My coin show Friday allowed me to see many more coins new to these eyes than usual. There are dealers whose entire stock is made up of coins owned by every dealer usually with the same reverses. There are dealers who have strange and wonderful things but sometimes these are not all that high grade. There are dealers who have absolutely everything under the sun including a thousand coins that I just can't get up enough interest to buy even if they are rare. Many Greek bronzes fall in this category. I bought a few but left many from cities I had quite frankly never heard of in the past and which I am unlikely to develop a need to own. The exceptions to this unscientific collecting method will eventually get shown here. This AE25 of Maximinus I is from Anchialus in Thrace and told me to buy it even though the surfaces are considerably obscured. I suspect there is someone out there that could clean this one and reveal much detail but I am not that guy. The reverse shows two fish flanking a single dolphin which wraps around a trident suggesting the intent to honor Poseidon. I like the style; I like the type; I don't like the surfaces. The dealer who owned it saw the surfaces, too, so we were able to find a price. I have not yet found a duplicate in references checked.
Cool! They appear to be less common with the dolphin wrapped around the trident. Yours seems to be a variant of Varbanov 496, which is this dolphin-around-trident type, but with the obverse legend AVT MAΞIMEINOC EVCEB AVΓ. On your coin I believe the legend reads AVT MAΞIMEINOC EVCEBHC AVΓ (HC and VΓ ligate). Edited to add: here's an example of Varbanov 496 from acsearch - https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1646936 I have to confess a weakness for Greek bronzes from cities I've never heard of before, so I'm looking forward to seeing yours. I'm often pleased to find they come in grades and prices that are wallet-friendly .
Thanks for the link. I had noted the unusual obverse spelling out EVCEBHC. I am wondering also about the fact that my small collection is higher in coins of this ruler from this city than seems likely by random gathering. Are they more common for some reason? My others are different format with reverse titling the city OVLPIANON. One even has the HC ligature. Today is my wife's birthday so my photo activities will be preempted for much of the day. I'll do some of the cities first. I had trouble deciding which side of the reverse to put up. I did not like the answer that started the legend in the lower left as usual but did not consider the way Kunker did it on your link. I'm still unsure.
I don't know if they are, but I have zero coins of his from this city. That last lovely green one of yours is very, very nice. Happy Birthday to your wife... I hope she has an enjoyable day out with you!
