Hello All, I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that I had some rogue Seleucid coins in my collection that I finally decided to investigate. Well, now I know why I had left them alone for as long as I did. I did check the BMC on line as well as Wildwinds and had no luck with either of these. The first is a jugate portrait with a cornucopia reverse. The combination of the legends being just muddled enough as well as my unfamiliarity with these issues is keeping me from finding the appropriate ruler name and at least a BMC number. This coin measures 15mm and 3.05gr. The second is a coin that I have tentatively attributed to one of the Alexanders. I know my pictures leave something to be desired, but hopefully you can see that on the reverse of the second coin, it appears to be a tripod design with legends inscribed vertically on either side of the tripod. On the one side it seems pretty clear that the word "BASILEWS" is evident. On the right side of the tripod it appears that the word "ALEXANDROU" is evident. But I could find no match for this coin either. The coin measures 19mm and weighs approximately 6gr. Any help on these would be very welcome!
Philippi AE17 Date: 356-345 BC Diameter: 17.9 mm Weight: 5.4 grams Obverse: Head of Herakles covered with lion's skin Reverse: Tripod *edit* .... hmmm, maybe not (now that I look at it, it ain't quite right, eh?)
Thanks for the help so far, guys. Steve, it looks like the legend on the right side ends in an 'N' which if it was the same as my coin it would end in a Y. I agree though, that the portrait is very similar.
The Y at the end is hard to see except when you turn the coin a few times. But the tail of the why blends into the exergue line under the tripod. I know it is hard to see in the pictures. I tried to take several and really couldn't capture it without blurring out other elements.
I guess no one gave you the second one. It's a coin of Cassander of Macedon with the bust of Apollo obverse. Here's the coin: http://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=17335
Brian, thanks so much for your help! The best I can come up with attribution wise for the first is: Ake-Ptolemais, Phoenicia as Antioch Ptolemaides AE16 Dilepton Undated, time of Antiochus IV - VIII, 185 - 123BC O: NO LEGEND; Jugate, laureate busts of the Dioscuri, star above each head. R: ANTIOXEWN, right side; TWN EN PTOLEMAIDI, left side; Cornucopiae, E in outer left field. Rouvier 962 The writing is very crude on my example, but even the faint T under the cornucopia matches the Wildwinds example so I think it is as close as I am going to get. The second one I would have never thought to look at Macedonia! I was searching and searching for Seleucid and seriously thought the name had an x in it when it was a double sigma. Thanks for all of your help!
What is the proper label for the Phoenician coin? I see that it was issued in the time of Antiochus IV-VIII. Is it properly minted under the jurisdiction of the Seleucid kings? I am trying to look up some information now on my own.
