FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
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The Members' Gallery => Topic started by: Anaximander on August 19, 2019, 06:15:34 am
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As a new member for 2019, and having learned the ropes in the Members' Gallery and Discussion Boards, I am ready for the big reveal:
:branchesthreeleft: Anaximander's Gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/index.php?cat=49243). :branchesthreeright:
About half of my collection has been uploaded, including nearly all of my Greek, Hellenistic, Celtic, and 'Eastern Cultures' coins. I will be uploading the Sicilian coinage (aka my very own corpus nummorum siculorum).
(https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/attachments/ForumAncientCoins.Gallery49243.2019-08-19.jpg)
Yet to come: the Roman and Medieval collections, with a focus on Roman Empire, British hammered, French royal and feudal, and Crusader coinage.
My collecting style has been to go wide, not deep. Collecting one coin of each type or each emperor, for instance. I've centered on silver coinage, where available, and on a grade of Very Fine or better. Like all things in life, compromises and detours have taken me to places that deviate from those norms, so you will ultimately find other metals, other grades, and some deeper plunges (Euboian drachms come to mind) and duplicates.
Feedback welcomed, and help with numismatic references is always appreciated.
I'm accumulating numismatic reference books as I go. I've prepared a handful of Tables of Contents (TOCs) to help where none was provided, and these are also uploaded to my gallery. As for my books, I'm not sure how to show them. If anyone has examples of how numismatists share the titles in their library, I'm all ears.
Lastly: my thanks to our host, Joe Sermarini, the forum moderators, and the kind members who take their time to share their wisdom and their enthusiasm.
Anaximander (aka Chris)
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A very impressive gallery Chris, i look forward to seeing more of your coins when uploaded. ;)
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Impressive coins and photography.
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Wow! I was not expecting such a comprehensive collection—I can’t wait to see more, particularly the Sicilian corpus. Glad you’ve joined us.
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What a collection!
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Hi, Chris, ;)
Great collection and nice Gallery... +++
Congratulation :)
Joe/Q.
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Chris,
I just spent some time perusing your gallery. I need to spend more time perusing. Very impressive.
Tracy
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Thanks for the kind words, everybody. I was expecting a tough crowd. :laugh: I'm well on the way to completing the cataloging of the Sicilian collection (about 30 coins), with new photographs and extensive referencing. However, I'm heading off to the dreaded Jury Duty tomorrow, so we'll see if I find myself on the trial-of-the-century or just sweating it out in a jurors' room. Miami in August. Ugh.
For something to chew on, have a look at my most recent Sicilian addition: a Syracuse litra. Dionysios I. 405-395 BC. AR Litra (0.77 gm). Head of Arethusa l., hair in sphendone, dolphin to r. ΣꓦΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ before. / Octopus. SNG ANS 5 #293-294; HGC 2 #1381; SNG Ashmolean 2018; SNG Cop 1 #675; SNG Fitzwilliam 1259; SNG Lloyd 1400-1402; SNG München 1096 (all with same dies).
I don't know of any other dies for this type. Anybody believe the rumor that there's a hidden legend (ΣΥΡΑΚΟΥ) formed by the octopus tentacles?
Since my initial post in this thread, I realized that I also have to add the Macedonian coinage (some 40 coins). Looks as though I, like Tracy, have a long road to getting it all uploaded (big sigh).
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Very nice litra! Can't help with the dies but I have the archaic versions
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-144462
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-144463
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Hi Anaximander (Ax) ... congrats on your cool collection
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I love your recent octopus (yah, I'm a total sucker for animal coins)
Ummm, oh and great thread-addition by Jay as well ...... ummm, I hope you won't mind if I toss-in my ol' example? (cheers)
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A lovely collection. I look forward to more additions.
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Et ca commence! Sicily, in dribs and drabs. Starting with an AR Litra of Abakainon, a Sikel city-state in NE Sicily.
The litra ("pound") was the predominant silver coin denomination among native Sicilians: Sikels (or Sicels, Σικελοί in Greek), Sikanians (or Sicanians), and Elymians. Valued at 12 onkiai, it was equal to 1 lb. of bronze. That translated to 1/5th of a drachm. Fractional coinage consisted of the hemilitron (1/2 litra = 6 onkiai), the pentonkion (5 onkiai), the tetrantes or "tetra" (1/4th litra = 3 onkiai), the trias (1/3rd litra = 4 onkiai), the hexas (1/6th litra) and the tiny and rare onkia. The litra eventually displaced the obol (1/6th of a drachm). See O. Hoover HGC 2 pg. lv.
Abakainon. 420-410 BC. AR Litra (0.60 gms). Laureate bearded head of Zeus r. ⟲A-B-A-K. / Boar stdg r. ⟲IИIA. gVF. FUN Show 2015. SNG ANS 3 #895; HGC 2 #9; BMC 2 #2; SNG Cop -.
I liked the gradient fill that I used for the background on my Ptolemaic photos, so I'm using it again here for my Sicilian coins. Your thoughts on that welcomed.
Anaximander
PS: here's a link to my Sicilian gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7091) (such as it is, so far). More to come.
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Nice. I've been patiently awaiting the Acheloios type from Abakainon to appear, but they are extremely rare. Some day, I think.
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Wow, I recently went and took another peek at your cool collection and I was "very" impressed!
