Perpetually on my "buy" list, it took quite a while to find the right one at the right price. ISLANDS off ATTICA, Aegina. 456/45-431 BCE AR stater; 20mm, 12.32 g Obv: land tortoise, head in profile, with segmented shell Rev: large square incuse with skew pattern Ref: SNG Delepierre 1774ff; BMC Taf. 24.11 These are certainly plentiful but finding the right one took some time. Since AncientJoe would not part with his spectacular turtle stater--nor could I afford such a grand specimen--I had to decide which compromises would be acceptable. Most important were centering, details, and lack of banker's marks on the shell. This one was worth the wait. A less reasoned purchase was this obol, obtained in the same auction. Sometimes that bidding finger has a mind of its own! I probably should have searched for a better one but it is easy to get carried away and it wasn't too costly an add-on. The obols are far less common than their larger siblings though so it was a reasonable thing to buy. Plus, the stater needed company on the long swim across the ocean . ISLANDS off ATTICA, Aegina. 475-470 BCE AR obol; 0.97 gm Obv: sea turtle with single row of dots on back Rev: windmill-shaped incuse punch Ref: SNG Delepierre 1511; SNG Cop. 505 I have not yet verified the attributions and dates. I think the obol reference may be incorrect. Tortoise stater: check. Sea turtle obol: check. Now I need a sea turtle stater and a tortoise obol . Rather than create an inferior writeup, please refer to @AncientJoe's fantastic essay on the coinage of Aegina. And please... post your turtles!
A "herd" of turtles is actually called a bale, turn, or dole. I looked it up on google, therefore I am an expert.
Noob, did I misunderstand? I thought you were talking about Collect89. Do you have a hoard* bale of turtles too? Bring 'em on! *Edited to satisfy that smug smartypants, John Anthony
I was talking about @Collect89 . I have only one early one and I am still struggling with the photography of the globular flan.
I stayed at Holiday Inn Express last night, so I am an expert on these turtles. And being such an expert, I would say these are mighty fine specimen TIF. Congratulations. Here is my only one: ATTICA, AEGINA AR Stater OBVERSE: Sea-turtle (T-backed); head in profile REVERSE: Large square incuse with skew pattern Struck at Aegina, 480-457BC 11.96g, 20mm SNG Cop 507
I still don't have a crawler but have three swimmers. By far my favorite is the first with one 3 toed claw on a nugget flan. I have seen two others from this die with the huge cud. It is ex CNG when I went there in person to view coins before an auction late in the last millennium. It also has traces of a claw foot next to the cud. My obol is almost as thick as it is across.
Wow TIF => that's a super lookin' Yertle the turtle (nice choice) Ummm, or maybe it's a Yortoise the tortoise? (either way, it's very cool) Oh sorry => I now realize that you've bought "both" (a Yertle and a Yortoise!!) ... good hunting!! Yah, I have a very humble swimmer (sea turtle) ... although it is a very primitive type, it does seem to have all of its parts (he seems quite happy) => again TIF, those are very sweet looking examples you've got there (congrats)
That's a beautiful stater, TIF! One of the sea turtles is on my perpetual want list. Since you didn't mention posting only Aegina turtles, I'll just swim against the tide and toss in the little one I have on my Pomponius Musa RR denarius . ROMAN REPUBLIC, Q. Pomponius Musa AR Denarius 3.65g, 18.5mm Rome mint, 66 BC Pomponia 18; Sydenham 820; Crawford 410/7c. O: Laureate head of Apollo right; behind, tortoise. R: Terpsichore standing right holding square lyre in left hand and plectrum in right; behind Q·POMPONI and before, MVSA.
Great posts!!! Sad to say, I'm 'turtleless'... I was expecting chrsmat--'I love turtles'-- to post a Dole of them by now.
Don't have any, but very much like all these schildpadden ! (In Dutch is easier, just has one word for both the land and the swimming type)
oh man, that's is one sweet turtle. may be second fiddle to AJ's coin, but second place to that one is still AWESOME! you deserve a hearty congrats for that coin. hey...someone beat me to the "I LIKE TURTLES" post. dang.
