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Message:: [QUOTE="Curtisimo, post: 3164079, member: 83845"]Hello everyone and welcome to Round 2 of the 2018 CoinTalk Imperator Tournament! If you are unaware of the tournament I invite you to get caught up with all the fun in the master thread; <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-it%E2%80%99s-time-the-second-annual-coin-imperator-tournament-2018.320328/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-it%E2%80%99s-time-the-second-annual-coin-imperator-tournament-2018.320328/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-it’s-time-the-second-annual-coin-imperator-tournament-2018.320328/</a> [ATTACH=full]812935[/ATTACH] A big thank you to all of our participants. Without further ado… ............................................................ #14 [USER=37707]@iamtiberius[/USER] [ATTACH=full]812936[/ATTACH] PERSIA, Alexandrine Empire. temp. Stamenes – Seleukos. Satraps of Babylon, circa 328-311 BC. AR Double Shekel (21.5mm, 16.84 g, 7h). Baal seated left, holding scepter; monogram to left / Lion walking left; Γ above. Nicolet-Pierre 84. VF, toned. From the George Bernert Collection. Price: $414 Why it’s Cool: The Coin: This Double Shekel is the epitome of Babylon. At a bold 5.5 mm thick, this is one of my most satisfying coins to handle. It's one of my go to's to let friends and family examine when the topic of ancients rears its head; with the depiction of Baal on the obverse and the famous "passing lion" on the reverse. The lion is close in style and depiction to the famous Ishtar Gate, in Babylon, constructed during Nebuchadnezzar II's reign, some 250 years before, circa 605-562 BC. (We've got the gold tones, just missing some blues.) [ATTACH=full]812945[/ATTACH] Note that Baal's depiction on the obverse is a close, if not exact, representation of Zeus (Even closer than the contemporary Cilician representation found on their staters) as compared to the pharaonic-esque, head dress wearing, skinnier personification seen during the bronze ages. P. Iossif and C. Lorber in “Marduk and the Lion: A Hoard of Babylonian Lion Staters" attempted to place my specific example as being issued during Seleukos' reign as Satrap, with the lambda above the lion.  However, the object/symbol in left field on the obverse throws a wrench in their deductive spokes of research as my specific example may not be a hoard find along with the rest of the lambdas.  It seems researchers play it safe by giving us a broader range of possible Satraps as "Stamenes - Seleukos." The History: The city of Babylon was huge by ancient standards and was one of the most important cities of antiquity.  It was split in two by the Euphrates river and located just south of modern day Baghdad. As the most important city of ancient Mesopotamia it was the victim of its fair share of conquests and sieges throughout its 2000 year history. Alexander's Hellenistic push east was no exception. On October 1st, 331 BC, Alexander met Darius III at Gaugamela, modern day Northern Iraq. Mazaeus, was the current Satrap of Babylon under Darius III and accompanied his king in battle, holding the Right Wing of the Persian Army. After Darius III's retreat, the Persian defense quickly collapsed and Mazaeus was forced to retreat; leaving nothing in between Alexander and Babylon. On the short road to Babylon, Alexander sent a message to Mazaeus, stating Babylon would not be pillaged or raised. With that, Mazaeus surrendered Babylon to Alexander. Alexander entered peacefully. During his time there, he became acquainted and impressed with Mazaeus, letting him retain his title under the Macedonian Empire, over Babylon. It is thought during this time, or perhaps the year prior to Alexander's conquest of Babylon, that the Baal seated, lion passing left design was introduced. Fast forward 8 years. Death defeats Alexander; leaving the Diadochi (Alexander's successors/generals) in political shambles. Which, of course, lead to war. Seleukos initially supported Perdiccas as Supreme Commander over The Army, but Perdiccas' poor military leadership and performance against Ptolemy in Egypt lead to a mutiny and his eventual assassination (orchestrated by Seleukos). After this, Antipater made Seleukos regent of Babylon and it is possible that my coin could have been minted at this time. However, Seleukos was soon made to flee and was only able to return 9 years later under Ptolemy's blessing in 312 BC. After his return to Babylon Seleukos began to effect his absolute domination of the East; sparking the beginning and expansion of the Seleucid Empire. The Babylonian Double Shekel was an anomaly in a time when the rest of the Hellenized world was full of the standard Herakles or Alexander portrait types.  This design would be retained and stay in production until, or around, the death of Seleukos, circa 281 BC. ............................................................ #30 [USER=87080]@TheRed[/USER] [ATTACH=full]812973[/ATTACH] Class 1c 1279 AD London mint.18mm 1.42gObv: EDW REX ANGL' DNS HYB; Crowned facing bust.Rev: CIVI TAS LON DON; Long cross three pellets in each quarter.SCBC 1382 Price: $179 Why It’s Cool:The Voided Long-Cross pennies of Henry III in circulation in England had become worn, clipped, and were generally in poor condition. Edward’s administration undertook a radical recoinage and produced a new penny unlike anything minted in England before and would set the pattern of English coinage for 200 years. The appearance of the penny was greatly improved as compared to the short and voided long cross pennies of the old monarchs. Previously the images of the kings were made up of pellets, crescents, and strokes from a very limited range of punches used to engrave the dies. With Edward’s new coinage more advanced punches with well rendered features were used that gave the penny a higher artistic quality and more life-like portrait. The legends of the penny also changed. Previously, the legend named the king, such as HENRICVS REX III, but with the new penny the legend expanded greatly. On the reverse,the name of the moneyer associated with each mint was removed from the penny. Instead, the name of the mint was all that was present. This was a radical change, as the moneyer’s name had appeared on the English penny since the 8th century when Offa first introduced the coin. The new penny of Edward was a great success in England and was much admired throughout norther Europe where England had strong economic ties due to the wool trade. The English penny was of high quality and fine silver, unlike much of the coinage of the continent which was debased. Merchants from Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, and other regions wanted the new English penny to conduct trade with England. In response, continental mints began producing their own copies. These coins, which became known as crockards and pollards, were often debased and lackedhigh silver content of their English rivals. ............................................................ A Gentle ReminderRound 1 went about as well as anyone could have hoped from the perspective of keeping the commentary fun, interesting and friendly. It would be a challenge to run a tournament of this type on almost any other board but with the great people here on CT it has been both an honor and a pleasure. Lets try to keep up with the perfect score in the friendliness department by concentrating comments on why you liked an entry instead of why you didn't like the other. Remember that everyone gets 3 votes to choose which coin you think comes out on top in each of the three categories. With that I will open the thread for comments, opinions, coin pile-ons and random posting of coin things as you see fit.[/QUOTE]

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