OJ's Big Cat Sanctuary

In honor of finishing the "Tiger King" series on Netflix, I thought it may be fun to show off our coins featuring big cats. Tigers, Lions, Panthers, Ocelots, whatever.

Let's see your fancy felines, leading with the real kings of the jungle... Tigers.



Gallienus, AE antoninianus. Rome mint, sole reign.
GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right.
LIBERO P CONS AVG, striped tigress walking left.
Mintmark B.
RIC V-1, 230 (S), Göbl 713b

 

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Kingdom of Thrace; Lysimachos
OB: helmeted head of Athena right
R: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛYΣIMAXOY, lion leaping right, spear head below
SNG Cop 1149, Müller 61
305 - 281 B.C.

Kingdom of Thrace - Lysimachos
306-281 BC
OB: Helmeted head of Athena to right
R: BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛYΣIMAXOY Forepart of a lion to right, kerykeion and monogram ΛΟ to left, spearhead below
SNG Cop. 1159

 

When you get to the end of Episode 2.. that is the best moment - it is THE tipping point.. when you are completely confused as to WHY you are watching this, WHAT you are ACTUALLY watching. I was so darn confused. Once you let Episode 3 roll - its all over.
Meth, wild animals, guns, murder (perhaps), a lot of other stuff OMG.

P.S. don't eat the pizza.




Valerian 253-260 AD AE27 Anazarbus Cilicia; Dionysus reclining left on panther lying right, head looking back;

 

Here's a mint mark Lion from Aurelian:

Aurelian
Rome mint, 5th officina. 8th emission, spring-summer AD 274.
OB: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right
R: ORIENS AVG, Sol advancing left, treading upon bound captive to left, extending hand and holding globe; bound captive to right;
XXI/V//(lion standing left). RIC V 62; BN 128; Venèra 746.

 

Here are two big cats :





Q

 

Tarsos, Balakros, AR stater 333-323 BC, lion attacking bull


uncertain, Cilicia, AR tetartemorion (0.2g) Herakles / lion with arrow in mouth


Amyntas, Galatia, AE24 Herakles / lion

 

A lot of cool cats in here from the likes of @Orange Julius , @Clavdivs , @Cucumbor , @dougsmit , and @Andres2 !

What a great opportunity for me to post some of my favorite coins!

Tiger:


Gallienus, 253-268 AD.
Roman Æ Antoninianus, 2.63 g, 20.8 mm, 5 h.
Rome Mint, 10th emission, 267-268 AD.
Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right.
Rev: LIBERO P CONS AVG, tiger walking left, B in exergue.
Refs: RIC 230K; Göbl 713b; Cohen 586; RCV 10281; Cunetio 1341; Hunter 112.

Panther:

Jim Phelps notes that this issue comes in two types: an unmarked cat with a sleek build (the panther type) and a striped tigress type.


Gallienus, 253-268 AD.
Roman Æ Antoninianus, 2.65 g, 20.1 mm, 5 h.
Rome Mint, 10th emission, 267-268 AD.
Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right.
Rev: LIBERO P CONS AVG, panther walking left, B in exergue.
Refs: RIC 230K; Göbl 713b; Cohen 586; RCV 10281; Cunetio 1341; Hunter 112.

And here's Dionysus with a panther:


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman provincial triassarion, 6.34 g, 23.4 mm, 7 h.
Thrace, Pautalia, AD 161-175.
Obv: ΦΑVCΤΕΙΝ-Α CΕΒΑCΤΗ, draped bust of Faustina II, right; band of pearls around head.
Rev: ΟVΛΠΙΑC-ΠΑVΤΑΛΙ-ΑC, Dionysus seated on panther walking, r., resting r. arm on panther, holding thyrsus.
Refs: RPC IV 8811; Ruzicka 99.
Notes: Double die match to RPC IV 8811(4) = Ruzicka 99(4) = Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum 8775.

Lions!


