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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Severus Alexander, post: 2765609, member: 84744&quot;]I&#039;m attracted to portrait coins of famous personalities... like practically everyone, which means they&#039;re distressingly expensive.&nbsp; Recently I was able to check a couple of big ones off the list.&nbsp; At least I have them covered until (or if) I can upgrade.</p><p><br /></p><p>First comes Hannibal: the problem is that no coin is known to depict his features, unfortunately. That said, there are a few issues from Spain dated to 237-209 BC with unusual portrayals of the god Melqart that might depict him, in the same way that some portrayals of Herakles are thought to depict the features of Alexander.&nbsp; At the very least, these coins may depict features characteristic of the Barcid family (his father Hamilcar and a couple of his brothers also had control of Spain at one time or another). So: &quot;Hannibalish.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3734401" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3734401" rel="nofollow">Here</a> is an expensive example (not mine) with an elephant on the reverse (how cool is that??):</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.acsearch.info/media/images/archive/42/3683/3734401.m.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>And here is my new, very modest version with a horse:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]636716[/ATTACH]</p><p>The seller&#039;s photo is not great, as you can see, and I&#039;m hoping it might arrive with a little more detail than I expect.&nbsp; (I&#039;ll be happy in any case, though!)&nbsp; Both of the above are quarter-shekels, very small coins - a little less than 2g and 13mm. And they are definitely not common!</p><p><br /></p><p>New acquisition #2 is &quot;-ish&quot; for a different reason.&nbsp; It definitely depicts Cleopatra VII, it&#039;s just a very worn example, even moreso than the Hannibal:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]636717[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>It is a diobol (16.58g, 26mm), with the classic Ptolemaic eagle on the reverse, minted in Alexandria. But you CAN see Cleopatra there, right... if you squint? With perhaps a faint shadow of the famous nose?? (cf. Asterix) <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie12" alt="o_O" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=246662" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=246662" rel="nofollow">Here</a> is one (not mine) that is easier on the eyes, but a lot harder on the pocketbook:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cngcoins.com/photos/big/95000429.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, two cheapish ($200 range for each, all in) additions to my collection.&nbsp; What do you think of them?&nbsp; And please post your related coins!&nbsp; Second Punic war era, Ptolemaic from the same period... plenty of history to add to this thread as I haven&#039;t included much![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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