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Author Topic: A Pride of Lions  (Read 23139 times)

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Offline Pscipio

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #50 on: July 05, 2013, 11:44:13 am »
That's a great reverse!

Lars
Leu Numismatik
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Offline paparoupa

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #51 on: July 06, 2013, 10:39:25 am »
I believe this Hecatomnos tetradrachm is the most realistic depiction of a lion in an ancient coin (not that I needed this excuse to acquire it  ;D)

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #52 on: July 06, 2013, 04:11:18 pm »
paparoupa, that really is a great coin! the artist has captured the real animal, bulging muscles and all.

and Taras, what a beauty, a miniature masterpiece! congratulations on aquiring this one my friend. i've always had a thing for facing heads, and this type coin is definitely on my want-list.

i did get a Tarentine diobol last month with the same reverse scene. here too is another diobol with a rare Herakles facing left reverse...

Offline Salaethus

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #53 on: July 11, 2013, 07:06:36 pm »
Love this thread, so many great coins already posted.  I have two new lions in my collection:

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #54 on: July 12, 2013, 03:44:06 am »
both are cool types thomas.
i have one like the Agathokles bronze, but your lion is much nicer.

and i really like the Velia! yours is Williams 161 or similar. and you will be interested to know that Wiliiams classifies this coin as Period III (440-400 BC), the 'Earliest Athena Group'.    :)  
but artistically i like the dynamic action on the reverse, a very blood-thirsty but wonderfully natural scene.
nice!

~ Peter

Offline Jaimelai

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #55 on: November 11, 2014, 04:35:34 pm »
Just acquired a new member for our pride:


Offline Xenophon

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #56 on: November 12, 2014, 06:51:01 am »
From my Sikyon collection. Most Sikyon obverses show a chimera (a lion with the additional heads of a goat and snake), but a few issues used a simple lion, as with this hemiobol:
SIKYONIA, Sikyon. Circa 431-400 BC. AR Hemiobol (8mm, 0.41 g, 9h). Lion standing left; no exergue line / Dove flying left within wreath. Warren, Silver 11; BCD Peloponnesos 208; SNG Copenhagen 41-2. Good VF, toned, slight granularity. Very rare.

Offline Xenophon

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #57 on: November 12, 2014, 06:55:34 am »
Also this Sikyon hemiobol, ca. 431-400, Av: Lion standing left, without ground line, Rv: Dove flying left with wings open, branch below, BCD Peloponnesos -; BMC 35, Condition: good very fine, 10 mm; 0,4 gm

Offline J. B.

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #58 on: January 23, 2015, 11:23:32 am »
Velia lions are popular here so here is mine.

AR nomos
334 - 300 BC
Williams 328 (O174/R244); HN Italy 1294; SNG ANS 1337
7,19g

Offline Molinari

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #59 on: June 13, 2015, 10:11:16 am »
Very impressive my friend.  I had no idea you had so many!

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #60 on: June 13, 2015, 03:08:37 pm »
wow Nico, your lion feed bills must be enormous!

you have some very enviable coins there buddy, and i'm particularly drooling over the Herakles obverse.   :) 

congratulations on a truly fine sub-set,
~ Peter

Offline Marsha

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #61 on: June 14, 2015, 10:22:54 am »
I love all of the lion coins..  But have not yet seen my favorite, so will add mine.   From Libyan revolt in about 240 BC - The rebels produced coinage imitative of the Carthaginian types.  The struggle lasted about 4 years in which the Carthaginians finally prevailed.

OBV:  Head of young Herakles left, clad in lion's skin
REV:  Lion prowling right, Punic letter above, Punic script below
Silver Shekel/Didrachm, 241 - 238 BC, 25.1 MM - 7.51 GM, SNG Cop 241

From my collection:

Marsha

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #62 on: June 14, 2015, 04:08:48 pm »
that's a very scarey looking beast Marsha!

Nico, i liked your collage so much a put one of my own together. not nearly as impressive i admit, but such as it is...

~ Peter

Taras

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #63 on: June 14, 2015, 04:50:15 pm »
I agree with Peter, that lion looks really frightening! Beautiful coin Marsha!

Peter, your group of Tarentine diobols is worth of great interest, some are scarce variants, and they all look of great quality!! Congratulations buddy! ;)

Best :)
Nico

Taras

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #64 on: February 27, 2016, 02:19:58 pm »
Here is a new addition to my collection of Nemean Lions: a silver diobol from the Vlasto collection, attributed to Taras, but IMHO most likely issued in Heraklea.
I found it in my postbox some time ago, and I could not believe my eyes! It was s a gift given to me by a dear friend from this board, to whom I am enormously grateful for the kind thought.
I love it! Thank you!!!  :)

12mm, 1.18g, 3h
Valsto 1283 (this coin)


EDIT 30/03/16

Dear board, dear friends, dear Peter,
I just finished deleting all my posts on this forum where in the last years I have been sharing coins from my collection.
I did it as first step of my plan to leave this community. I took my decision after my thoughts and personal opinions suffered yet another censorship, this time during a discussion on the board of metal antiquities.
This is the unique coin from my collection I decided to not remove from the forum, because it is not simply a coin for me, it is a symbol of friendship and respect. It was a pleasure to share routes together over the years, and I greet you with pain.
Goodbye, maybe our routes will meet again on the sea of the world wide web, maybe we'll talk again together of Numismatics, but not on this board for me. I just hope this post will not be censored too.
All the best.
Nico


Offline Carausius

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #65 on: February 27, 2016, 06:22:41 pm »
Lovely coin, Nico, and even better being ex Vlasto!  Below is my lion acquisition from this year's  NYINC. A Roman Republican denarius of Poblius, circa 80 B.C. and with a 1989 CNA auction provenance. Photo looks a bit out of focus - I'll need to reshoot it!

