New coin form wish list checked - ISTROS

Hello ladies and gentlemen,
I managed to get another coin I wanted for quite some time - an Istros with young male heads, one being inverted (Castor and Pollux?!)
I find these iconic and unique in design.
Found various Istros coins in many auctions, but they were either too expensive or too ugly.
This is a good compromise.

I particularly liked the good centering, on both sides and the details are still there.

Described as Moesia. Istrus circa 420-390 BC.
Obol AR 12 mm, 0,77 g

Now - I would need some help in attributing it as the only 2 obols listed on Wildwinds are having the eagle and dolphin facing left.

It seems quite similar to the entry "Dima III-VII-5"
https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/thrace/istros/t.html

Also matching ΔI under the dolphin (but no O on the dolphin's head). And this is a drachm not an obol.

I would appreciate some help in attributing as I couldn't find something on acsearch or coinarchives.

And, of course, please post your Istros coins.

 

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Very cool! As a Gemini I'm forced to collect the Dioscuri's coins:

 

Congrats, @ambr0zie ...


Moesia Istros AR Drachm 19mm 5.9g 4th C BCE Facing male hds inverted - Sea Eagle dolphin K Rausch 19 17

 

So the obverse similar to my obol, @Alegandron (left head inverted) but the eagle and the dolphin are facing left on yours. I am still searching.

 

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/he...os-4th-century-bc-drachm.271765/#post-2293264

The third coin posted by Doug is like yours.

 

I haven't tried to research the type, but the right-facing eagle and dolphin are new to me. Have you tried looking in the online SNG UK? See http://www.sylloge-nummorum-graecorum.org/

Here's my one example:

Thrace, Istros. 400-350 BCE. AR Drachm. Obv. Two facing male heads, left head inverted / Rev: Sea eagle on dolphin (both left), ISTRIH [partially off flan] above eagle, globule under eagle’s tail; letter “A” ligatured with [archaic Π with shortened right stem, or sideways Γ ?] beneath dolphin. SNG.BM.249 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Great Britain, Volume IX, British Museum, Part 1: The Black Sea (London, 1993)] [online ID SNGuk_0901_0249 with Rev. Monogram No. 49]; AMNG I/I No. 417 var. [no globule], see also No. 422 [Pick, Behrendt, Die antiken Münzen von Dacien und Moesien, Die antiken Münzen Nord-Griechenlands Vol. I/I (Berlin, 1898) at pp. 161-162]; BMC 3 Thrace No. 6 var. [no globule] [Poole, R.S., ed. A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, The Tauric Chersonese, Sarmatia, Dacia, Moesia, Thrace, etc., Vol. 3 (London, 1877) at p. 25]; Seaby 1669 var. [Sear, David, Greek Coins & their Values, Vol. I: Europe (Seaby 1978)]. 19 mm., 5.36 g.

 

I am checking in BMC Thrace as I added another coin I wanted - a Chersonesos hemidrachm and that is also challenging.
Superb coin, @DonnaML . And others also.
I haven't studied Istros coins and I was only aware there are differences in the obverse and reverse monograms.

@catadc - the coin posted there by @dougsmit is similar but not identical. Reverse monogram lacks the I.

 

@Ryro 's specimen is probably the only one dating around 400BC, all other look more at home ca. 300 or later.

 

The closest match I could find is AMNG 440.


But this is a drachm.
Any help is truly appreciated.

 

Forget AMNG, it's worthless for fractional coinage. Your coin is Dima GIV sgVII II (fraction) ca. 280-256/5 (reference is M. Dima - Monedele de argint ale cetăţii Istros în epoca elenistică, SCN XVI)

 

Fantastic, @seth77. Thank you.
Mr Mihai Dima is Romanian, like me. But today was the first time I heard about him or his work, when I was searching for the coin.

 

Is that in Romanian? Edited to add: sorry; didn't see the previous comment.

 

Local researchers have the best insight on these issues and what's most important their research is up to date, unlike old international catalogs.

Yes Donna, it's not really that indiscernible if you are a Francophone and also know Italian and some Latin.

 

Yep, it is. Quite strange to read a reference in my own language

 

.

 

An interesting reference on Istros coinage is the catalog "First Auction", Auction 1 Geneva 2012 where was dispersed a collection of more than 450 coins of Istros.

Only Drachms, trihemiobols and hemiobols seem to have been struck. I think that your coin @ambr0zie is a "light" trihemiobol maybe due to corrosion and the edge chip.(some trihemiobols on the catalog weight arround 0.8g)

My hemiobol of the Group I circa 480-380 BC

 

great coin @ambr0zie, I like the details on your coin.
I have a small bronze eagle / dolphin coin.


I like the size comparison of my eagle dolphin coins.

 

The Archaic hemiobol of @Kavax is extraordinary, certainly the best I have ever seen and the the Helios copper is not too bad either. Helios obverses are scarcer than the regular Apollo obverses and river god Istros obverses.