My two coins arrived from the Harlan J. Berk 214th Buy or Bid Sale

Re: the full name of Daim...the Oxford Classical Dictionary has an entry that reads: “Daimachus, of Plataea. There are two. The elder (before c.350 bc), is one of the first of many Boeotian historians, although Jacoby's identification of him as the author of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia is unlikely. The younger was Antiochus I's ambassador to the court of Bindusāra and wrote a history of India. He, rather than the elder Daimachus, may also be the author of works on siege warfare and on piety.”
"first of many Boeotian historians": so this seems to be a common name in Boeotia.

Our library has a few books that concern Boeotian prosopography. I will return to my office in a few weeks and will look at these following. Perhaps I can find you something of interest.

AUTHOR Fossey, John M.
TITLE Studies in Boiotian inscriptions / by John M. Fossey.
IMPRINT Amsterdam : Gieben, 1991.
DESCRIPT'N xv, 312 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.
SERIES Epigraphica Boeotica ; 1.

AUTHOR Fossey, John M.
TITLE Epigraphica Boeotica II : further studies on Boiotian inscriptions
IMPRINT Leiden, the Netherlands ; Boston : Brill, [2014]

AUTHOR Fraser, P. M. (Peter Marshall)
TITLE Boeotian and West Greek tombstones, by P. M. Fraser and T. Rönne.
IMPRINT Lund, C. W. K. Gleerup, 1957.
DESCRIPT'N xiii, 229 p. 32 plates, 2 fold. maps. 30 cm.
SERIES Skrifter utgivna av Svenska institutet i Athen. 4o ; 6.

AUTHOR Feyel, Michel.
TITLE Contribution à l'épigraphie béotienne.
IMPRINT Le Puy, Imprimerie de "La Haute-Loire," 1942.
DESCRIPT'N 3 p. ., 170 p., 1 . 6 pl. 25 cm.
SERIES Publications de la Faculté des lettres de l'Université de Strasbourg ; fasc. 95.

TITLE Inscriptiones Megaridis et Boeotiae / consilio et auctoritate Academiae litterarum regiae Borussicae ; edidit Guilelmus Dittenberger.
IMPRINT Berolini : G. Reimer, 1892 [1903]
DESCRIPT'N vi, 806 p. illus. 39 cm.
SERIES Inscriptiones Graecae ; v. 7.

AUTHOR Keil, Christian August Karl, 1812-1865.
TITLE Sylloge inscriptionum Boeoticarum / curavit Carolus Keilius.
IMPRINT Lipsiae : Apud Chr. Guil. Vogelium, 1847.

AUTHOR Larfeld, Wilhelm, 1858-
TITLE Sylloge inscriptionvm Boeotivarvm, dialectvm popvlarem exhibe tivm. Composvit, adnotavit, apparatv critico instrvxit Gvilelmvs Larfeld, Dr. Praemittitvr De dialecti Boeoticae mvtationibvs dissertatio.
IMPRINT Berolini, apvd Georgivm Reimervm, 1883.

 

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Wow, thank you! Sounds like a good possibility. Especially because @zumbly came up with the same suggestion.

 

And I'll look up mine at the same time!

 

Thanks for the education, nice coins, I especially like the shield. Keep um coming. Happy New Year

 

A question about coin photography (one of the many numismatic-related subjects I know little about). I haven't heard anything negative about the quality of Harlan J. Berk Ltd.'s photos in general (unlike at least one other dealer I can think of), so I wonder what could have resulted in the extremely unrealistic darkness of its photo of the Boeotian stater.

I don't believe for a moment, and my OP shouldn't be taken to imply, that an extremely reputable dealer like that would have deliberately darkened the photo after the fact to conceal the minor roughness on the surface. Especially given that they also posted a video showing the actual color of the coin, and the ultra-dark photo had the effect of making it appear that a good part of the design on the amphora had worn off, when in fact it's all still there. But, why not lighten the coin when it turned out so dark, or take another one?

 

A beautiful coin. There's something about the simplicity of the design, on both sides, that I really like.

