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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 24716762, member: 26430&quot;]Those raise some other interesting categories of &quot;ugly duckling.&quot; I thought about posting my very similar Themistokles Hemiobol. I collect AR Fractions, and usually they have to be in very good shape (and/or very good metal) to be attractive, but these ones never are.</p><p><br /></p><p>Still, the history totally compensates for their usual unattractiveness. I&#039;m in the H.A. Cahn &quot;it-could-be-a-portrait (conceivably)&quot; camp:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1580481[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>As [USER=75496]@Carl Wilmont[/USER] &#039;s Judaean and [USER=83845]@Curtisimo[/USER] &#039;s Iberian suggest, there can be entire regions &amp; periods whose coins lack the artistic qualities that appeal to our modern eyes. (Though Iberian / Celtic coinage can, of course, be quite beautiful in its way.)</p><p><br /></p><p>An Iberian, Carisa Bronze. Interesting for its semi-cubist renderings, but not exactly beautiful:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1580482[/ATTACH]</p><p>Even in the best condition I usually don&#039;t find Judaean coinage &quot;attractive.&quot; But it&#039;s very cool and historically interesting. This one is overstruck on Flavian bronze (probably a Provincial Judaea Capta type):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1580483[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>For another &quot;triptych&quot; style photo...</p><p><br /></p><p>I really need to do a full writeup on this one, especially now that I&#039;ve found some other examples to go with it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Danubian-Celtic imitation of the Thrace, Odessos, King Seuthes III bronzes.</p><p><br /></p><p>What makes it interesting: If you rotate the obverse 120&#039; counterclockwise, there&#039;s a second hidden face/bust of Zeus. I&#039;ve tried to crudely outline it:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1580484[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>There&#039;s also a flower in there. (A right-facing Zeus, left-facing Zeus, and flower are all constructed from the same elements.)</p><p><br /></p><p>I really love how this one opens up so many topics in Celtic artwork (another topic I could write about forever).</p><p><br /></p><p>This last set of images are showing only the obverse, but highlighting different aspects of/ways of seeing it. There is definitely an element of &quot;pareidolia&quot; involved (basically imagining patterns in randomness); but Celtic art used abstract &amp; naturalistic elements to exploit pareidolia and invite the viewer to imagine different shapes &amp; representations in the design (even if the artist didn&#039;t intend or anticipate them!)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1580486[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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