NYINC Cherrypicks

So I decided to drive into NY City yesterday as I was under a time constraint and didn't want to deal with trains. Going in was a breeze, but coming back was a nightmare. The hotel is in the theater district and by the time I had to leave, a veritable sea of humanity had gathered for the shows. I have never had to drive through such a massive milling throng. Then it turns out the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel was rerouted and my GPS knew nothing of it, so it kept sending me to roads blocked off by pylons. It was the Hotel California of driving, but eventually I found the entrance and escaped!

At any rate, I had a great show, met ancientnoob and Collect89, had a great lunch together, bought a pile of coins, and give my sermon on Nabataeans to the ONS.

Enough of the boring stuff. Let's talk coins. I saw a few wholesale dealers who had bags of coins. "Oh, you want Apollonian drachms? Here's a bag of a hundred. Illyrian drachms? Here's a bag of two hundred." It felt like the gun scene from Matrix...



For starters, I searched through a bag of Apollonian drachms, about a hundred. I looked at every single one, but this is the only one that spoke to me...



There are things you learn looking through hoards of coins that you will never learn by looking at the perfect versions of the types at the major auction houses. In the case of this series, the weights vary considerably, some on very small flans of less than 2g. This coin weighs in at a full 2.9. Also, most of these coins are struck off-center, particularly on the obverse. At least half of the coins I examined had only half a Medusa head. (Curiously, the reverses are generally centered. What might that say about the minting techniques used here?) Furthermore, one can discern quite a few different styles. Some of the busts are far more expressive than others.

Out of a hundred coins, this is the only one that spoke to me. Both sides are perfectly centered with a strong, even strike. About a third of the coins had test cuts, so the fact that this one had a cut as well did not bother me in the least. It was obvious to me that it was de rigeur for many ancient Apollonian merchants to vet the authenticity of the coins they accepted in trade. In fact, a coin with a test cut is more representative of the series in my opinion, and this one only interferes a bit with the obverse device. I believe it adds an element of historical interest.

 

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Next on the slate is this amazing Illyrian drachm - I'm amazed at any rate. This is evidently a rare variety, although I don't know the types well, so someone correct me if I'm wrong. At any rate, I find it very desirable because of all the minor devices on the obverse, the pilei of the Dioscuri above, ear of grain to left, torch to right. The magistrate's name ΞΕΝΩΝ is above, and you all know how unevenly these coins were struck. This one has a perfectly even, strong strike, with sharp detail in the cow and suckling calf, the double stellate pattern and all the letters.



Again , it took searching through a bag of a hundred coins to come across this one, but it was worth the effort in my estimation.

More stuff you learn looking through hoards: it appeared to me that these coins did not vary in weight but slightly. However, the flan shapes are all over the map, and the flans are quite thin - about a millimeter. Is it possible that these flans were not cast? That a measured amount of silver was simply poured out on a flat surface to cool, like pancakes? Because that's exactly what they look like when put forty or fifty of them on a tray.

 

Bags of hundreds!? Soooo jealous JA. Those two are fantastic!

 

Here is a denarius of Julia Maesa, Pudicitia. I don't have anything to add here, just a really good, centered strike with sharp detail - I particularly like all the minute detail in the chair. This coin might benefit from a soak in distilled water and the old lemon juice treatment.

 

Here are two Indo-Skythian drachms, also picked out of a bag of a hundred, purely for looks. I've got to do my homework on these, but in general I found them to be very even in weight and strike, with good centering, and very round. They were obviously produced quite carefully as a rule. Emperor on horseback, Zeus Nikephoros. The second has a double-struck obverse.

 

So far I like those best.

 

Thanks. I looked for your rare lady types but came up empty-handed. They might have been there somewhere, but you just can't go through every dealer's inventory at NYINC. I'm used to about 12 tables of ancients at Baltimore. At NYINC you've got around 75.

 

Not a problem, thanks for looking.

 

Here's a beaut. Hemidrachm of Cherronessos with full lion and pentagram. It also has beautiful, metallic gray toning that's impossible to photograph (for me anyway)...

 

So far I like this one best with the Appollonia a close 2nd. I see this type all over and thought there were a lot of fakes like the Histiaia triobol.

 

hello JA,

very nice expansion on your collection, i wish we had more coins shows here

 

Come to New York, but bring lots and lots of money. Then bring some more. I'm not sure NYINC is a cost-effective way for us Ramen-class collectors to acquire coins. I got some great deals, but they're not so great once I factor in gas, tolls, and parking. Why can't they hold the show in some small town with plenty of free parking and a hot dog stand across the street? That's good enough for me.

 

I'm too cheap to travel far for any shows. Hopefully there will be one in south Florida sometime. I know there is a fountain pen show in south Florida every year, because I go. But I'm not sure there are any coin shows (?)

 

The FUN show will be in Fort Lauderdale in January 2018, but that is a long time away.

 

Nice coins @John Anthony!! I especially like the Indo-Skythians coins, and I don't even collect them

 

i know, just to see and speak with dealers and go with other collectors and meet

 

Good to know. I will start to put some money aside from now until then. That ought to be a lot of fun.

 

2017 actually.

 

They are both faked. But both of the coins I acquired meet all the requirements of authenticity. Style, fabric, and weight are all correct.

All the fakes of the Cherronesos hemidrachms that I've seen are poor casts - they are obvious to anyone that knows anything about cast coins, if not ancients. These coins are common enough that I don't know why anyone has even bothered making fakes.

As far as the Apollonia goes, these coins are also quite common, and I haven't seen fakes of the common varieties. The fakes I have seen are of rare varieties, particularly of certain obverse dies that have a unique style - the really expensive ones. The test cut also speaks to the coin's age. I haven't seen any fakes of this type with test cuts because that would, for many collectors, lower the value, and that's not what forgers would want.

 

This is the best part actually. We can buy coins anytime we want on the internet, but there's no substitute for camaraderie with kindred spirits in real life. The highlight for me was meeting AN and Collect, and the new friends I made at the ONS meeting.