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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 255, member: 57463&quot;]My best buy came at the 1994 Spring Show of the Michigan State </p><p>Numismatic Society.&nbsp; I was walking the aisles looking for ancient </p><p>coins and I stopped at a table with medievals.&nbsp; </p><p>&quot;What are you looking for?&quot; asked Gordon Andreas Singer.</p><p>&quot;Ancients,&quot; I said.</p><p>He replied that that was pretty broad and I said that he had some </p><p>nice coins but nothing in ancients and he asked me again what I </p><p>was looking for.&nbsp; </p><p>&quot;Ionian silver,&quot; I replied.</p><p>&quot;Sometimes gold can be as cheap as silver,&quot; he said.&nbsp; He passed </p><p>me a tooth filling.&nbsp; I mean, he passed me an archaic electrum </p><p>hekte or one-sixth stater.&nbsp; The 2x2 said SAMOS, but when I tilted </p><p>it, I could see the crouching lion of Miletos.&nbsp; We talked about </p><p>the coin and its provenance, how he came to buy it, since it is </p><p>outside his mainstream, and so one.&nbsp; He would not budge on the </p><p>price, since it was about half of the usual retail for something </p><p>like this.&nbsp; I bought the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Attributing it was a challenge.&nbsp; I place it as 600-550 BC, </p><p>similar to SNG Von Aulock 1796 (Babelon 167; iv; 33v or BMC Ionia </p><p>III,7 and about the closest was from the Rosen collection of the </p><p>Getty Museum).&nbsp; Speaking at the Thomas Numismatic Center of </p><p>Ashland University, I put the coin under a stereo microscope and </p><p>was satisfied by the crystalization deep in the punches, and </p><p>other features. I had found another coin similar for sale from a </p><p>dealer, a paler electrum with a different incuse punch. I </p><p>borrowed that coin and wrote both of them up for THE ANVIL, the </p><p>quarterly of the Ancient and Medieval Numismatic Society of </p><p>Canada.&nbsp; That article is listed in the ANS archives.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>For me, the coin&#039;s charm comes from being in the time and place </p><p>of Thales of Miletos.&nbsp; Thales is called &quot;the father of geometry&quot; </p><p>and was also a successful commodities speculator.&nbsp; This example </p><p>is from very early in the development of coinage. So, all in all, </p><p>this was a pretty good find.&nbsp; I divested all of my collection </p><p>back in 1999, but this was a keeper.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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