I guess I thought that they were all supposed to be Pan -- a pun on the city's name -- rather than just some anonymous satyr, whether or not they have a beard. After all, Pan (or the mask of Pan) on Roman Republican coins (like my Vibius Pansa) has a beard.
Wow. I really am surprised. When it gets to the point that auction prices have gone way past retail prices (even without the buyer's fee), then it makes more sense just to buy at retail -- until the retail dealers all raise their prices, too.
I am sure mine is worth twice that Cimmerian Bosporos, Pantikapaion, circa 310-304/3 BC, AE Obv: Bearded head of satyr right Rev: ΠAN, Forepart of griffin left; below, fish (sturgeon) left
Pantikapaion Ae 23 340-325 BC Obv head of bearded satyr left wearing ivy wreath Rv. Bow and arrow. MacDonald 59 11.53 grms 24 mm Photo by W. Hansen The coins of this mint Pantikapaion are quite fascinating. This coin seems to have been issued during the second period of coinage from that mint as the image of the satyr is very flamboyant. Oddly despite all the effort spent on the obverse the reverse is surprisingly plain.
Those are interesting. Is that a countermark on the obverse of the second one, or a view of what's inside his head?
the Greek colony of Panticapaeum was located on the territory of modern Russia. Therefore, the coins of Pantikapaion Dating very often. They are looking for them with a metal detector.
Once upon a time, Bing's coin was mine. I got it in 1991 from Frank Robinson who was selling pairs of 'countermarked' coins of this type where one was really countermarked and the other was made with the countermark as part of the design. He had several sets as I recall. At a later date, I upgraded the one with normal c/m's and sold the one from Frank to Bing. At the time, I thought the star/bowcase paired marks were neat and that the ones incorporated in the design were cut into the dies. Today, I would need to see others from the mark incorporated 'dies' that proved it was a die rather than a cast but I don't know anyone else who bought these in 1991 so I have not seen proof one way or the other. Help appreciated. My upgrade with paired c/m's: The c/m incorporated from 1991: This is one of those mysteries I will feel lucky to solve. I need to see another coin with the c/m's in the same place but with different centering. Without that, the coin I have might just be a cast fake (ancient or modern).
I have a copy of the original 1986 Anokhin Russian-text "MOHETHOE ΔΕΛΟ bOCΠOPA" where the Pan right/griffin type is 111. So that old reference is confirmed. I don't know where "Anokhin 1023" comes from.
I think the Pan right/griffin is one of the most attractive ancient bronzes. For its beauty alone those prices seems reasonable. However, there was a large hoard found and when considering supply and demand the supply is really quite large. I copied this photo from an article about a hoard in September 2016: I'm sorry to say I don't recall the details or have a link to the article and didn't find one in a web search.
Here are some pictures of the earlier Anokhin book. Монетное дело Боспора (1986). It's in Russian, but Cyrillic is not so difficult to learn (I did it when collecting Russian coins as a boy), coin books obviously consist for a large part of pictures and short systematic paragraphs, AND today there's the Google Translate app on your phone with camera function! 111 says: Obv. Head of a bearded satyr right. Rev. PAN Protome of griffin to the left, below a sturgeon. Copper. Tetrachalkon. 6.60g - GE, N 26631 (=coin inventory number).
I only have this BC coin of Pantikapaion, dating from about 130-125 BC. It's Anokhin (1986) nr. 175 and shows on its reverse a cornucopia between the two pilei = the caps of the Dioscuri, both under a star: Castor and Pollux. 16.5 mm, 3.40g, so I suppose a dichalkon.
Great reference! You need no books anymore when you use that. My coin is 175-3151, with 207 pieces very common.
Thanks! This directly confirms that 111 (1986) = 1023 (2011). So I finally have the answer! Also, Chrome automatically translates this site into English.