I did not have a cow/calf of Apollonia so I bid on one online. Then I went to a show and saw another which I bought being unsure of the result of the first. Now I have both. They are very different in many ways so I'll be keeping both. The question is which is your preference. One is a very nice coin cleaned to a light tone with full legends and no major faults. The other is off center losing the M (MAAPKOS) on the obverse and SA on the reverse (LY SA NIA). It is pleasantly toned, well scratched and was half the price of the first one. A have not seen as many from this city as Dyrrhachium but both are rather common coins. I don't mind having two. Opinions?
Are the letters under the cattle mint marks / assayers marks / something else? I noticed right away that there's a major difference between the two coins right there. Personally, I prefer the 2nd (off-center) one. Just speaks to me more, and has a bit more character, I guess.
I'm gonna go with the first one with overall appearance. But the second one has more detail on the cow and calf.
Both are nice for the general type, which most often has rather low relief devices. I don't know whether that reflects the shape (depth) of the engraving or lack of adequate fill. The first one wins for eye appeal. Both have higher relief than usual.
Illyria, Dyrrhachion. Circa 250-200 BC. AR Drachm OBV: MENIΣKOΣ, Meniskos and Kallonos, magistrates. Cow standing right, looking back at suckling calf standing left below; above, Nike with wreath flying right; thunderbolt in exergue, all within dotted circle border. REV: Double stellate pattern; ΔYP-KAΛ-ΛΩ-NOΣ around; all within linear circle border. REF: Ceka 322; Maier 256; SNG Copenhagen 476. VF- grade.
Doug, I like the second coin best even if the reverse is off center. It has character. Here is my only example: ILLYRIA AR Drachm OBVERSE: MENISKOS, cow & calf, Nike flying above with wreath, thunderbolt in ex REVERSE: DYR KAL LW NOS around double stellate pattern Dyrrachium 70-60 BC 3.22g, 17mm Ceka 322
My face and most of my coins have more 'character' than the rich and famous. I that good? The monogram obverse bottom appears to repeat the name Maarkos from the top. I do not know the office required to get your name on these coins. The first coin is weaker in strike and detail but as nice as these get in centering. To me it was worth double the one with character.
Hey, Bing. The reverse on your coin needs rotating to the left. NOΣ will be to the left. Not trying to nit pick or anything. lol
I know. But about two months ago, my computer died and I lost all my images. So I've been forced to reconstruct from seller's images which I have saved. I just can't get very excited about re-shooting all my coin images. Talk about days and days of work.
First one's like a good suit you can wear outside without offending anyone. Second one's like that cool but now comfy t-shirt you've had to downgrade to loungewear status. No reason why a wardrobe can't accommodate both.
I have it all backed up in the cloud (whatever that means), so next time I should be able to retrieve my files. But (big but), I still need to find time to re-image all my coins. So for the moment, old images will have to do.
Wow Doug, fantastic cattle-coin additions!! (gotta love 'em) ... yah, I have a modest example to toss into the cattle herd ... => oh, and I also have a sweet Illyria, Dyrrhachion Brockage error as well ...
My thought exactly, couldn't have put it better. First coin looked like the creation of an engineer, second from an artist.
if number one was 50 bucks and two was 25 bucks, i'd still go with number 1. the type is on my list. i just want one, and if i had the cash i'd rather have the nicer surfaces and good centering. if i found the second for a great deal, i'd take it however.