+++ :o +++
Oh, and I love the new animal addition! (it's a total winner)
Cheers
stevex6
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Nice tentacles
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I've continued my Tour di Sicilia with Akragas, or Agrigentum by its Romanized name. Looking at Hoover's alphabetized list of Sicilian mints, I don't have any coins of Adranon or Agyrion (bronze issuance only), or of Aitna, which appears to be both a renamed Katana and a successor city nearby when Katana reverted to its old name.
Akragas. 500-495 BC. AR Stater, Didrachm (8.69 gm). Eagle l., wings folded, AKRA above. / Crab. VF. SNG ANS 3 #923-929 (#927 same dies); SNG Cop 1 #24-26; SNG Lloyd 789-790; HGC 2 #93; Jenkins Gela Group IIc; Dewing 551.
Akragas. 420-410 BC. AR Hemidrachm (2.07 gm). Eagle standing l. atop hare. / Crab, tunny l. below. ⤹ A-K-P-A around. VF. CICF 2005 Ponterio 134 #1368. SNG ANS 3 #1009; SNG Cop 1 #57-58; SNG Lloyd 826; HGC 2 #104; BMC 2 p. 12, #65.
I read somewhere that the eagle and crab were viewed as symbols of Zeus and Poseidon, but I rather like the idea that the crab was in fact a freshwater crab, as found in Italy, Greece, and (naturally) Sicily, and thus we're seeing a more representational image, as the city rose on the banks of the Akragas river.
I appreciate the comments and enjoy your sharing your own coins. I've just learned to use the 'quote' feature in replies. How cool!
Nice. I've been patiently awaiting the Acheloios type from Abakainon to appear, but they are extremely rare. Some day, I think.
I scurried to my library to research this 'Archeloios' type, and initially drew a blank. Closest I found was a reference to water nymphs, specifically the Sirens, daughters of Achelous, the river god. Then I saw how the river god was often represented as a man-faced bull. The representation of the power of a river as a bull seems apt. There are only a couple man-headed bull types from Abakainon. Sounds like a tough want list.
Anaximander
Link to my Sicilian gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7091)
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Those from Abakainon are scarce but others are readily available. See my work on the topic, here:
https://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id=%7B630D98AF-05CE-4C17-B530-6CD7DF4DA048%7D
I’d like to get one of the androcephalic crabs from Akragas but I believe they are pricey.
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Speaking of androcephalic bulls (read: Man-headed), next up is my didrachm of Gela. Interesting to see the spread of the water god cult and its representation on Greek coinage. If you follow his reference, Molinari wrote about that in Koinon I ( 2018), and a reverse of Gela very similar to my own coin appears in his work.
Sicily, Gela. c. 490/485-480/475 BC. AR Didrachm (8.57 gm). Horseman galloping right, brandishing spear overhead. / Forepart of river god Gelas as man-headed bull r. Ε-ΛΑ before. nEF. Triton V #1167. Ex William N. Rudman Coll. SNG ANS 4 mule: #7 (same ob. die) / #5 (same rev. die); Jenkins Gela Gp Ib 42 (O13'/R17); SNG Cop 1 #256; SNG Klagenfurt 430; HGC 2 #363.
Anaximander
Link to my Sicilian gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7091)
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Hi,
Both, the Akragas and Gela examples are great... +++
Q.
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Speaking of androcephalic bulls (read: Man-headed), next up is my didrachm of Gela. Interesting to see the spread of the water god cult and its representation on Greek coinage. If you follow his reference, Molinari wrote about that in Koinon I ( 2018), and a reverse of Gela very similar to my own coin appears in his work.
Sicily, Gela. c. 490/485-480/475 BC. AR Didrachm (8.57 gm). Horseman galloping right, brandishing spear overhead. / Forepart of river god Gelas as man-headed bull r. Ε-ΛΑ before. nEF. Triton V #1167. Ex William N. Rudman Coll. SNG ANS 4 mule: #7 (same ob. die) / #5 (same rev. die); Jenkins Gela Gp Ib 42 (O13'/R17); SNG Cop 1 #256; SNG Klagenfurt 430; HGC 2 #363.
Anaximander
Link to my Sicilian gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7091)
Now we’re really talking! Beautiful example.
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Moving on, we come to Himera, the first Greek colony on the north coast of Sicily, founded by Zancle around the mid-7th C. BC and populated in part by exiles from Syracuse. It didn't last. After Theron of Akragas and Gelon of Syracuse defeated Carthage in the epic Battle of Himera in 480 BC, Theron deposed the local tyrant of Himera and ruled over the city. The pairing of a crowing rooster on the obverse of Himera (the city’s name means ‘day break’) and the crab of Akragas on the reverse is apt. Theron's son, Thrasydaios, succeeded him as tyrant in 472 BC, but Thrasydaios was defeated in battle by Hieron of Syracuse in 470 BC. The Carthaginians had their revenge in 408 BC when Himera was utterly destroyed.
Himera. Tyranny of Theron & son Thrasydaios. 480-470 BC. AR Didrachm (8.79 gm). Cock standing l. HIMERA to l. / Crab. nEF. Westermark & Jenkins Himera #4; SNG ANS 4 #155ff; SNG Cop 1 #302-303; SNG Lloyd 1011-1012; BMC 2 24; Dewing 613-614; HGC 2 #438; Rosen 55. cf. Nomos 1 #20 (same dies).