Greek Ionia, Miletos.
AE Hemiobol, 3.35 g, 18.3 mm, 12 h.
Aeschylinos, magistrate, ca. 200 BC.
Obv: Apollo Didymeus standing right, holding small stag and bow; monogram below.
Rev: Lion seated right with head turned to left, star above, monogram right, ΑIΣXΥΛΙΝΟΥ in exergue.
Refs: Deppert 941-56 var; Marcellesi 56.


Caracalla, AD 198-217.
Roman provincial Æ assarion, 1.92 g, 15.4 mm, 2 h.
Moesia Inferior, Nicopolis ad Istrum.
Obv: MAP AV K ANTΩNIN, bare head, right.
Rev: NIKOΠOΛITΩ / ΠPOC IC, lion advancing right.
Refs: Varbanov 3007; Moushmov 1111; AMNG 1599.


Septimius Severus, AD 193-211.
Roman Provincial Æ (diassarion?) 17.7 mm; 4.06 g.
Thrace, Philippopolis.
Obv: ΑV Κ Λ CΕVΗΡΟC, laureate and draped bust right.
Rev: ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΠΟΛΕΙΤ-ΩΝ, lion walking left; ox's head before.
Refs: Moushmov 5274 var. (lion walking right); Varbanov 1305.


Julia Mamaea, AD 222-235.
Roman provincial Æ 19.7 mm, 5.54 g.
Thrace, Deultum, AD 222-235.
Obv: IVLIA MAMAEA AVG, diademed and draped bust right.
Rev: C F P D, lion walking right.
Refs: Moushmov 3624; Varbanov 2382; Mionnet Suppl 2, 511 (pl. V. 7); BMC --.

 

Some awesome coins posted here, y'all.

@MeowtheKitty , have you seen this thread? This seems perfect for you!

 

If you watched the Tiger King series (which I haven't yet) you'll probably get an idea why I moved to the north woods of Wisconsin when I retired. I lived on an acreage not too far away from Joe Exotic's big cat sanctuary. One summer I had a problem with a mountain lion on my property and always wondered if it was one of his that escaped. I may watch the show just to see one of the kids I knew from my being involved in the Pauls Valley high school band boosters. This kid ended up being Joe's campaign manager as I've been told. He and my son were both in the band and graduated together. All I can say is that there were some good people in that area but also some very strange people as well.

 

THESSALY, Oitaioi
AR Hemidrachm. 2.75g, 16.3mm. THESSALY, Oitaioi, circa 360-344 BC. Valassiadis 1; BCD Thessaly I 1211 (same rev. die); BCD Thessaly II 487 (same rev. die); HGC 4, 129 (same obv. die). O: Head of lion left, with spear in jaws. R: OIT-[AO]N (retrograde), Herakles standing facing, holding club.
Ex BCD Collection (tag noting "W. of C'm Hd" = West of Cierium Hoard)

JULIA DOMNA
AR Denarius. 3.23g, 19.9mm. Rome mint, circa AD 193-211. RIC (Septimius Severus) 562. O: IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right. R: MATER AVGG, Julia Domna as Cybele driving quadriga of lions left, holding branch.

ELAGABALUS
AE27. 12.24g, 26.9mm. MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis ad Istrum, circa 218-222. Novius Rufus, legate. Varbanov 3949 (same dies); AMNG 1933 corr. (2 specimens). O: AVT M AVP – ANTΩNINOC (NO ligate), laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from front. R: VΠ NOBIOV POVΦOV NIKOΠOΛITΩN ΠPO, C ICTPΩ in exergue, Pan, with goats horns and legs, standing left, head right, draped in fawn skin, fawn hooves hanging from left arm, playing pipes (?), holding pedum in right hand, and placing left hoof on chest of panther which is lying on its back on the ground and raising its head.
Ex Dr. Rainer Pudill Collection, purchased from Majestic, Großostheim, on 24 Sep 1997

 

Here's a big Kitty:

Herennia Etruscilla, (249-251 A.D.)
Wife of Trajan Decius

AE 28 of Viminacium, 14.2 grams

Obverse: HER ETRVSCILLA AVG, draped bust right, in staphane

Reverse: PMS COL VIM, female figure (Provincia Moesia) standing, facing left, between bull and lion, AN XII in exergue

