Daughter of Antiochus III the Great, Laodikea IV was also the wife of Antiochus IV and supreme head of all the priestesses in the entire Seleucid Empire. She had the title of princess at an early age, and then Imperial Queen. The following coin has Laodikea IV bust right, and fortunately the reverse shows the head of an elephant presumed to be an extinct species, the like of Panda. It weighs 4.12 g. Please post a comment if you like.
Here's my Laodike IV with an elephant head, but 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.
If you can find one with a tripod as the control (mine is just showing). The only known bronze of an obscure ruler named Antiochus that only ruled for a few months. This may me one of the most misattributed seleucid coins, and I suspect this attribution may be challenged as these are much more common than authors publish.
Lovely coins in this post - I hope I'm not ruining it with this. I recently got this on eBay for $0.99 - I was hoping that obverse pit was a countermark, but after staring at it for a while, I have concluded it is a pit. David's comment about the tripod is interesting - I think that is a tripod behind Dumbo's head? Or am I seeing things? Seleucid Kingdom Æ 15 Antiochus IV Epiphanes (c. 175-172 B.C.) Antioch mint Veiled bust of Laodike IV right / [BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ] ANTIOXOY, head of elephant left; tripod behind, ΠA monogram below. SNG Spaer 963-969 Countermark?: 3mm obverse. (4.41 grams / 15 mm)
I like these types! About a half-dozen years ago after having sought a nice example to add to my collection, but failed to locate one that was nicely detailed on both sides. So, I ended up buying two examples. One with a nicer obverse than reverse (the top coin shown below); and one with a nicer reverse than obverse (the lower coin). Both examples are SC 1477.2 but neither includes enough view on the reverse to discern which monogram is above the elephant's trunk. That monogram is the key to attributing the type to the specificity which the SC reference provides.
The OP coin was found together with a likely black stone. The seller presumes it's a meteorite. I brought it swiftly and found that it attracts the Magnet. Could it really be a meteorite or shooting star ? Here are 2 photos on both sides. 38.75 g.
Thanks for the input! I just examined it closely under the scope, while also ever-so-lightly scraping away some surrounding sediment. The result is that it seems to be just as you marked it in red on the image: an inverted 'V'. However, there is no conjoined 'T' to the left, no symmetrical upside down 'V' to the left which would make an 'M', no bottom connecting line to make it a Delta, and in fact nothing on either side. It seems to be a stand alone upside down V. I'd be quite shocked if it were an unpublished monogram, so I'm going to chalk this up as undetermined. In case anyone is interested in seeing the possibilities which SC includes:
It looks like it could be a meteorite fragment to me. I'm no expert, but I own a handful of these out-of-this-world rocks. Your images seem to show that some of the piece has fusion crust such as would result from the heat of a trip into our planet's atmosphere. It's simplistic to put it in these terms, but fusion crust is typically (a) more smooth, (b) more shiny, and (c) more dark than the remainder of the piece. All 3 of those aspects are true with yours.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes. AE16. Queen Laodice SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochus IV Epiphanes serrated AE16. 175 - 164 B.C. Seleucia-in-Pieria mint. Veiled bust of Laodice IV r. Border of dots / BASILEWS ANTIOCOU, North African Elephant (Extinct) head left, prow of galley right. Houghton 113 The North African elephant was a possible subspecies of the African bush elephant, or possibly a separate elephant species, that existed in North Africa until becoming extinct in Ancient Roman times.
You will notice that 1477.1E has a lambda as well, maybe your obverse is an AB? I would say 20% of more of my Seleucids are unpublished, many are control variations. There are more than you think. I'm adding all of these variations to my site. Anyone can upload new variations on the contact page if you have any you want made public.
