| Last additions - Jason T's Gallery |
Wooden Coin CabinetI just acquired this wooden coin cabinet lined with purple velvet from Florence, Italy. The workmanship is superb, rarely seen in today's run-of-the-mill products. It is fitting to have my ancient silver Greek coins stored in these trays. To slab, or not to slab: for me, it is out of the question to slab these miniature works of ancient art. Handling them with respect and care is more than enough.
I also published this photo (along with other photos) in Wikimedia Commons under the name Arkaio Nomisma. Anyone can download and use this photo for study and as illustration in their numismatic articles.Jason TMar 31, 2021
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CILICIA. Nagidos AR StaterCirca 380 BC. 18.5mm, 10.58g, 6h. Obverse: wreathed head of Dionysos right. Reverse: head of Aphrodite right, hair bound in sphendone. Cassabone type 7; Lederer 14; SBG BN-; SNG Levante 2. Toned, doubly struck, test cut on obverse, test punch on reverse. Good VF.
Ex CNG e-Auction 480, Lot 263
A far-from-perfect specimen because of the mutilations it suffered from the hands of ancient traders and merchants who wanted to make sure that this coin is made of silver (this coin is solid silver). Counterfeit coins abound even during the early days of coinage. The cuts endured by this particular coin does not detract from the fact that the obverse image of the god of wine Dionysos was carved by a master celator and undoubtedly represented one of the best in numismatic art in the milieu of classical Greek artistic tradition. There still remains a sense of beauty emanating from this mutilated coin, like an ancient sculpture that is missing a head, an arm or a leg. Imperfections sometimes make an object seem to be more intriguing, exciting and beautiful.Jason TNov 11, 2020
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Kingdom of Macedon. Demetrios I Poliorketes AR Tetradrachm.Circa 301-295 BC. 17.21g, 28mm, 12h. Obverse: Nike, [blowing trumpet] and holding stylis, standing to left on prow of galley to left. Reverse: Poseidon Pelagaios advancing to left, hurling trident with his upraised right hand, chlamys draped over extended left arm; monogram to left, star to inner right; BASILEOS below, DIMITRIOU to outer right. Ephesos mint. Newell 51; SNG Fitzwilliam 2288; HGC 3.1, 1012d. Near extremely fine.
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd. E-Sale 76, Lot 213
This is one of the finest depictions of a full length likeness of Poseidon portrayed on any Hellenistic coin made in antiquity. The pose made by the god of the sea (and of earthquakes and horses) is reminiscent of the bronze sculpture recovered from the sea off Cape Artemision and could probably be the direct inspiration for this type of coin. Poseidon was the personal patron god of the Macedonian king and it is no wonder that Demetrios included him in almost all of his coins.Jason TNov 05, 2020
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MYSIA. Parion. AR DrachmCirca 5th Century BC. 3.92g, 14mm. Obverse: facing gorgoneion with protruding tongue. Reverse: disorganized linear pattern within incuse square. SNG France 1351-2. gVF. Refined style and unusually complete for the issue.Jason TJul 23, 2020
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MACEDON. Akanthos. AR TetradrachmCirca 480-470 BC. 17.11g, 29mm. Obverse: lion right attacking bull crouching left; theta above, floral ornament (probably inverted acanthus flower segment) in exergue. Reverse: quadripartite incuse square. Desneaux 59 var.; AMNG III/2, 4; SNG ANS 10. Good Extremely Fine. Very well detailed.
Ex Leu Numismatik AG Web Auction 10 Lot 172
Ex Roma Numismatics e-Sale 72 Lot 232
Akanthos was founded by colonists from Andros around mid-7th century BC. They had active mints and continuously minting coins starting from the late 6th century BC. Their coinage bore strong Persian influence as shown by the lion-over-bull motif and was adopted as the city's badge. The type of coin shown here has stylized and almost abstract design. Before 480 BC and after 470 BC, the designs tend to depict the animals more naturally. It could be during the period of transition from Persian rule to inclusion to the Delian League that these stylized designs were made. Akanthos contributed three talents every year to the League's cause. This very coin might had been a part of that tribute.Jason TJul 02, 2020
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BRUTTIUM. Kroton. AR StaterCirca 530-500 BC. 7.98 g, 28mm, 12h. Obverse: tripod-lebes, legs terminating in lion's paws, two serpents at base; QPO to left field. Reverse: incuse tripod. Attianese 4; SNG ANS 238-241; HN Italy 2075. Good Very Fine.
Ex Roma Numismatics e-Sale 48 Auction Lot 31
Ex Roma Numismatics e-Sale Auction 72 Lot 42
The tripod seen on most coins of Kroton might allude to the Oracle of Delphi's involvement in the founding of the city of Kroton by the legendary Myskelos of Rhypes in 710 BC. According to one variant of the tradition, after Myskelos had surveyed the area of southern Italy, he was much better pleased with the site of Sybaris as the place of settlement for the colonist as opposed to the place sanctioned by the Oracle. This proved to be prophetic since after exactly 200 years later in 510 BC Kroton defeated and destroyed Sybaris. It could have been this old time envy and grudge rooted from this tradition that Sybaris' fate was sealed.Jason TJul 02, 2020
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Gabinetto ProfanoIn this day and age, public lewdness and display are taboo. Fig leaves are too big to cover the parts of the coins in question but small enough to be tucked away in a Secret Cabinet.
