Numismatic and History Discussion Forums > Greek Coins Discussion Forum
Greek AE Zeus/Eagle "soteru"
SC:
Help. I am going crazy. I have had this coin in my "to ID" pile for over a decade. Today I swore I would finally identify it. However, I have looked through Price, Barclay-Head, Lindgren, Wildwinds, and several other references trying to identify this coin. You'd think it would be easy......
Obverse: Head of Zeus right, within border of small dots. No legend. Could be Zeus Ammon, not sure if that is a horn or just an exaggerated curl.
Reverse: Eagle standing left, with wings open, on thunderbolt. Vertical in left field :GreeK_Sigma: :Greek_Omega: :Greek_Tau: :Greek_Eta: :Greek_Rho: :Greek_Upsilon: (not 100% sure about the Y). M in right field. Small countermark of radiate head right, with round punch, applied in centre.
AE, 5.0 grams, 17mm x 19mm.
SC
Steve Moulding:
Hi - I know very little about these coins, but it looks somewhat like a coin of Ptolemy Soter.
Looking for an similar example...
Steve
Akropolis:
Trouble is, there were several/a few of the Ptolemys that assumed the title of Soter.
Mark Fox:
Dear Shawn, Steve, Pete, and Board,
Fear not, Shawn, no one else (that I know of) has a very good handle yet on these enigmatic Greek bronzes which, as a group (consisting of two known denominations) are more or less known as Dios Soteros (ΔΙΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ) bronzes. For a little more information on them, please see this earlier Forvm thread:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=117612.0
As for your particular specimen (of the large denomination), I would be very interested in seeing a closeup of the countermark!
Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Mark Fox
Michigan
Steve Moulding:
Hi Mark - thank you...really very helpful and interesting!
I've just read the earlier thread you mentioned. Apologies for my lack of knowledge - have these enigmatic bronzes been known for a long time...meaning would we have seen them in the sales of 100 years ago and only their attribution is uncertain? Or is it all more recent than that?
Thank you again,
Steve
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