EDIT: Apparently, I already had reshot it but picked the wrong photo to attach. Correct, in-focus photo now appears below.

Taras

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #66 on: February 28, 2016, 05:00:47 am »
A beautiful coin Carausius!  +++

It is really fascinating to observe how certain symbols have remained unchanged for centuries, thanks to their evocative power that made them perfect to represent each time the power of the rulers. Even the iconography of your coin is found almost identical a thousand years later! ...like this gem of Norman-Swabian age stored at Washington.

Best :)
Nico

Offline Robert_Brenchley

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #67 on: February 28, 2016, 04:59:52 pm »
Carausius' lion's clearly got a mane, but are those teats as well?
Robert Brenchley

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Taras

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #68 on: February 28, 2016, 05:05:54 pm »
Carausius' lion's clearly got a mane, but are those teats as well?

I think just protruding thoracic ribs roughly engraved.

bye :)
Nico

Offline mauseus

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #69 on: February 28, 2016, 05:32:41 pm »
Hi,

Don't know how but only just came across this thread.
A pride of lions from my own collection:


POSTVMVS AVG
Radiate, nude bust left, lion's scalp on shoulder and holding club
PAX AVG
Pax standing left holding transverse sceptre
Mint 1 (Trier), Issue 5
Cunetio - (cf 2450)


A bronze Roman ring with traces of gold plating inset with a blue glass intaglio of Hercules strangling the Nemean lion.
A Norfolk find


Carausius 287-93AD
AE antoninianus
Obv "IMP CARAVSIVS PF AVG"
Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev "LEG IIII FL"
Lion walking right, head turned to viewer
-/-//-
Unmarked London mint
RIC 69


Carausius 287-93
Antoninianus
Obv"IMP CARAVSIVS PF AVG"
Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev "PM TRP III CO[S PP]"
Lion walking left
Camulodunum mint?
-/-//XXI [?]
RIC - (189 bis)
Mint attribution made on the basis of the other (few) known dated coins. It may be that the mark on this coin is a variation of the MCXXI mark, recorded on a SAECVLARES AVG (lion walking right) coin of Carausius in the Vogelaar collection.


Carausius 287-93AD
Antoninianus
Obv - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev - Radiate lion leaping left, possible vestiges of RSR in exergue
Ex Vogelaar collection


Gallienus
Antoninianus
Milan
Issue 2
COHH PRAET VI P VI F
G 979

Regards,

Mauseus

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #70 on: February 28, 2016, 09:50:25 pm »
thanks for reviving this thread Taras.   :)  

that gem is quite beautiful and brilliantly executed, but i have to say the design is somewhat uninspired. Herakles looks more like he is hugging his teddy bear rather than fighting for his life!   :laugh:  and what the hell is that bird thinking?!

mauseus, that ring is very cool!

here is my latest lion, although i've had it for a little while...
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-127465

it is neither rare nor beautiful, but i've wanted a tetradrachm from Samos ever since i first started collecting ancients back in the 80's. and while certainly not that, this little obol will have to do.

~ Peter

Offline Carausius

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #71 on: February 29, 2016, 11:18:24 am »
Even the iconography of your coin is found almost identical a thousand years later! ...like this gem of Norman-Swabian age stored at Washington


Thanks for sharing that photo, Nico. It is interesting that even the position of the lion's hind legs is identical on my coin and the Washington gem. I wonder if both were patterned after the same sculptural image (either the same statue or later generation copies of the same statue) or if a collected coin of my type inspired the gem engraver.


Quote
 Don't know how but only just came across this thread. A pride of lions from my own collection


Mauseus, that's an impressive display of rare Carausian lions.

Taras

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #72 on: February 29, 2016, 04:17:33 pm »
Thanks for sharing your lions mauseus, and, I agree with Peter, that ring is very very cool!!  :o I wish some day I could find another sample to add to my collection.
I also agree with Peter that in the Washington gem Herakles has lost his classical beauty, but please note that it was engraved after 1040 AD, in times when the ancient grace of proportions was long-lost by that time; there is an incredible time-span between the two pieces; for the same reason I think that is much unlikely that the norman-swabian gem and the roman coin were both patterned after the same sculptural image. Probably the collected coin type inspired the gem engraver, also noting that norman-swabians were among the first low-medieval dynasts to recover the symbols of ancient Greece and Rome, re-adapting them to their political purposes.

Peter, that creature Herakles is squashing under his foot is not a bird, that is a dragon, a medieval representation of the Devil, in fact the norman-swabian Herakles could represent at the same time the power of the king, and his role as defender of Christianity.

Bye friends :)
Nico

Offline Sam

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #73 on: March 14, 2016, 08:39:45 am »
Sam Mansourati

Taras

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #74 on: March 14, 2016, 06:59:00 pm »
Interesting type Sam!
In my opinion this scheme (lion above attacking a bull below, also seen on issues of other mints) has a connotation of astral dimension, of near-eastern origin.

Bye :)
Nico

 

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