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Message:: [QUOTE="Curtis, post: 24898606, member: 26430"]Not counting coins that became ugly from damage, etc., there are a lot of Iberian and Celtic coins that might qualify. Of course, they have their own artistic standards (think of Cubism), independent of Greco-Roman realism. As with Victor's imitative above, I'd put many of these in the "so-ugly-they're-beautiful" category. At least "so-ugly-they're-fascinating"![ATTACH=full]1599931[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Spain, Carisa AE Semis (9.94g, 23mm), 1st cent. BCE.Obv: Male head right. Rev: CARIS-A. Warrior on horse galloping left, holding large round shield.Ref/Prov: Colección Cores (v.1) 3365 (this coin) = <a href="https://monedaiberica.org/v2/type/15702" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://monedaiberica.org/v2/type/15702" rel="nofollow">Moneta Iberica [MIB] 194/13</a>. Ex Jesús Vico 156 (Cores IX, 5 Mar 2020), Lot 35.</blockquote> Personally, I love the coin below. But if I'd been Ariarathes V (or VIII), I would've been pretty angry about the ugly portrait. This coin is pretty obviously imitative, as Otto Morkholm pointed out, but Bono Simonetta just couldn't accept it (he said it was struck during the troubles with Orophernes, c. 161-159 BCE, but no one else seems to believe it): [ATTACH=full]1599945[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Kings of Cappadocia (Imitative) AR Drachm (3.70g, 19mm, 12h), mid/late 2nd cent. BCE.Obv: Diademed head right.Rev: Athena Nikephoros standing l., resting hand on shield, spear behind; monogram left, nonsense character in exergue. (Nonsense legend transcribed by B. Simonetta as "VI[AOAI V]AVII VVN˩AV".)Ref/Prov: This coin = B. Simonetta 1958, RIN, p.17 (Ar. V, No. 12), ex. 3 = B. Simonetta 1961, NC, p. 33 (Ar V, No. 14b), ex. 3 = B. Simonetta 1974 (RIN), Pl. III, No. 10 = B. Simonetta 1977, 15b, Pl. III, 4 = A.M. Simonetta 2007 (Parthica), Ar. VIII?, p. 77, 3b / pl. XV.3a.</blockquote> But, for coins in my collection that I actually find dreadfully unattractive -- and were that way from the start -- the Palaeologans take the prize. Believe it or not, the type below really doesn't get much better than this: [ATTACH=full]1599949[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Andronicus II & Michael IX Æ Trachy (25mm, 2.11 g [2.05g per CNG], 6h), Class XXIV, Thessalonica mint, c. 1294-1320.Obv: Two concentric circles bisected by three vertical lines.Rev: Andronicus and Michael standing facing, holding between them a staff surmounted by cross within ring.Ref: DOC Class XXIV, 778-9; LPC p. 232, 6; PCPC 235 (type noted, but no specimen cataloged from his coll. in 1979); LBC 814; SB 2458; Ratto – ; <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42668023" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42668023" rel="nofollow">Bendall, "Hoard of Thessalonican Trachea"</a>: 12 specimens recorded (this coin possibly from the "US portion" of the hoard, examined in the stock of HJB, 2000, but not tabulated in 2001 NC article).Prov: Ex Simon Bendall (1937-2019) Collection (with hand-written collector tag), cataloged for CNG by Peter J. Donald.</blockquote>[/QUOTE]

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