Featured My first Tarentum dolphin rider :)

Oh man, that's a killer new Tarentum dolphin rider you got there @TIF .

 

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I love the toning on your new example, TIF!

My best is this ex-Stevex6 example:


Calabria, Tarentum
AR Nomos, 315-302 BC, 20.5mm, 8.00gm
Obverse : Warrior, preparing to cast spear, holding two others and shield, on horse rearing.
Reverse : Phalanthos, holding kantharos and trident, astride dolphin left; AP monogram to left; small dolphin below.
References : Fischer-Bossert Group 70, 846 (V336/R657); Vlasto 600 (same obv. die); HN Italy 937; Gulbenkian 35 (same dies); Jameson 156 (same dies)
EF, toned, excellent metal, exceptional style obverse from fresh dies.
Ex JMG Collection (CNG 94, 18 September 2013), lot 15

I posted this thread about a very similar style horse rider here:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-stater-of-kelenderis-my-last-coin-of-2018.329340/

I also have a Tarentum with waves, a motif I like a lot on these:



Calabria, Tarentum
AR Nomos, 355-340 BC, 7.80g, 21mm, 9h.
Obverse: Warrior on horseback right, shield on left shoulder, |- below.
Reverse: Taras seated astride dolphin left over waves, holding seashell; P below, ΤΑΡΑΣ behind.
References: Vlasto 448; HN Italy 878; SNG France 1750; F.B. 673m.
The reverse has wonderful style. On the coins of Tarentum, the facial features of Taras are usually the first part of the die to wear out or become clogged. On this piece we see a carefully rendered face in which the die cutter must have invested significant care and attention.

John

 

Both are fantastic examples, @Theodosius, but the ex-X6 is one of my all-time favorites of the entire range.

The horseman's shield looks like a sun and in my mind this is what I see:

 

Taras Nomos 290-281 B.C. Obv. Naked warrior on horseback right spearing downwards. Rv.Phalanthos holding distaff riding dolphin left Vlasto 579 Fisher-Bossert Group 78a 1066 7,83 grms 22 mm

 

Great addition @TIF . I’ve had one of this type on my radar for a while and have bid on a few but still haven’t won one yet. You picked a great example for your collection. I especially like the toning.

 

I finally got my first dolphin rider. Not as detailed as some of the great examples here, but I think it is a good start (at a nice price too). The coin looks better in hand, and I was surprised at the high relief of Taras and the dolphin (that is a mean-looking dolphin btw). Now I have an appetite for dolphins and I wouldn't say no to a finer example if I ever get the chance to acquire one. Stylistically there are so many varieties too!

 

That's a wonderful example, PoorMan! The dolphin is perfectly centered and the engraving is artistic.

 

@Marsyas Mike, your first example is from the time when Pyrrhus was condottiere in Tarentum. Yes, this is the same Pyrrhus from the term "Pyrrhic victory". The column was a symbol of Pyrrhus and it is found not only on the nomoi or staters but also the litrae and obols.

 

Thank you for this very interesting information - that column has puzzled me for a while now and it is good to know it has such interesting connections.

 

A beautiful coin, @Only a Poor Old Man. (I've never seen this thread before, because it was last active before I joined this forum.) My one Tarentum dolphin-rider was also relatively inexpensive because of its imperfections (especially on the horse side), and, although I don't have access to Vlasto, is only 7 catalog numbers away from yours and has a very similar design on both sides! My most important prerequisite in buying one of these was that both the dolphin and its rider be completely on the flan -- something I discovered is not necessarily so easy to find -- so I'm quite happy with mine, as I hope you are with yours. (I find the dolphin's annoyed expression to be quite appealing on mine.) I've been tempted by finer examples myself, with different designs on the obverse (such as the types with a horseman thrusting a spear downwards), but I've always decided that I'd rather spend the money on something completely different from what I already have.