Himera. 440-430/425 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.93 gm). Slow biga driven l. by charioteer crowned by Nike flying r. Ex: IMEPAION (retrograde) and cock walking l. / Nymph Himera holding patera over altar to l.; satyr to r. stdg below fountain w/ lions-head spout; ear of grain above. gVF. Boston MFA 254 (same dies); de Luynes 976 (same dies); Rizzo pl. XXI, 12 (same dies); Arnold-Biucchi, Monetazione, Group III, 15 (Q4/H12); Gutmann & Schwabacher 10; SNG ANS –; SNG Ashmolean 1765 (same dies). cf. HGC 2 #434 (crane in ex); Jenkins Sicily 30; CNG 100 #1268 & Triton XI #37 (same dies). Very rare.
Anaximander
PS: no bull here, despite Himera's location on a river of the same name.
Link to my Sicilian gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7091)
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Other great examples... +++
Q.
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Drool...
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Wow, you're tossing-in some amazing examples!!
=> keep-up the awesome work!
+++ :o +++
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Thanks, guys. My coins of Sicily may be too few in number, mostly acquired over a decade ago, but generally nice examples, so I will try to be content with that.
As for...Drool...
...we need some new emoticons here ;).
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A bronze for Kamarina and a silver for Katana are next.
Kamarina (Camarina) was founded on the Southern coast of Sicily -and then destroyed- by Syracuse in the 6th C. BC. It was refounded by Gela in 461 BC, only to be razed anew, this time by Carthage. Not a happy history, and little now remains of the old city. I rather like the tetra shown below (1/4th of a litra, so 3 onkia and thus the three pellets). One of the older coins in my collection, it is quite common. While I saw around eight examples of this bronze type in Forum member galleries, examples of silver coinage from Kamarina are few and far between. Still, some day I hope to manage one.
Kamarina (Καμάρινα). c. 420-410 BC. AE Tetrantes (1/4 litra = 3 onkia) or "Tetras" (3.29 gm). Head of Athena l. in Attic helmet, with crest and wing. / Owl stdg facing, grasping lizard in talons, ΑΜΑꓘ to r. Three pellets (value mark) in exergue. EF. CNG 46 #79. SNG ANS 3 #1230; SNG Cop 1 #169; SNG Lloyd 882; SNG Munich 419; HGC 2 #548; McClean 2160; Jenkins & Westermark Kamarina #198 (Period 3); Calciati CNS III 61, #28ff.
Katane (modern Catania) was a Chalkidian colony founded from Naxos in 729 BC on the east coast of Sicily at the foot of Mount Etna. Allied to the Athenians, Leontini appealed to Katana when attacked by Syracuse, but they still lost. I found only one Greek silver coin of Katana (or Catana/Catania) in the member galleries, but of course there's the epic beauty of Tracy Aiello's Roman Imperatorial coin of Sextus Pompey (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-156045), which features Pompey the Great and Neptune with Catanaean Brothers, Amphinomos and Anapias, who earned their fame by carried off their aged parents on their shoulders when Etna erupted.
Katane (Κατάνη). 450-445 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.96 gm). Slow quadriga r. / Laureate head of Apollo r. KATANAI-ON. gVF. Pegasi A17 #36. SNG ANS 3 #1245 (same dies) #1244 (obv. die) & #1246 (rev. die); Basel 324 (same obv. die); Gulbenkian 177 (same obv. die); HGC 2 #566; Kraay & Hirmer 35 (same obv. die); Mirone 34 (same obv. die); Rizzo pl. X, 3 (same obv. die); SNG Cop 1 #176; SNG Lloyd 892 (same obv. die).
Anaximander
Link to my Sicilian gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7091)
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Leontini has to be my favorite Sicilian city-state for its emission of silver coinage. I've even used the lion head on one of the coins (yes, the lion is a pun on the city's name) for my gallery photo for Sicily. Colonized by Naxos and Chalcis (of Euboea) in the late 8th C., Leontini was an inland city on the eastern part of Sicily, near Syracuse. Here are my two:
Leontini. 455-430 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.13 gm). Laureate head of Apollo r. with hair rolled up and bound with wreath. / Head of lion r. w/ open jaw, four barley ears around. LE-O-NT-INO-N. EF. Pegasi XV #35. Same dies: SNG ANS 4 #225; Rizzo pl. XXIII #4; Triton XIII #37. Same obv. dies: Boehringer #37; SNG Fitzwilliam 1053; SNG Lloyd 1054; SNG Lockett 797. Same rev. die: Gulbenkian 217. cf. HGC 2 #667; Basel 349; Dewing 624-628; Gillet 444; SNG Cop 346-348.
Leontini. 455-430 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.07 gm). Laureate head of Apollo l. with hair rolled up and bound with wreath. / Head of lion l. w/ open jaw, three barley ears around, laurel leaf behind. LEO-NTI-NON. EF. SNG ANS 4 #257 (same dies), #256 (same obv. die); Boehringer Münzgeschichte pl. 12 #55 (same dies); Rizzo pl. XXIIII #4 (same dies); SNG Lloyd 1063; SNG München 559 (same dies); HGC 2 #671. cf. NAC 106 #180 & 114 #53 (same dies).
Anaximander
Link to my Sicilian gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7091)
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Quality coins from a great mint and island.
You have a remarkable collection.
