I'm going through some old mixed lot coins which were never fully attributed or photographed. Here's one which is definitely from Assos but I can't nail down an accurate reference. To some extent that doesn't matter but it would be nice to put this to rest. TROAS, Assos 4th - mid 3rd century BCE AE 16, 3.2 gm Obv: helmeted head of Athena right; countermark (Bucranium? Shield? Helmet?) Rev: ΑΣΣΙ; griffin reclining left, wings spread; lyre(?) in exergue Ref: SNG Copenhagen 230? (not sure if the different exergual figure changes the reference number or if the weight difference is significant) Here are some similar coins. CNG 217, lot 100: TROAS, Assos. 4th-mid 3rd century BC. Æ 15mm (5.35 g, 6h). Helmeted head of Athena right; c/m: bucranium / Griffin seated left; spear-head in exergue. SNG Copenhagen 230 (cf. 234 for same c/m). VF, dark brown patina. $110 CNG 243, lot 127: TROAS, Assos. 4th-mid 3rd century BC. Æ (19mm, 9.56 g, 6h). Helmeted head of Athena right / Griffin seated left. SNG Copenhagen 228-34 var. (control). Near VF, dark green patina, surfaces a little rough. $150 CNG 320, lot 124: TROAS, Assos. 4th-3rd century BC. Æ (16mm, 3.86 g, 12h). Helmeted head of Athena right / Griffin seated left. SNG München 157; SNG von Aulock 1498 var. (thyrsos in exergue). VF, dark green patina. $340 acsearch.info, from Forvm's webshop: Assos, Troas, c. 400 - 241 B.C. 81563. Bronze AE 10, SNG Cop 237, SNG Von Aulock 7587, aVF, Assos mint, 1.358g, 10.6mm, 0°, c. 400 - 241 B.C.; obverse helmeted head of Athena left; reverse AΣΣI, griffin seated left; green patina; $70.00 acsearch.info, London Ancient Coins: Troas, Assos, 4th-3rd century BC. Æ (18mm, 7.71g, 6h). Helmeted head of Athena r. R/ Griffin seated l. SNG München 157; SNG Copenhagen 228-40 var. (symbol in exergue). Brown patina, Good Fine – near VF. $62 If any of you have the relevant SNG volume (Copenhagen, von Aulock, München) or other reference I'd appreciate the input although in creating this post I may have settled the issue. It looks like I can safely say "SNG Cop 228-240". Feel free to chime in with opinions or to post your coins of Assos or griffins. I sure need a better griffin. Time to shop .
Very nice coins for sure. If no one knows I could run it by some friends that don't post here, later on.
Well, as far as attributions go. I am more in favor of getting the details right in the description. Reference numbers are nice but they ain't the most important thing I've learned. Don't get me wrong, I like reference numbers though and I've learned so much by trying to get reference numbers for coins.
You could go with SNG Cop 234 maybe. The weight is closest to yours at 2.9g (SNG Cop 228-40 has a range between 9.18g - 0.95g), it has a countermark (bucranium) and the exergual control mark is stated as "corn-ear (?)". Yours looks like it could be a corn-ear to me. I don't have any of the other usual references, there may be closer ones in them.
Thanks, Z. Where did you see that example? I'd like to take a look. Do you have SNG Cop for Troas? Edited: Oh, I forgot that some SNG contents are available online! There are many examples here, although none with the symbol on my coin. It looks like SNGuk does separate them by the exergual symbol (corn-ear, caduceus, palm branch, etc). It doesn't look like the corn-ear.
I do... sorry, the mobile phone photo is crappy, but it's not a great pic to begin with. The countermark is clear though, I'm not sure if yours is the same. You can see why they have a question mark next to their corn-ear control.
Thanks! Hmm, what other reference books do you have... not that I'd dream of imposing bunches of look-ups
Just SNG Cop, really. The obscene cost of shipping has put a real dampener on my book buying . But yeah, just let me know if you want me to look anything up.
Zumbly, maybe you're right. Looking closer I see a thin line to the right of the exergual blob and it could be the grain's stem, with the grain beards worn away (around and left of the blob).