(Please click picture for better resolution)Jason TJun 18, 2020
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Greek Coin Collection (2012-2020)Eight years worth of collecting ancient silver Greek coins. It’s a little bit cramped and crowded as compared to the previous group photos, but it does offer a visual overview of 5 centuries (from 6th to 1st century BC) of Greek Art in numismatic form.
For the benefit of the community, I uploaded this picture on Wikimedia Commons for everyone to use, for free, in their pursuit of numismatic study and appreciation.
(Please click photo for better resolution)
I could not post a picture with sharper image because of a certain limit to upload photos with higher pixels.Jason TJun 18, 2020
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IONIA. Magnesia ad Meandrum. AR Tetradrachm.Circa 150-140 B.C. Stephanophoric Type. 16.94g, 31.5mm, 11h. Obverse: diademed bust of Artemis right, quiver over shoulder. Reverse: Apollo standing left, tall tripod behind. Ethnic "of the Magnesians" on right field, Herognetos/Zopyrionos (magistrates) on left field, meander pattern below. All enclosed within olive wreath. Lightly toned. EF.
Ex CNGJason TMay 12, 2020
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Island off Attica. AEGINA AR Stater.Circa 456/45-431 B.C. (12.23gm, 21mm). Obverse: land tortoise with segmented shell. Reverse: large incuse square of heavy skew pattern. Milbank pl.2, 12; SNG Copenhagen 516; Dewing 1683; BMC Attica p. 137, 146; HGC 6, 437. Near EF, attractive light cabinet tone. Very desirable example of the type.
Ex Roma Numismatics (featured as a cover for e-Auction 57)
Ex Shanna Schmidt Numismatics
Ex Munzenhandlung Harald Moller, Auction 72, 1 November 2018, lot 20.
Early commerce within the Aegean area include metal ingots used in trade. They had a distinctive plano-convex shape and were colloquially called "turtles" especially in Aegina. With the development of the concept of money, it is natural for the maritime island-state to design their coins with an image of a turtle since they had already been accustomed by the earlier ingots whose shape resembled the animal. Aegina was considered the first state to introduce money to the West that was first invented in either Ionia or Lydia. As maritime power, it rivaled Athens. Early obverse designs always feature a sea turtle. Why the inclusion of a land tortoise (testudo graeca) beginning in the middle of the 5th century B.C. is still unresolved. Few theories had been put forward: the most common was Aegina's defeat from its rival Athens, and the land tortoise symbolized sovereignty of Athens over Aegina.
Jason TMay 31, 2019
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SELEUKID EMPIRE. Antiochos II Theos AR TetradrachmCirca 261-246 B.C. 16.87gms, 28mm, 11h. Obverse: diademed head of Antiochos I to right. Reverse: weary Herakles seated left on rock, lion skin draped over rock, holding club set on ground, cup to outer left, AP monogram below royal title. Secondary monograms in exergue. Side mint. SC 505.2. Slight smoothing on obverse field. Otherwise, extremely fine. Rare.
Please click image for better resolution.
Ex Roma Numismatics
Ex private French collection
This is an example of a rare coin of Antiochos II depicting Herakles on the reverse. Most of Antiochos' coins show a sitting effeminate, smooth-bodied Apollo on an omphalos. This coin is a rare departure from the usual iconography of the reverse side but instead shows an exceptionally elegant and masculine demigod-hero Herakles rendered artistically celebrating strength, self-sacrifice, heroism and ideal male beauty. Truly a sculptural art in miniature. Jason TMay 10, 2019
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LUCANIA. Sybaris. AR StaterCirca 550-510 B.C. (28mm, 8.43 g, 12h). Obverse: bull standing left, head reverted; VM in exergue. Reverse: incuse bull standing right, head reverted. S & S Class B, pl. XLVIII, 4-8 Gorini 2; HN Italy 1729. VF, toned.
Ex Volteia Collection
Ex CNG
This coin was minted before the destruction of Sybaris by its neighboring city state Kroton in 510 B.C. We do not know the exact nature why Kroton destroyed this prosperous city. Ancient sources provided us several accounts of Sybaris being a place of hedonism and excess to the point that the very name Sybaris became a byword for opulent luxury, and its destruction was a result of some divine punishment (Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Aelianus, Athenaeus). Modern revisionist view of the possible demise of Sybaris might be the result of its vast natural wealth and successful trade with its neighbors, which gave Kroton the economic reason to subjugate it. The Sybarites established a new city called Thourioi (Thurii/Thurium) with the help of Athenian settlers. However, the Sybarites were again expelled by the Athenians in 445 B.C. and founded another city for the last time called Sybaris on the Traeis.