John
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Messana is known for its hares. Fits right in with the Sicilian city states featuring their menagerie of boars, bulls, eagles, crabs, roosters, lions, donkeys, dolphins, owls, and octopi. You can find several nice examples in the member galleries. Here's my drove of hares:
Messana. Tyranny of Anaxilas. 480-462/1 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.07 gm). Biga of mules r. with seated charioteer; laurel leaf in ex. / Hare bounding r. MESSENION (SS not retrograde). gVF. Pegasi V #63. SNG ANS 4 #318 (same rev. die); Caltabiano 1993 Series IIb #77 (D41/R40); Dewing #640 (same dies); Randazzo 105-106 (same dies); HGC 2 #779. cf. SNG Cop 4 #389-390 (SS not retrograde); CNG EA 301 #3 (same dies); CBG.fr M43 #385760 (same dies); Roma Num. E2 #33 (same dies). daverino has a nice example with nike crowning the donkeys, a type introduced by Anaxilas to celebrate his victory in the races at the Olymics of 480 or 484 BC.
Messana. 480-462/1 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.14 gm). Biga of mules r. with seated charioteer; laurel leaf in ex. / Hare bounding r., pellet below. ΜΕSSΕ-N-ΙΩN (both sigmas and nus retrograde). VF. Pegasi V #63. SNG ANS 4 #314; Caltabiano 1993 Series IIb 52 similar to (D28/R22 or R38); Dewing 641 (same obv. die)/636. HGC 3 #779 (same obv. die). SNG Fitzwilliam 1067. Cf SNG Cop 1 #390 (no pellet); Bement 405 (SS not retrograde); Randazzo 105-106 (same).
EB has one in his collection; perhaps we'll see it appear in the Forum store soon.
Messana. 412-408 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.8 gm). Biga of mules driven l. by nymph Messana, Nike overhead with wreath & taenia. Ex: two dolphins meeting. / Hare bounding l., grain ear below, dove above. Ex: ΜΕΣΣΑΝΙΩΝ. VF. Pegasi 127 #53. ex-William N. Rudman Coll., Triton V #1193 (this coin). SNG ANS 4 #367/378. Same dies: SNG Cop 1 #405; Caltabiano series XV 623 (D223/R249); Nantueil 303; Triton XX #62. Same obv. die: HGC 3 #801; Davis 40; Kraay-Hirmer pl. 19 #61; Pozzi 492; Rizzo pl. XXVII, 7; SNG Fitzwilliam 1081; SNG Lockett 831. SNG Munchen 660; NAC 33 #78 & 52 #45. cf. Boeringer SNR 57 p. 136f. This one is a 'mule' several times over! The mule on the obverse is found on SNG ANS 367 and its hare reverse on 378. Minos has a beautiful example in his Greeks gallery.
Anaximander
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I really like your Gallery +++ ;)
Q.
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Thanks, quadrans. I appreciate the comments. ;D All those years at Flickr and nary a comment or like. :'( This forum is so much more fun.
Naxos coinage is scarce. How scarce, you ask: there's only one that pops up on a search of the Forum member galleries. I've managed only a small silver, a litra, one distantly related to the one for sale in the Forum Shop right now. What we all want is the Dionysus/Silenus tetradrachm, the epitome of the best of Greek numismatics. Yeah. That'll happen. ::)
Sicily, Naxos. 530-510 BC. AR Litra (0.73 gm). Archaic head of Dionysus, hair beaded, l. / Bunch of grapes, ͶΟΙΧΑͶ (ΝΑΧΙΟΝ in retrograde). VF. SNG ANS 4 #513; HGC 2 #967; Cahn Naxos p. 106, plate I #21 (V14/R20); Campana CNAI Naxos #2; Jameson 671; Pozzi 504-505; SNG Lockett 839; Rizzo pl. XXVIII, 5; SNG Cop -; SNG Lloyd 1149; SNG Lockett 839.
This one will go up in my gallery shortly.
Anaximander
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I loaded my four Selinos coins, a table of contents ("TOC") for SNG ANS parts 1-9, and the first of my Syracusan coinage into my gallery.
The Selinos (Σελινοῦς) coins include a cast bronze "tooth," (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-157644)an archaic stater with the selinon leaf (a local plant from which, arguably, the city was named), and two tetradrachms.
The TOC for SNG ANS is a pdf found here (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-157681)with a listing of the mints/ruling authorities for each of the nine volumes, beginning with Etruria and finishing with Bactria.
Lastly, I kicked off my upload of Syracusan coins with a tetradrachm of Hieron I, (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-157685) the Deinomenid Tyranny. More to come.
Anaximander
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WOW !! a very impressive collection !! congratulations !!
my favorite is the tetradrachm of Himera , I really love it. It's a coin well placed on my wishlist ...
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Merci beaucoup, Brennos. :) I must say, you have stunning coins from Syracuse that are on my own wish list. I so very much want a tetradrachm with Arethusa's hair flowing free...
Anaximander
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Syracuse accounts for nearly half my collection of coins of Sicily, but is the last city I have to upload to my Sicily gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/index.php?cat=49243). And now that I've posted my three tetradrachms from 5th C. Syracuse (Συράκουσαι), it's time for the piece de resistance: the Syracusan dekadrachm, such as it is. The obverse for the Gallatin Series F issue were all plagued by die rust. So there you have it, warts and all. It's only the second dekadrachm in the Forum's member galleries, as best I can tell, other than the reproductions, and the only one from Syracuse.
