This was suggested by TIF in another thread, so I thought I'd instigate it. Post your favorite one or two coins from every century. Let's start with the 5th century BC (and earlier) to give everyone a chance to jump in - I don't expect most of us have a drawer-full of Lydian electrum staters, but if you've got one, post it! Coins only, no proto-money please. Let's go with three days per century and tell us something interesting about your coin(s) or provide a link to more information. These show-and-tell threads get tedious, at least for me, when you're scrolling though pages and pages of images and learning nothing. I'll start with a tritatemorion of Kyzikos featuring the forepart of a a running boar, a tunny fish (tuna), and a roaring lion. 9 by 12 mm, 0.56 g, dated to 480-450 BC, ex Sidney Mygind. A distinctive design of these pieces includes three animals on one one coin, and this denomination, as small as it is, wasn't the smallest. Kyzikos also issued decidedly lilliputian tetartemorions. Wiki has a decent and brief overview of the ancient city of Cyzicus here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyzicus
I agree that too many images get long when there's not much real information. So I purpose that people post their favorite three coins from each century (at max), and an interesting tidbit/write up/reason for loving that coin. That is if the OP agrees. JA, your thoughts? Edit: I just realized that the OP specified one or two coins. Oops!
The detail of the engraving on John Anthony's tiny Kyzikos coin is remarkable. Here is a link describing the use of magnifying lenses for coin engraving in the Classical World. http://www.academia.edu/467038/The_Use_of_Magnifying_Lenses_in_the_Classical_World
I think Zumbly suggested it but I'll gladly post and watch Most of my favorites are from the earliest centuries of coindom. Looking forward to seeing some Lydian lions, maybe someday I'll get one.
That's a very good article - recommended reading for all collectors of ancients. When we post large images of small coins, it's easy to forget just how much detail the engravers put into small spaces. Despite the uneven flan of this coin, I liked it precisely because the devices are crisp. Granted, sometimes a ragged flan does indeed detract from the aesthetic appeal of a coin, but in this case, I think it adds character. If the engraver of this coin didn't use magnifying lenses, then surely he must have been very, very near-sighted.
Nice Kyzikos coin. Let me post a very old coin from NE India (Nepal / Himalaya area). It circulated during the time of Prince Buddha. The coins of this realm were cut strips of precious metal that were then punched to indicate their value. This one is a silver 5 Shana coin. INDIA, Shakya AR 5 Shana ca. 500-400 B.C. Buddha Coin 6.71 gms, 26 mm x 19.5 mm Obv: One pellet around a central pentagon, ten secondary punches on rectangular planchet Rev: Blank pattern from anvil Grade: Essentially as made. Obverse silver is beginning to re-tone. Other: Minted & circulated by the Indian Prince Siddhartha Gatama, who is the prophet Buddha. From Warden Numismatics September 2013
The Buddha coin is on my LookFor list. Here's my oldest coin, from late sixth century BC. IONIA, Samos. 510-500 BC AR drachm, 13.7 mm, 3.2 gm Obv: forepart of winged boar left Rev: facing lion scalp with dotted square, within incuse square Ref: SNG Cop 1673 Most coins depicting a winged boar were made in Klazomenai (Ionia) and may have stemmed from a legend about a winged sow which terrorized the island. A blurb about that can be read here: http://www.theoi.com/Ther/HusKlazomenaios.html There are at least seven other locales which used the winged boar on their coins, generally in the 4th-5th century BC. I don't know who did it first. Eventually I'd like to have at least one coin from each issuer. I have three of eight so far. Samos is an island off western Ionia in the Aegean Sea. From current pictures, it looks like a beautiful place! It is the birthplace of Pythagoras* (Thanks, man! I use your theorem frequently!) Klazomenai is (was) a costal town a bit north of there. Here's a map, modified from Google Maps. As someone on this or another forum pointed out, these coins show a winged boar, not a sow. Perhaps the sow legend has nothing to do with the image on the coin? Or maybe the indigenous types of wild hogs in that part of the world have bristle ridges in both sexes? Was the boar important to their food supply and trading? Was it a deity?? Is it Khrysaor, a son of the Gorgon Medousa? http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Khrysaor.html * Pythagoras was born ~570 BC and died ~495 BC, so this coin was circulating in his lifetime.
Its going to be a while before Ill be able to post my first, and a long while before I get to participate fully, so Ill just be on the sidelines for now enjoying seeing others' coins.
IONIA, Miletos AR 1/12th Stater ca. Mid 6th Century B.C. 1.00 grams, 9.6 mm to 7.6 mm Obv: Forepart of lion facing right. Rev: Beautiful star ornament within incuse square. Grade: aVF with attractive toning. Nice, tall design completely struck within the oblong flan. Other: Sear 3532. May be late 6th to early 5th Century B.C.
Hey, I love my Constantines, but I want to see some variety. And yeah, let's let it run to the 21st-century - let the modern collectors jump in.
This one is a NEWP and it barely fits into the fifth Century. I post it because it has several countermarks and a few big test cuts & punches from antiquity. The coin was minted in the fifth Century and some of these old marks may have ben made in the fifth or fourth Centuries. A lot of people questioned the integrity of this coin prompting them to cut into it & confirm that it was pure silver. ATTICA, Athens, AR Tetradrachm. (Owl) 440-404 B.C. 16.94 grams, 22 mm Obv: Helmeted head of Athena facing right in crested ornamented helmet Rev: Owl standing right, head facing; olive sprig & crescent to left and AΘΕ to right all within incuse square. Grade: VG with fairly good strike and a plethora of test marks and banker’s marks from antiquity. Other: Good silver. NGC grades VG with 4/5 for strike and 1/5 for surface. Private purchase 1-18-14.
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 This is not only my oldest coin, but perhaps one of my favorites of my entire collection. Former CNG (http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=214758). Good Fine, toned, metal flaws and test cuts on shell, faint punchmark to left of turtle, deposits within incuse.
AEOLIS, KYME AR Hemiobol OBVERSE: Eagle's head left, KY to left (M beneath the head, nearly off flan) REVERSE: Quadrapartite incuse square of mill-sail pattern Struck at Aeolis, 450BC 46g, 7mm SNG Cop 32 Another coin from the Fifth Century BC, and one of my smallest coins. The head of the Eagle is surprisingly detailed on such a small flan. AND, being American, the eagle holds a special place in my heart.