Picked up this coin to add to the 12 Olympians set from a reputable dealer on vcoins.... Can't seem to find any images that look similar using the references stated by the seller...??? Is this coin really that rare??...Scarcity wasn't the reason why I bought this coin, I just wanted a nice Aphrodite coin that wasn't being described as 'Head of Laodice OR Aphrodite right'. LAODICEA AD LYCUM (Phrygia) 14mm/4.0gr. Ca 200-100 BC. Obverse: Draped bust of Aphrodite right, wearing stephane, hair in bun. Reverse: ΛAOΔIKEΩN. Aphrodite standing left, holding dove, rose with stalk to left. BMC Phrygia p.284, 27. Here's the BMC plate coin (4)...The bust style looks really different? and is the same coin used as the example on wildwinds for both BMC27 and BMC29? The closest style I've found is this one on vcoins.... The sellers references... SNG Copenhagen 497; SNG München 340; SNG von Aulock -; HGC 7, 744 SCARCE (R1 per HGC)......I just keep hitting dead ends! Can anyone help?? It would be really appreciated...Thanks Paul...
Nice coin! I happened to have HGC 7 next to me as I was reading your post. Here is HGC 744, which does look like yours. The weight range given is 1.36-3.25g, but probably yours is just an outlier. HGC has BMC 27-30 as their 740. The weight range given for this is 2.28-4.41g, though the style of the bust as you can see from the BMC plates is quite different.
Nice coin. I didn't even know that there were coins with Aphrodite on them. If you have trouble finding a coin in wildwinds then it is a strong indication that it is rare.
It does seem to be an unusual coin, especially in such nice condition. You can find a few closer to yours with a search of ACSearch for "aphrodite rose dove" (solving for various spellings of Laodikeia) . One of the examples found is the plate coin (HGC 744) from @zumbly, sold in 2009 by CNG. And this one with two roses.
Very nice, @Spaniard ! Aphrodite and her dove! Here is Venus in a similar pose holding a dove on this denarius of Faustina II: Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman AR denarius, 3.30 g, 17 mm, 12 h. Rome, AD 158-161. Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: Venus standing facing, head left, holding dove and scepter. Refs: RIC 730; BMCRE 167-68; RSC 255; Strack 520i; RCV 5266; CRE 236.
@zumbly and @Sulla80....Thanks for the feedback and all the links really appreciated and with this new info will dig around a bit more. @Roman Collector...That's a nice looking Faustina, great toning!