Anaximander
Sicily, Syracuse, Second Democracy & Dionysios I. 400-390 BC. AR Dekadrachm (42.64 gm). Fast quadriga driven l., crowned by Nike flying r. above; ex: panoply of armor, spear behind. / Head of Arethusa l., hair wreathed; four dolphins around, scallop shell behind. [ΣꓦΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ]. Unsigned die in the style of Euainetos. nVF/gVF. SNG ANS 5 #370 (same dies); Dewing 907-908 (same dies); Gallatin series F: O.VIII-R.F.I #1-2 (same dies); HGC 2 #1299. cf Triton VII #91.
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A work of art!
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Wow, you coins are amazingly sweet! (awesome collection)
+++ :o +++
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That might be the best coin I’ve ever seen posted on here from a member’s personal collection. Question: Do you sleep with it at night, or is it just on the bed stand?
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Thank you kindly :). It started out under the pillow, but it was too big of a hard lump, so off to the nightstand it went :P.
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I've finished posting my corpus nummorum siculorum (Sicilian gallery). The last few posts have, unsurprisingly, all been coins of Syracuse. Here's a couple highlights.
Then it's off to the wilds of Macedon, beginning with the handful of towns/cities in the collection, before wandering off to the Argead Dynasty.
And here's a start: one tetradrachm and two tetrobols of Akanthos.
Anaximander
PS: Link to my Sicilian gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7091)
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My coins of Macedon are going up on the members' gallery. Finished up the last of the cities (filmstrip b) and now all the cataloging and photos for the Macedonian kings (highlights of the early kings on the filmstrip c). Animal lovers rejoice! Here be horses, lions, goats, and eagles.
These include my latest acquisition: a Trihemiobol (0.38 gm) of Olynthos, a Chalkidian League coin, and one of my earliest, a Pentadrachm (10.64 gm) of Aigai or Pella mint for Archelaos.
Anaximander
Link to my Macedon gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7125)
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Some great coin, downloading in your gallery...
+++
Q.
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Wow, your collection is outstanding! (beautiful stuff)
:o +++ :o
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Thanks, Steve P and quadrans. The fruits of 25+ years of collecting, and having fun in sharing them. ;D
My recent cataloging of Macedonian coins has yielded some small surprises, like the posthumous Philip II coins (posthumous? who knew!) and a Celtic imitation of a Philip III.
I'm including a couple of 'filmstrips' below that are my greatest hits of later Macedonian kings, from Philip II onwards, pictures now going up on the member gallery. Soon to go up: a purported Rhodes-like drachm for Perseus that would have been used to pay Creten mercenaries for the Third Macedonian War. Conjectural attribution, but with some merit; lovely coin regardless.
I'm rounding out the series with a couple tetradrachms from the early period of Roman rule.
Anaximander
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I always enjoy seeing the additions to your gallery
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Lovely collection,
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Wow, Another great group... +++
Q.
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It's a redo. A Mulligan: I've recataloged and photographed my Baktria gallery here (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7011) and am in the midst of the upload. There's about 70 coins in all.
I've made consistent use of an old reference, Michael Mitchiner's Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian Coinage (MIG), along with Bopeararchchi's several, more recent, works. The nine-volume MIG is still useful. The first three volumes cover the Hellenistic coinage of the Indo-Greeks.
I retook the photographs using a new background, something other than white or black, as you can see below.
I also have a new addition: a Menander I AR Tetradrachm, one with a heroic pose and an uncommon subtype.
Cheers!
Anaximander
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I'm accumulating numismatic reference books as I go. I've prepared a handful of Tables of Contents (TOCs) to help where none was provided, and these are also uploaded to my gallery. As for my books, I'm not sure how to show them. If anyone has examples of how numismatists share the titles in their library, I'm all ears.
Here's one way to share your library. This is a wide shot of a portion of my numismatic library. Closeup pictures of individual shelves would be more readable.
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I think a wide shot like Carausius' above is cool, and then perhaps supplemented by a Librarything account, like mine here...
https://www.librarything.com/catalog/Enodia&tag=Numismatics&collection=-1
- Peter
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That's brilliant, Carausius. It's very efficient and effective... One shot tells a lot, and you can group titles as you like. I'm going to have to do something like that. I'm getting started packing things up, at the moment, for my next move. Photos will have to wait for when I can re-establish my home office. We will see how many bookcases I can appropriate!
LibraryThing is a tool, all right. I've loaded my library onto the site (under the name Anaximandros (https://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=Anaximandros&collectionname=yourlibrary&collection=1&shelf=shelf&sort=authorunflip&sort=authorunflip)), one title and one cover at a time. That's a lot of work! I'm not up to adding in the catalogs (a whole new can of worms).
Borrowing both concepts in one... here a composite photo of book covers from LibraryThing. First time I've tried this; not as well organized as I would choose, but it works.
Anaximander
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Very nice!
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My latest addition (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-159637) is a Baktrian didrachm, a local issue prior to the autonomous Baktrian kingdom. A Hellenistic coin, but so like the archaicized Athenian owl coinage of the 5th C. classical period. It fits in nicely alongside my 4th C. BC hemidrachm of the same type.
Anaximander
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Great piece +++
Joe
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Syracuse accounts for nearly half my collection of coins of Sicily, but is the last city I have to upload to my Sicily gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/index.php?cat=49243). And now that I've posted my three tetradrachms from 5th C. Syracuse (Συράκουσαι), it's time for the piece de resistance: the Syracusan dekadrachm, such as it is. The obverse for the Gallatin Series F issue were all plagued by die rust. So there you have it warts and all. It's only the second dekadrachm in the Forum's member galleries, as best I can tell, other than the reproductions, and the only one from Syracuse.
