One of My Favorite Bronze Coins Revisited.

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by Ancientnoob, Feb 18, 2014.

  1. Ancientnoob

    Ancientnoob Money Changer

    I took the coins out to "play" with them and I thought it would be fun to revisit one of my favorute Bronze coins. For your enjoyment, here is a rather tiny, scarce and majestic high quality bronze piddler from Cebren, Troas (Troy) in Asia Minor.

    Struck around 350-310 BC, 8 mm and 0.92 grams, the coin features a dark even black patina with some nice original dirt. The youthful head of Apollo is clearly defined on a obverse. The reverse features a Ram's head right. I know many out there like those big coins and I am certainly one of them, but I just cant ignore how tiny and well executed this piece is.

    Many scholars have attempted to debunk the use of optical magnification in ancient times, but as far as I am concerned the proof is in the pudding. I have 20/20 vision the coin is almost uncomfortable to look at, a die would be impossible to engrave with the naked eye. The man or men that made this had some serious spectacles.

    I believe the modern consensus for the transportation and loss prevention of such a coin was such that the ancient fella carried the coin in his mouth, as the purse could be stolen and then pocket had not been introduced to Europe yet.
    DSC04438_opt.jpg DSC04437.JPG
     
    zumbly, chrsmat71, TIF and 8 others like this.
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  3. stevex6

    stevex6 Random Mayhem

    Hey Noob ... nice, that's a sweet lookin' Ram you've got there!!

    => thanks for bringing it out and parading it around ...
     
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  4. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    Love that Ram's head Anoob. Love it!
     
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  5. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    Beautiful coin. I like to visit my coins often. I dont doubt they used magnification too.
     
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  6. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    There is the theory that such things were made by guys like me. I have extremely sharp vision but require glasses to be able to see sharply beyond about 8 inches from my face. When I examine coins, I can just look over the top of my glasses. As we age, my eye doctor says it is common for the glasses prescription to weaken and I do believe that I was able to see most sharply a lot closer years ago not to mention that young eye can accommodate to focus on close things. I never used a magnifying glass when I was a young collector since my unassisted eyes could focus on things 2-3 inches away. You 20/20 types will someday be buying reading glasses because you arms are too short to hold books out where you can see them. I have also heard this theory discredited but the fact remains that, had I been born in the 5th century BC, I would not have made much of a soldier or a scout for the army but I could have learned to do very close work better than those war heroes as long as I did not trip over things getting to the workplace.
     
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  7. stevex6

    stevex6 Random Mayhem

    ahaha => yah, I am currently looking into getting arm-extentions!! (yes, I have the opposite eye-problem than yours ... I can rival an eagle at spotting a mouse in a yonder field, but I can't read the back of a soup tin to see if I'm supposed to add 1 cup or 1/2 a cup of milk!!)
     
  8. Eng

    Eng Senior Eng

    Amazing that these guy's could carve a die that small, awesome coin Anoob...
     
  9. John Anthony

    John Anthony Ultracrepidarian

    My eyes are similar to Doug's, only worse. I can focus clearly at 2 inches - my prescription is a +17. I'm not saying magnification is out of the question, but I'm guessing quite a few engravers were very near-sighted.
     
  10. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    Yep, my arms got too short at about age 42.
     
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  11. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    A fun part is that you can mystify people by reading things on coins that they can't find even with their magnifier.
     
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  12. stevex6

    stevex6 Random Mayhem

    => I do a similar party trick ...... I spot comets without a telescope!!

    ;)
     
  13. John Anthony

    John Anthony Ultracrepidarian

    It's a wonder natural selection didn't cull us near-sighted folk from the gene pool long ago. I mean, we wouldn't have seen the Saber-Toothed Tiger until he was on top of us.
     
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  14. vlaha

    vlaha Respect. The. Hat.

    Yes, it's extremely improbable.

    Practically impossible...:D
     
  15. randygeki

    randygeki Coin Collector

    Great coin! and interesting debate.
     
  16. chrsmat71

    chrsmat71 I LIKE TURTLES!

    great little coin!

    I've noticed for small thing like that, I can't get it close enough to see clearly because the presbyopia is kicking in (I'm 42..so right along with bing and my shrinking arms), but I also can't see for @beep@ beyond 20 feet because I'm near sighted.

    suppose it's time for bifocals.....uuuugh.
     
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