Sybaris might be the first to mint coins with an incuse reverse and this practice spread to other Greek city states like Kroton, Metapontion, and Poseidonia. The similar weight and technique in producing these incuse-type coins facilitated trade between the cities mentioned. The bull might represent the river god Crathis or Sybaris, or both: each deity could represent either the obverse or reverse of the coin. The ethnic VM (or YM) in exergue are the first two Greek letters of Sybaris spelled retrogradely.Jason TMar 11, 2019
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| Random files - Jason T's Gallery |
Thrace, Maroneia AR TetradrachmLate 2nd-mid 1st centuries B.C. AR Tetradrachm, 16.18g, 31mm, 12h. Schonert-Geiss-1150 (V51/R158); SNG-Copenhagen-; Dewing-1296 (same as obverse die). Obverse wreathed head of young Dionysos right. Reverse Dionysos standing half left, holding grapes and narthex stalks, monogram to inner left & right. Near EF, minor die wear on reverse.
Ex CNG 88(14 Sept. 2011) lot 52. Ex CNG e-Auction 286 (5 Sept. 2012) lot 22. Jason T
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Pamphylia, Aspendos AR StaterCirca 330/25-300/250 BC. (26mm, 10.58 g, 12h). Tekin Series 5; SNG von Aulock-4573; SNG France-115. Obverse: Two naked wrestlers grappling; monogram between. Reverse: Slinger in throwing stance right; EΣTFEΔIY to left; to right, triskeles over downward facing club; all within dotted circle border. Minor die break on obverse. Good VF, toned, well centered.
Ex CNG
The ancient city Aspendos was an important Greek colony and harbor city on the river Eurymedon located 7 miles off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In the fifth century BCE, the city commenced minting coins based on the Persian standard, which was then common in Persian-ruled Asia Minor. The wrestler-type, began in the fourth century, probably refers to either pankration or pale (wrestling) victory in one of the Panhellenic games. The slinger on the reverse may be a punning reference to the city's name, since sphendone ("sling") sounds similar to Aspendos. The triskeles to the slinger's right might depict the city's badge. The ethnic on the reverse, Estwediu, corresponds to the Greek genitive case Aspendiou ("of the Aspendians"). It is interesting to note that the ethnic is spelled utilizing the then-archaic ancient Greek letter digamma F (pronounced “w”). Other known coinages which used the digamma letter were Elis in the Peloponnesos and Lydian “Walwet” coins. The Aspendians also liked to stress out that their city had been established by the Argives. The club of the Argive hero Herakles on the reverse may refer to the event when Argos bestowed honorary Argive citizenship to all Aspendians in a decree dated around 330-300 B.C. that was set up in Nemea, the site of the Nemean games. (Part of commentary extracted from HFMA Coin Catalogue).
Jason T
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IONIA, Ephesos AR Tetradrachm.Circa 405-390 BC. AR Tetradrachm (21mm, 14.95 g, 12h). Aristainetos, magistrate. Hecatomnus 53b (O11/R48 – this coin); SNG Kayhan –; Winterthur 2904 (same obverse die). Obverse: bee with curved wings. Reverse: forepart of stag right, head left; palm tree to left (off flan), APIΣTAINETO[Σ] to right. Toned, VF. Struck on a tight flan.
Ex Hecatomnus Hoard (CH V, 17; CH VIII, 96; and CH IX, 387)
Ex CNG Electronic Auction 338, lot 85
The bee, palm tree and the stag are emblems of Ephesos. This city was an important center of worship of the Greek goddess Artemis, and the images on Ephesian coinage represent her. Ephesos also used the bee on its coins since it was a producer of honey, so the bee advertised their most famous product. The bee was also mythologically connected to Ephesos because, according to Philostratos, the colonizing Athenians were led to Ephesos in Ionia by the Muses who took the form of bees. Ephesos occupied the alluvial plain of the lower Cayster, but it owed its chief wealth and renown less to the produce of its soil than to the illustrious sanctuary of the old Anatolian nature-goddess, whom the Ionian Greeks identified with Artemis, the Goddess of Hunt. It is noteworthy that the high-priest of the temple of Artemis was called Ηεσσην, ‘the king bee,’ while the virgin priestesses bore the name of “melissai” or Honey-Bees. The stag was regarded as sacred to her and stag figures were said to have flanked the cult statue of Artemis in her temple at Ephesos. The palm tree alludes to Artemis’ birthplace, the island of Delos, where the goddess Leto gave birth to Artemis and her twin brother Apollo underneath a palm tree. Therefore, the coin might represent the city’s origin as well.
The earlier type tetradrachmai of Ephesos could be identified by the curved pair of wings of the bee on the obverse side of these coins. It is roughly estimated that a total of about less than a hundred of these tetradrachmai exist as compared to the straight wing bee variant of later emissions, which are believed to be seven to eight times more common than the former. These estimates are based on the findings and studies made after the discovery of the Hecatomnus and Pixodarus hoards in 1977 and 1978, respectively. Prior to their discovery, there were only about 35 of these curved wing tetradrachmai recorded in existence.
Jason T
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