Anaximander
Sicily, Syracuse, Second Democracy & Dionysios I. 400-390 BC. AR Dekadrachm (42.64 gm). Fast quadriga driven l., crowned by Nike flying r. above; ex: panoply of armor, spear behind. / Head of Arethusa l., hair wreathed; four dolphins around, scallop shell behind. [ΣꓦΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ]. Unsigned die in the style of Euainetos. nVF/gVF. SNG ANS 5 #370 (same dies); Dewing 907-908 (same dies); Gallatin series F: O.VIII-R.F.I #1-2 (same dies); HGC 2 #1299. cf Triton VII #91.
The portrait is gorgeous.
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Here are links to my two latest Tables of Contents ("TOCs"), posted in my galleries:
Sear's Roman Coins & their Values (SRCV) TOC. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-159980) Sample screenshot below.
Seaby et al. Roman Silver Coins (RSC) TOC. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-160063)
I aim to make those references a tad easier to use. As too often happens, numismatic publications lack a table of contents, sometimes providing an index, but sometimes not. Both TOCs are PDFs of a document where I've listed issuing authority or types, as provided by the author, and their page numbers. I've also provided a link from the Numiswiki pages for SRCV and RSC.
All feedback welcomed, especially errata.
Anaximander
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I've been remiss. It has been several months since I last uploaded coins to my gallery. Long in planning, and slow in its implementation, I've nonetheless begun to fulfill one of my 2020 numismatic goals: upload my Roman coin collection.
I've decided on the gallery organization, a crucial step. In the process of revisiting the cataloging and photographing of the coins themselves, I have ventured to make a couple upgrades: adding reference books (Crawford, Sydenham, Sear Imperators...) and redoing my lighting (Lume Cubes replace the LED panels). Along the way I wrote a database to replace my ever-growing spreadsheets, both for coins and references. I seem to be buying more books than coins these days. ::) Enough with the excuses.
My first installment:
Roman Republic (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7207) and Roman Imperators. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7208)
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Nice group!
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Nice virtual trays 👍😉
Joe
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Great coins and I love the virtual trays. What a neat idea. Oh, and by the way, if you're going to have an excuse, then buying books is a good one!
All the best,
Tracy
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Thanks all for the kind comments. The virtual tray is something I stumbled over among the discussions here in FAC. Takes some doing, but it's a labor of love.
Here's the greatest hits of my Julio-Claudians... (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7209)
Augustus | Tiberius | Drusus
Caligula | Germanicus | Claudius
Nero | Antonia Minor
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Some great additions!
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Nice coins, nice creative presentation. The Agrippa and Antonia are particularly hard to find in that condition.
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Anaximander your entire collection is outstanding, one of the finest here. I thoroughly enjoy browsing through your gallery and look forward (quite enviously i might add) to all your additions, especially the Greeks!
Appreciatively,
~ Peter
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Dear, Chris,
Great coins with the great conditions
and a nice virtual tray ... :) ;)
Congratulation +++
Joe/Q.
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Many thanks, Peter, PMah, Jay, Joe/Q. Of course, these trays are the best of my best...
Whoever invented the virtual tray deserves a royalty. I say King or Queen for a day!
On to the fourth epoch: The Civil Wars and Flavian Dynasty, 68-96 AD. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7210)
Galba | Otho | Vitellius
Vespasian | Titus | Julia Titi
Domitian | Domitia
I'm on a roll, cataloging some long-standing Roman coins in my collection. The revised editions of RIC II.1 (Flavians) and RIC II.3 (Hadrian) make for some welcome edits to my numismatic references.
The novelty factor: I'm now starting to make and keep thumbnail photos of both the coins and their tags. It's much easier to keep it all organized with my new coin database, where I have tabs for photos, thumbnails, tags, and other attachments.
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I love browsing through your gallery, you have some superb pieces! I also love the virtual tray concept. Is there more information I can find somewhere on how to replicate it?
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David: Yes, there is a place in the Forum Discussions where you can learn more about virtual trays.
Discussion Board: Numismatic and History Discussions | Coin Photography, Conservation and Storage |
Topic: How do you make a virtual coin tray? https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=90017.0 (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=90017.0)
I'm following in a line of those who have taken the plunge. I spent a lot of time figuring out the background (period maps, in public domain, consistently 'antiqued,' and sized appropriately), and that was before attempting to insert coin photos. On that, my secret is to 'select' a rectangle of appropriate size in the background, go copy the coin (foreground only), and go back to the background and "Paste into selection").
I'm getting a bit better with the trays, honing the coin thumbnail sizing, coin selections, and legends.
I have now uploaded my collection of Roman Adoptive Emperors and Antonine Dynasty, 96-192 AD. (http://=https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7211) ... with a virtual tray to match.
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I am continuing to upload Roman coins to my gallery, sequentially, and the latest installment takes me to the civil wars that followed the death of Emperor Commodus and into the Severan Dynasty. Here is a virtual tray of the emperors of that period. There's a few Julias in the galleries, too, or coming soon.
The Civil Wars & |Severan Dynasty, 193-235 (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7212)
Anaximander
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Nice trays... +++
Joe
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My gallery of Roman Empire coins of the period of military anarchy (here) (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7213), beginning in 238 AD, starts off with a bang, the year of the six emperors: Maximinus Thrax, Gordian I, Gordian II, Pupienus, Balbinus, and (the only one to survive to the end of the year) Gordian III. I guess this passes for a Roman version of 2020!
