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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Theodosius, post: 2791992, member: 77077&quot;]I spent some time talking to Mike Bezayiff, who was sharing a table at the show.&nbsp; Mike is a very knowledgeable dealer who worked with Tom Cederlind for many years before going out on his own.&nbsp; He always has interesting coins and knows a lot about them so I try to meet him when I can.&nbsp; Mike had this fascinating countermarked Greek coin from Dionysopolis.&nbsp; It has the head of Dionysos on the obverse with two very clear countermarks: the head of Athena and the head of Hermes.&nbsp; The reverse (used to ) show a club (of Herakles) between two stars enclosed in a wreath.</p><p><br /></p><p>Mike is an artist and his coin tags are unique and attractive.&nbsp; I included his tag with the photo so you can see what I mean.&nbsp; I have started photographing all the tags that come with coins.&nbsp; It makes it easier to enter the coin&#039;s attribution in my catalog later once the coin has gone to the bank.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]648785[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>You can see the reverse was pretty much flattened when the two countermarks were applied.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is what the coin looks like without the countermarks.&nbsp; This photo was taken from CNG&#039;s excellent research website.&nbsp; Notice the two stars are probably the Vergina Sun, the symbol of Macedon, because Dionysopolis is located in the same general region.&nbsp; See my old thread on the subject.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-vergina-sun-symbol-of-the-royal-dynasty-of-macedon.297244/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-vergina-sun-symbol-of-the-royal-dynasty-of-macedon.297244/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-vergina-sun-symbol-of-the-royal-dynasty-of-macedon.297244/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]648789[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>CNG also lists one example of the same coin with only one countermark and a couple others with the same two.&nbsp; I have searched a little and can&#039;t find the reason or time when the countermarks were applied.&nbsp; The coin was minted around 200 BC when the town presumably was under the control of Macedon (The Peguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece, page 128 <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> ).&nbsp; These countermarks were applied sometime later using two very Greek symbols.&nbsp; Probably not something done after the Romans conquered Moesia Inferior, who might have used a more Roman symbol or some letters or numbers?</p><p><br /></p><p>Steve had some other interesting countermarked coins which I am kicking myself for not picking up when I had the chance.&nbsp; I find it is hard to make perfect decisions when visiting shows, must be like trading futures in the CBOE pit.&nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Do you all find countermarks interesting?&nbsp; What can you tell us about these Greek countermarks?</p><p><br /></p><p>John[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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