Reference: BMC 32

 

Depiction of the food chain in action Mazaios Ar Stater or Di Siglos 361-334 B.C. Obv. Baaltars seated left Rv Lion attacking bull left SNg Levante 106 10.85 grms 23 mm Photo by W. Hansen

 

Thanks, @Roman Collector , for posting these coins and the link to the note confirming the two different types, and even suggesting that the tigress rather than the panther was intended as the primary type. It's interesting that none of the catalogues -- not RIC, not RSC, and not RCV -- has made the distinction between the two; all just list the coin under one number as showing a panther.

In light of all this, do you (or anyone else) have an opinion as to whether my example shows a panther or a tigress? And as to whether the officina mark in the reverse exergue shows a B or a D? (According to RCV, it should always be a B.)

Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, Rome Mint 267-268 AD. Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG /Rev. Panther or Tigress walking left, LIBERO P • CONS AVG; B or D in exergue. RIC V-1 230, RSC IV 586, Sear RCV III 10281. 19mm, 2.83g, 6h.






Unless I'm imagining them, and even though the coin is rather worn, I'm pretty sure I see the remnants of some vertical stripes on the animal. And it's undoubtedly a female. So I'm inclined to think that it's intended to be a tigress, not a panther. (As for the officina mark, I just don't see a B -- to me, that looks like a D, although of course one never knows.)

 

I think yours is the tigress type. Officina B.

 

I posted all or most of the following coins in the recent "Show Us Your Lions" thread (see https://www.cointalk.com/threads/show-us-your-lions.357044/), but figured that there's no harm in showing them again!

Septimius Severus, AR Denarius 203-204 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, SEVERVS PIVS AVG / Dea Caelestis in headdress riding right on lion, holding thunderbolt & scepter; below, water gushing from rocks left; INDVLGENTIA AVGG; in exergue: IN CARTH. RIC IV-1 266, RSC III 222, Sear RCV II 6285. 18x20 mm., 3.9 g. (This coin is believed to commemorate a public works project in Carthage, probably having to do with the water supply.)



Roman Republic. C. Poblicius Q.f. AR Serrate Denarius, 80 BCE. Obv. Head of Roma right, wearing helmet decorated with grain ears; ROMA behind, V above / Rev. C•POBLICI•Q•F; Hercules standing left, strangling the Nemean Lion; bow and quiver to left, club below; V above lion. Crawford 380/1; RSC I Poblicia 9; Sydenham 768. 20.13 mm., 3.84 g.



Philip I AR Antoninianus, 248 AD, Rome Mint, 1st Officina. Obv. Radiate, draped, & cuirassed bust right, IMP PHILIPPVS AVG/ Rev. Lion walking right, SAECVLARES AVGG, I in exergue. RIC IV-3 12, RSC IV 173. 23 mm., 3.41 g. (Games commemorating 1,000th anniversary of founding of Rome.)



Not coins, but they're ancient and they're lions, both from Egypt and both depicting Sekhmet -- one of limestone, from the 22nd-23rd Dynasties, and one of blue faience, from the 26th Dynasty.





Finally, although it's not ancient, one of the 1820 James Mudie series of 40 medals commemorating British Military and Naval Victories during the Napoleonic Wars.

Siege of Acre 1799 (Struck 1820). Obv. Bust l., uniformed, ADMIRAL SIR S. SMITH/ Rev. British Lion, within a rocky pass, protects Syrian camel from menacing French tiger. In exergue: ACRE DEFENDED. BUONAPARTE REPULSED SYRIA SAVED. XX MAY MDCCLXXXXIX. AE 41 mm. By G. Mills/ N.G.A. Brenet. Mudie 7, Eimer 906, BHM 476 [I photographed only the reverse, because the obverse, like many in the Mudie series, is not of great interest.]



Note the comic-book superhero muscles on the sturdy British lion, compared to the scrawny, skulking, cowardly French tiger -- which doesn't even have stripes!

 

Thanks! I agree; I think it has to be a tigress. And although I still don't see a "B," I'll take your word for it that that's what was intended.