My virtual tray is below. Nemonator has a great virtual tray (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-150087) and Sosius (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4690) has a gallery just for this year, along with several virtual trays. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4676)
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Hmm, another great tray.... +++
Joe
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Thanks, Joe :).
My Roman collection uploads continue. Here's a small set, just the handful of 3rd century usurpers, some rather successful, which I'm placing in their own gallery: The Gallic Empire. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7400&page=1&sort=pa). Nothing spectacular here, and not a complete series. You'll find emperors and pretenders alike: Postumous, Aureolus, Marius, Victorinus, Tetricus I, Tetricus II. No shows are Laelian and Domitian (the other Domitian).
Here is yet another Virtual Tray...
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Great ;) :) +++
Joe
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Your gallery is simply astounding!
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Thanks, Nemonator, and thanks again, Joe/Quadrans.
What you're seeing took quite a few years to coalesce. Living in different cities and different circumstances, a lot of my collecting came via individual dealers, before the internet started to drive sales. I also remember coin stores and mail bid sales; it was a simpler time. I'm still buying, of course, though I've been building my references as much as the coins themselves.
It's been nice to find a host like Forum, where I get the online tools and the motivation to share. Now that I have a few references handy, I can research the coins in a systematic manner, then photograph and upload in like fashion.
Stay tuned: My most recent and upcoming batch uploads include some less astounding material: Roman coins from the third century AD, with debased currency and short-lived emperors. Faded glory, for the most part. Then the fourth century starts back up with some nice coinage, though few issues in silver.
Cheers~
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Thank you Chris,
We are waiting to the next step... ;) :) +++
Regards
Joe /Q.
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...and here you have it: the virtual tray for my Roman gallery on the 3rd century, |Military Anarchy and Revival, 235-285 AD. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7213) (Click the photo for a slightly larger version).
So many Emperors and usurpers. So numerous, in fact, that I only provide the obverse for each coin in my virtual tray. This gallery and its virtual tray don't include the Gallic Empire (that gets separate billing).
:branchleft: Emperors :branchright:
Maximinus I, Gordian I, Gordian II, Balbinus, Pupienus, Gordian III, Philip I, Philip II,
Trajan Decius, Herennius Etruscus, Hostilian, Trebonianus Gallus, Volusian, Aemilian, Valerian I, Gallienus,
Macrianus, Quietus, Claudius Gothicus, Quintillus, Aurelian, Vabalathus, Tacitus, Florian,
Probus, Carus, Numerian, Carinus.
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Wow, nice. :)
Great, tray... +++
Joe
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And on we go. Here's my new Roman gallery of |The |Tetrarchy & |Constantine Dynasty, 284-364 AD (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7214) with its virtual tray to match. As always, it's a bit of a grab-bag, with couple of gaps, and a couple of weak examples, alongside a couple of stunners and rarities.
:branchleft2: Emperors :branchright2:
Diocletian, Maximian, Carausius, Allectus, Domitius Domitianus, Constantius I, Galerius,
Severus II, Maximinus II, Maxentius, Licinius I, Valens, [Martinian], Constantine I the Great, Constantine II,
Constans, Constantius II, [Nepotian], Vetranio, Magnentius, Julian, and Jovian.
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The final installment of my Roman collection: |The Houses of Valentinian and |Theodosius, and the Fall of the Western Empire. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7215) It gathers together all of my coinage of the Roman Empire from about 365 AD to its fall around 476.
With those uploads now made to the gallery, it remains only for this, my 'virtual tray,' shown below. As you can see, my task ahead is to complete as much as I can of the [gaps] in the collection.
:star: Emperors and Usurpers :star:
Valentinian I, Valens, Procopius, Gratian, Valentinian II, Theodosius I, Magnus Maximus, Flavius Victor,
Eugenius, Arcadius, Honorius, Theodosius II, Constantine III, [Constans II], [Priscus Attalus], [Maximus of Barcelona],
Jovinus, Johannes, Valentinian III, Marcian, [Avitus], [Majorian], Leo I, Libius Severus,
[Anthemius], [Olybrius], [Glycerius], [Julian Nepos], [Leo II], Zeno, [Basiliscus], [Romulus Augustus].
It has been quite a voyage, rummaging through the arc of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. I've tangled with the Republican and Imperatorial eras, and have seen the locus of power move east, to Constantinople. Meanwhile, the Roman Empire in the west, with its puppet emperors, usurpers, and invasions, enters the Dark Ages.
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Anaximander,
What a great collecting theme and an interesting and eye catching way to display it. Bravo!
Tracy
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I agree, 👍
Great group again 😉
Congratulation 🤝
Joe
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I greatly admire the Roman Pentassarion issues of Marcianopolis. Here's my latest acquisition:
Philip II as Caesar. 244-247 AD. Æ Pentassarion (27mm, 12.98 g, 1h) of Marcianopolis, Moesia Inferior. Bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust of Philip II r. facing draped bust of Serapis l., wearing calathus. / Concordia standing facing, head l., holding cornucopiae and pouring patera over lighted altar to l.; E (mark of value) to l. gVF CNG EA 480 #363. From the TAB Collection, purchased from Pars Coins. H&J, Marcianopolis 6.44.36.1-2; AMNG I 1213; Varbanov 2096.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-166592 (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-166592)
Coming soon: my Seleukid gallery, newly photographed and cataloged. I've captured more references using the ANS Mantis and SCO databases, finding a slew of examples in the French BnF Gallica collections (Delepierre, de Luynes, de Clercq), and in early auction catalogs (Naville, Hirsch). Several early catalogs exceed my reach (Bruder Egger, Rollin et Feuardent), but it was an interesting effort.
