I really like the design of this coin and was really thrilled to find this one in very good condition and at a reasonable price. These are somewhat rare and can be expensive in good preservation. Himera, Sicily. AE Hemilitron, 420-407BC, 18mm, 5.35g. Obverse: Pan riding goat right, holding thyrsus over left shoulder and blowing on a conch shell; below goat, a Corinthian helmet. Reverse: HIMEPAION, Nike advancing left, holding open wreath in right hand, dress in left; six pellets (mark of value). SNG ANS 184, Cal p.42, 27 I bought another example that I posted last year. Unfortunately, it weighs over 9 grams and I have not seen another example that heavy. It also has other signs of being a modern fake struck on an ancient planchet. The design fades out before the edge of the planchet, which indicates the original coin was off center. It could have been overstruck on another city's coin by Himera? I plan to send it and a few others to David Sear after the holidays and let him see what he thinks. Post your coins with goats or coins of Himera. John
There are a lot of days left in the year, and I hope to get some more coins in the mail soon. Not to jinx it or anything. Are most people done with the arrivals for the year already?
An interesting issue. Here are some of my tribe of goats: AEOLIS, AIGAI AE 10 OBVERSE: Laureate head of Apollo right REVERSE: Head and neck of a goat, AIΓAE behind Struck at Aigai, 300-200BC .9g, 10mm SNG von Aulock 1593; SNG Copenhagen 1 Ex JAZ Numismatics C RENIUS AR Denarius OBVERSE: Helmeted head of Roma right, X behind REVERSE: Juno Capriotina in biga of goats right, C RENI below goats, ROMA in ex Struck at Rome 138 BC 3.6g, 16mm Cr231/1, Syd 432 L POMPONIUS MOLO ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS POMPONIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Laureate head of Apollo right; L POMPON MOLO around REVERSE: Numa Pompilius standing right before altar preparing to sacrifice a goat which is being held by a youth; NVMA POMPIL in exergue Struck at Rome 97 BC 3.7g, 18mm Crawford 334/1; Pomponia 6 CN. PLANCIVS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS PLANCIAAR Denarius OBVERSE: CN.[PLANCIVS] AED.CVR.S.C. around Diana Planciana right, wearing petasus, earring, and necklace REVERSE: Cretan goat right; bow and quiver behind Rome 55 BC 18mm, 3.6g Cr 432/1 THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES, MYGDONES or KRESTONES AR Obol OBVERSE: Goat kneeling left, head reverted, solid rosette above, pellet to left REVERSE: Quadripartite incuse square Struck at Thrace, 480-470 BC .79g, 11mm Lorber, Goats, Issue 6; AMNG III 14 (Aigai); HPM pl. III, 16; Traité pl. XLIX, 8; SNG ANS Ex-NN Auction 46
Nice herd of goats Bing. I like the biga. My wife's family has an old photo with a girl being pulled in a cart by two large goats. John
WOW, cool @Theodosius ... I am not familiar with that cool issue. I hope your other going to Sear is deemed real. Goats... I do not have many: RR AR Denarius 3.88g L Pomponius Molo 97 BCE Rome Apollo Numa Pompilius stdng Lituus alter sacrifice goat Craw 334-1 Syd 607 RR Fonteius 85 BC AR Den Apollo tbolt Cupid Goat Pilei Wreath Sear 271 Craw 353-1a RR Cn Plancius 55 BCE Macedonia causia Cretan Goat quiver Sear 396 Craw 432-1 RR C Renius AR Denarius 18mm 3.8g Roma 138 BC Helmeted hd Roma r X - C RENI ROMA Juno driving biga goats r whip reins scepter Craw 231-1
I have one on its way to me now, and one new coin in hand that I haven’t shared on the forum yet. Unfortunately my coin budget is otherwise done and dusted for the year. Still, looking ahead to a promising 2018!
I just finished up my 2017 purchases but it will be close on whether my last few get here before the end of the year. I absolutely love your new GOAT it's a bummer the first one you purchased is potentially a struck copy. You would think if they were going to go to all the trouble of striking a forgery on an authentic flan they would get the correct weight.
Hmm. I love the type but not long ago there were some high quality fakes (purported fakes) which have tainted the type. Fingers crossed that yours are authentic, but for comparison here are a couple of coins condemned on a blog called NumismaticFakes. The owner of that site posted here for a brief time and he has since dropped off the radar. The last update to his site was in 2016. Some people expressed concern about his sudden absence from coin sites. Does anyone have any followup? I don't recall his CT user name. Discussions about fakes of this coin: http://www.lamoneta.it/topic/148245-bronzi-siciliani-da-valutare-parte-ii/ https://numismaticfakes.wordpress.com/2016/04/14/himera-fakes-recently-sold-on-auction/ Your coins and a couple of examples from the above article: I don't know enough about it to have an informed opinion regarding the authenticity of your coins or of the coins condemned on lamoneta and numismatic fakes. It raises concerns though .
I hope the author is ok. He was dead sure two of the coins I had posted were fakes. I sent them to David Sear and spoke to David on the phone about them. He was sure they were authentic. I checked the various fake databases and lists and did not find a match for this one. Fingers crossed David thinks it is okay.
The trouble with transfer die forgeries is that they are made from real coins struck from ancient dies. So there are both real coins and fakes from the same dies. You have to look for tell tale signs of the transfer faking process to tell them apart. I think my original coin has lots of signs of being a transfer die forgery. The new one i just got has more signs of being real. I would avoid the type altogether except i find the imagery really compelling. Once the holiday mail rush is over i will send both in.
Well, it turns out I have a third example of this type. I found this looking through a bag of unattributed Greek bronzes I bought a while back. I bet this turns out to be the only genuine example I own. Note the grasshopper control symbol. It is a little worse for wear, buy hey, try lying face down in the mud for 2425 years and see what it does to your complexion. John
The OP is such a wonderful coin...and i agree the imagery is magnificent. I hope everything turns out well.