 

Good looking felines. Here's a mixed up cat, described by Homer in the Iliad VI.180:
"first he bade him slay the raging Chimaera. She was of divine stock, not of men, in the fore part a lion, in the hinder a serpent, and in the midst a goat, breathing forth in terrible wise the might of blazing fire"

The Chimaera of Arezzo from 4th Century BC Etruscans:



And on a coin of Sikyonia, Sikyon:


Sikyonia, Sikyon, 330-280 BC, AR hemidrachm
Obv: Chimaera advancing left; ΣI below
Rev: Dove flying left

 

It's hard to watch "Tiger King" – in many ways, the show is painfully spot-on. I understand it as a sort of chamber play that unsparingly reveals general problems of contemporary America by looking at a peripheral social microcosm like big cat owners. Watching it, you wonder why a society would choose to tolerate and even enable this bunch of delusional megalomaniacs instead of gently protecting others from them and them from themselves. This can be transferred to larger issues and other prominent figures, I guess.

In an apocryphal dictum, Bertolt Brecht described his artistic program as 'distorting things into recognizability' (die Dinge zur Kenntlichkeit entstellen). "Tiger King" does something similar.

But I am rambling. Here are some big cat coins.


Dynasts of Lycia, Mithrapata, AR 1/6 stater, ca. 390–370 BC: Obv: Lion scalp facing. Rev: METRAPA[T]A in Lycian script; triskele; in field, dolphin. 13mm, 1.13g. Ref: SNG Copenhagen Suppl. 476 var. Ex Redoubt Numismatics, TX.


Thrace, Chersonesos, AR hemidrachm, ca. 386–338 BC. Obv: forepart of lion r., head reverted. Rev: four-part incuse square with alternating raised and sunken quarters; HP-monogram and pellet in upper sunken quarter, pellet in lower sunken quarter. 13mm, 2.4g; SNG Copenhagen 828 var (pellet instead of leaf on reverse). Ex AMCC 1, lot 11.


Septimius Severus, Roman Empire, denarius, 194 AD, Rome mint. Obv: L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP III, head of Septimius Severus, laureate, r. Rev: LIBERO PATRI, Bacchus (Liber), wreathed, naked except for cloak over left arm, emptying oenochoe in r. hand over panther, and holding garlanded thyrsus in l. hand 17.5mm, 2.53g. Ref: RIC IV.1 Septimius Severus 32.


Septimius Severus, Roman Empire, AR denarius, 202–210 AD, Rome mint. Obv: SEVERVS PIVS AVG; head of Septimius Severus, laureate, r. Rev: INDVLGENTIA AVGG IN CARTH; Dea Caelestis, draped, riding r. on lion, holding thunderbolt in r. hand and sceptre in l. hand; below, water gushing from rock. 19mm, 3.32g. Ref: RIC IV Septimius Severus 266. Ex Marc Breitsprecher; ex Secret Saturn 2019.


Hindu Shahi, Samanta Deva, AE jital, ca. 850–1000 AD, Ohind mint (?). Obv: Elephant advancing l.; Nagari legend “Sri Samanta Deva” above. Rev: Lion standing r. with jaws open and paw raised. 16mm, 1.64g. Ref: Tye 19.


Norman Kingdom of Sicily, under William II "the Good," AE trifollaro, 1166–1189 AD, Messina mint. Obv: lion's head facing. Rev: palm tree. 26mm, 10.27g. Ref: Spahr 117; Biaggi 1231.


Gosdantin III or IV, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, AR Takvorin, 1344–1373 AD, Sis or Tarsus mint. Reverse: Armenian legend, king riding r., holding lily sceptre. Rev: Armenian legend, lion with cross walking r. 23mm, 1.97g. Ref: Nercessian 471–478; 491–496.


City of Braunschweig, AR "Ewiger Pfennig" (bracteate), after 1412 AD. Obv: lion walking l. Rev: negative design (bracteate). 21 mm, 0.45g. Ref: Berger 993–1001. Ex Leu, Webauktion 8, lot 1929.