________________________________________ 8. The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. At its greatest extent, it ranged from Iberia to Sindh, encompassing over 11 million square kilometers, making it one of history’s largest empires. Read more at Wiki here. I’m not a connoisseur of Islamic coinage, but I do find these paper-thin dirhams very interesting. They were made with great precision, most being struck on almost perfectly-round flans, and they are generally very evenly-struck despite their thinness. In AH 105 the calligraphy on al-Andalus Dirhams changed from a rounded style associated with Damascus, to a more angular style associated with Wasit and the east, as seen on this coin. Umayyad coins lack the reference to the ruler’s names and are therefore attributed by date. The text on the coins consists of the Kalima on the obverse, “There is no god but Allah. All power belongs to Allah. There is no strength except in Allah,” and two verses from the Koran known as Symbols of Umayyad on the reverse. Sura 112: “Say He is Allah [who is] One, Allah the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.” And Sura 9.33: “Muhammad is the messenger of God. He sent him with guidance and the true religion to reveal it to all religions even if the polytheists abhor it.” Here is a beautiful example of these fascinating, slender coins, with a perfect strike and centering. This would make a great addition to an empire set. Compare to many other Umayyad dirhams at vcoins here. $75 (reduced from $95) ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. temp. Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Malik. AH 105-125 / AD 724-743. AR Dirham, 26mm, 2.92 g, 8; Wasit mint. Dated AH 122 (AD 739/40). Obv.: Kalima in three lines across field; mint and date in outer margin; five annulets in outer border. Rev.: "Umayyad Symbol" (Sura 112) in four lines across field; "Second Symbol" (Sura 9.33) in outer margin; five annulets in outer border. Reference: Klat 715; Album 137; ICV 297. From the Sallent Collection ________________________________________ 9. Tabaristan was located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, in what is today modern Iran. It was one of the last Persian holdouts against the Muslim Conquest, maintaining resistance until AD 761, at which time local governors became vassals of the Abbasid Caliphate. The coins of this period are modeled after earlier Sassanian drachms, with a bust of the ruler and fire altar with attendants, eschewing the Muslim taboo against graven images. Here is a very nice example of the hemidrachms, or half-dirhams of the period, with a excellent details and attractive toning at the edges. Compare to vcoins here. $46 Islamic Dynasties, Abbasid Governors of Tabaristan, Al Mandi, AD 775-785. AR Hemidrachm, 25mm, 1.6g, 9h. Obv.: Decorated facing bust right, wearing earrings and winged crown, Rev.: Fire altar decorated with ribbons; at sides, two attendants. Reference: Album 73 From the Eng Collection ________________________________________ 10. The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (AD 566–653), from whom it takes its name. A curious sociological dichotomy occurred during the Abbasid period. The Muslim world became an intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine, and education. But at the same time, the status of women diminished. Whereas they played a prominent role in many aspects of society in earlier dynasties, they were now subjugated on a massive scale - forcibly secluded and relegated to slavery within harems. But if we only collected issues of kings and periods whose morals we approved of, we would have to throw out most of our coins, especially those of many Roman emperors. Here is a thin, delicately-engraved dirham with lovely, light copper toning. Compare to many coins of the Abbasid Caliphate at vcoins here. This is a choice specimen at a nice price: $45 (reduced from $55) ISLAMIC, Abbasid Caliphate. temp. Al-Rashid. AH 170-193 / AD 786-809. AR Dirham, 25mm, 2.6g, 3h; Madinat Abarshahr (Baghdad) mint. Dated AH 187 (AD 803/4). Inscriptions citing Nisabur and Nasr ibn Sa’d. Reference: Album 219.2a; cf. ICV 384 (for type) From the Sallent Collection ________________________________________ 11. SOLD ________________________________________ 12. SOLD