Is your magistrate's name likely to be Kallimachos, or something similar?

 

IMHO it's only the light. The HJB picture was taken with two lamps from the sides. The result are large dark areas with only a few bright spots. Your light comes more from the top. This causes bright fields and only some small dark areas. Usually I prefer this illumination for silver coins and the side illumination for bronze coins.

e.g. two silver examples from my collection:

a: top light

b: side illumination

 

Thanks for the explanation. My photo was, in fact, taken with the light above the coin.

 

Very nice @DonnaML. I have wanted a stater for a long time. Your example is very attractive.

@Voulgaroktonou Thanks for listing the references.

 

Thank you. When I saw it listed, I admit I didn't take the time to do any sales research, because I had a feeling it wouldn't last long. I just hit "buy," even though the price was rather high for me. Looking at both acsearch and VCoins after the fact, I discovered that (1) a lot of these coins are significantly off-center on one side or the other; it isn't all that common for them to be this well-centered; and (2) the HJB "buy" price was more than reasonable as a retail price, given that dealers are asking quite a bit more for the good examples on VCoins.

The closest I found to an exact match to mine, with the same magistrate's name, sold for about $200 (including buyer's fee) more than the HJB buy price for mine, at a Savoca auction in December 2016. I think the one I bought is almost as nice, although admittedly the Savoca example has more details preserved on the amphora, and is also on a broader flan, so you can see the incuse circle that's supposed to be there a lot better.



Still, I'm very pleased with mine. Some of HJB's prices in their retail store (they're on MA-Shops) are rather high, I think, but I haven't noticed that that's the case with their Buy or Bid Sales. (Although I don't know why it would be any different for one than the other.)

 

@DonnaML .......Nice couple of coins!...Both are on my want list.
Really well centered and neat little video's....Cool pick ups, you do have a good eye, Congrats.

 

BOEOTIA FEDERAL COINAGE
AR Hemidrachm
OBVERSE: Boeotian shield
REVERSE: Kantheros, club of Herakles above, BO to left, I and crescent to right
Struck at Thespiae mint 336-315 BC
1.9g, 14mm
SNG Copenhagen 176-177

 

Happy to provide. Actually, that's part of my job!

 

It could be, but I will check it out when I research yours. I'd like to share with you a story that goes with my coin. When I was a child many years ago, my dad took me to a coin show and bought me that coin plus a Leukas stater, which is below. My dad died in 1968. Fast forward a decade to when I was in graduate school. My VW engine died, and money being short, I sold the Boiotian and Corinthian type stater to a dealer friend. I bought a new engine which served for a few years. But I always regretted selling those coins. Almost 20 years later, my friend asked me if I would like to buy them back (He knew what they meant to me). I did, and I think he made a $15 dollar profit per coin! Although they are both rather worn, no sum could make me part with them again. Dad died 52 years ago, and when I hold those coins, he becomes for me alive again in the memories of that day over a half century ago, when he spent that afternoon with me at the coin show.

 

@Voulgaroktonou those are beautiful and heartfelt memories you have of your Dad and your staters. Thank you for sharing it with us, I know very well what you mean.

 

That's really a lovely story. How fortunate that your friend kept the coins all those years instead of reselling them.

Also, I think both coins are beautiful.

 

Yes, he is a good friend. My Greek collecting is like yours. My Greek has no focus; I only pick up what pleases on aesthetic grounds. Your 2 recent additions are very nice also.

 

Great coins Donna, and thanks for the compliments about my Marcus denarius, glad you liked it. Yours is a beautiful example, with a much better reverse than mine. I really like the Boetian shield coin as well, both are great new additions!

I love those short videos that HJB has been putting together...must be time-consuming to make those, but I really do hope that this type of video catches on with other dealers/auction houses.

 

Kunker/ Cayon offer them now too. I was interested in a Potosi Mint/ Bolivia/ Carlos III AV 8 Escudos in SC+/ the video really pointed out awesomes details of entire rim/ obv./ rev. from different angles/ light.

Two splendid additions to your great collection, Donna
John