Tarentum, Calabria. AR Nomos (didrachm), ca. 302-280 BCE. Magistrates Sa.., Arethon and Cas-. Obv. Youth on horseback right, crowning horse with wreath; magistrates' names: ΣA to left and AΡE/ΘΩN in two lines below/ Rev. TAΡAΣ, Phalanthos astride dolphin left, holding tripod, CAΣ below. Vlasto 666 [Ravel, O.E., Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Tarentine Coins formed by M.P. Vlasto (London, 1947, reprinted)]; HN Italy 957 [Rutter, N.K., ed., Historia Numorum Italy (London, 2001)]; SNG ANS 1046 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, USA, The Collection of the American Numismatic Society, Part 1: Etruria - Calabria (New York 1969)]. 23 mm., 7.86 g.

PS: Are those bankers' marks on my dolphin-rider's left thigh, or simply signs of corrosion?

 

@Only a Poor Old Man that is a very attractive dolphin rider, love the mean-looking dolphin.

The chronology of the Taras coinage has been a topic of intensive study, and still is not entirely settled. It is only from the mid 4th century BC onwards that symbols begin to appear in the field, such as the Molossian eagle, an eagle seated with closed wings (Evans, Pl. VI. 1-4).

My off-center AR Didrachm or Nomos:
Calabria, Tarentum, 334 - 302 BC
20 x 22 mm, 7.986 g

HN Italy 933 (Type); SNG ANS 978; Vlasto 570-572 (no monogram behind warrior); Evans V A-5;

Centration divot and signed ΦI (Philistion) on the obverse. Sometimes coins have 'center divots’ due to the archaic Greek method for flan production.

Ob.: Naked warrior on horseback facing right, holding round shield and two lances in left hand and thrusting spear downward in right; signed ΦI below horse. ΔA behind and above horse. Divot mark

Rev.: (TAPAΣ) Taras riding on a dolphin facing l., holding distaff in l. hand; eagle standing on right; curling crests of waves below

​

 

@DonnaML I really like your dolphin as well You are so lucky to have the whole thing in the flan. Looking at all those dolphins makes me wonder though... What is that thing growing out of the head of mine, and what is the deal with the often strange tails (I believe they are called flukes) on many of the coins? These are very common animals even in our modern times, and I am sure that the people of Taras were adequately familiar with their anatomy. So how are those odd examples explained? Could it be a long-extinct dolphin sub-set that also existed back then? However, I am not a marine biologist so I don't really know what I am talking about...

 

I did wonder what that was growing out of your dolphin's head. A teratoma? A small mammal? A rat, perhaps? A wolf? A pig?

 

In case it is of interest, there will be a three-volume work on the entire coinage of Tarentum coming out soon (probably within the next year or so). I worked on translating it from the original Italian into English. It's by Alberto D'Andrea, who has done a bang-up job categorizing the issues of regional Magna Grecian colonies https://en.edizionidandrea.com/ . His books (in Italian) on the coinage of the Messapians (modern-day Apulia) and the coinage of Medieval Puglia are my go-to references, with numismatic details that you really can't find in any other published references. Alberto has also co-authored several books on Byzantine and medieval Italian issues as well. These references list not just the coinage chronology but also estimate the approximate rarity of each issue and have a rough pricing guide, based on historical auction estimates etc.

The Tarentine volumes were supposed to be issued in 2020 but this deadline got pushed out because of COVID. There is a separate book just on the Tarentine diobols that will be coming out shortly (it has had its final reviews and is currently in press).

I will let everyone know when these issues come out, if people are interested.

For the record, I've undertaken the translation to allow a wider numismatic audience to benefit from this information, and am not making a penny out of any of this.

 

That's the result of a die break

 

That sounds really great. Thank you! Pardon my ignorance, but do I assume correctly that the diobols are something different from the silver didrachms that have mostly been posted in this thread?

 

Which just goes to show the power of pareidolia.

 

Not easy to say from this photo.... Definitely not bankers marks. There are similar marks on the front shoulder of the horse. I would say either flan faults or traces of overstrike

 

Thanks!

 

Wow, thank you!