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Nice "Pentassarion issues of Marcianopolis".. ;) +++
Regards
Joe
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This just in: my gallery of Seleukid coins is now posted on Forum Ancient Coins. Have a look: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7401 (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7401). I've added a couple of non-dynastic, municipal coins to the mix.
Here's a family tree of the Seleukid Dynasty. It's modified to serve as a virtual tray.
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Very cool!
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That’s awesome! Great coins and amazing virtual tray!
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Nice work, Chris +++
Joe
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Anaximander,
I concur with the others. I really like the virtual tray set-up. Great stuff.
Tracy
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Gallery update... One new acquisition was just posted to my Macedon gallery, |Antigonos I Monothalmos as Strategos of Asia (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-167651) in the name and style of Alexander III the Great. Odd thing is, it's not from Macedon, but from Carrhae or Tarsos. But it fits into the whole Macedonian king series, so in it goes.
Two other acquisitions from 2020 are pending upload: a tetartemorion from Teos (0.25 gm) and an obol from Kyzikos (0.65 gm). They're so small, the photos I've taken just don't do justice. More effort is required. :-\ UPDATE: |Teos (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-167766) and Kyzikos (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-167767) are now up. My best efforts at macrophotography (such as they are) :laugh:
Meanwhile, I've recataloged my Greek Italy coins (another go at references for 29 coins, ex-Sicily) and am starting in on Greece itself (59 coins). I'm not updating the photos in the galleries; Forvm galleries don't support photo changes per se, so I'll only replace coin gallery entries if there's a glaring need...
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Hi Chris,
So many nice addition 👍👍
Regards
Joe
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I just updated the tags for my Greek coin flips (Thessaly to the Peloponnesos), nearly 60 coins in all.
I wanted to re-photograph the coins using my new lighting scheme, and I wanted pictures of their dealer tags. Getting digital images of the tags is a new thing for me (credit to Meepzorp for blazing that trail), though I will not be uploading coin tags to my Forum gallery. I am keeping the tags, and coin thumbails (also new), in my coin database.
Having read Tracey Aiello’s Gallery thread (here) (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=118844.msg748603#msg748603), I admire his spunk in only citing references that he can verify. It’s a tall order, and something I aspire to, but cannot claim to achieve. I have spent the last several years learning a lot about, and agressively accumulating, numismatic references. Most of those are the online resources to which my eyes have been opened by the Forum, which I joined two years ago. I found references aplenty in the discussion boards, in the Numiswiki, and in the Library of Ancient Coinage (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Library%20of%20Ancient%20Coinage). The reference I have cited are listed below.
I guess my point is that I end up consulting as many resources as I have coins in my collection.
Publications consulted (books and PDFs)
ANS Davis, Rosen, Dewing Collections.
ANSMN 33 Selinus Hoard
Babelon Traité.
BCD Boiotia (Triton IX-X, & CNG 72-73, 75)
BCD Olympia (Leu Numismatics, Auction 90).
BCD Thessaly I (nomos 4) & BCD Thessaly II (Triton XV)
BMC Thessaly, Central Greece, Peloponnesus, Attica, Corinth.
Benner Achaean League
Calciati Pegasi
Clerk Achaean League
Dengate Megalopolis
Gulbenkian Collection
Head Boeotia
Herrmann Larissa
Hoover’s Handbook of Greek Coins, vols. 4-5.
Humphris & Delbridge Opountian Lokrians
Kroll Athenian Agora
Macdonald Hunterian Coll., Glasgow.
McClean II
Milbank Aegina
Picard Chalcis
Pozzi (Boutin)
Ravel Poulins
Rogers Thessaly
Seltman Olympia
SNG Berry
SNG Cop 3
SNG Delepierre
Svoronos Monnaies
Thompson Agrinion
Wallace Euboian League
Weber Collection
Williams Confederate, Phokians
Publications referenced, but not consulted (not available to me)
BCD Akarnania and Aitolia
BCD Euboia
BCD Lokris-Phokis
BCD Peloponnesos
Flament Athènes
Hepworth Boiotian Confederacy
Lavva Pharsalos
Lorber Hoard, Thessalian.
Meadows Aegina
Moustaka Thessalischen Münzen
Papaevangelou-Genakos
Price-Waggoner Asyut Hoard
SNG Munich
Warren Sikyon Silver
Winterthur (Griechische Münzen)
Websites consulted
acsearch.info
cngcoins.com
BnF: gallica.bnf.fr and catalogue.bnf.fr
ANS: MANTIS http://numismatics.org
FAC: www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki
HathiTrust (for ANS publications)
Boston MFA collection mfa.org
nomosag.com (for auction catalogs)
PERSEUS www.perseus.tufts.edu
snible.org (for BMC and his version of plates)
SNG (on http://www.sylloge-nummorum-graecorum.org for SNG Fitzwilliam, Lockett, and Spencer-Churchill)
Wildwinds www.wildwinds.com
ZfN for publications.
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Having read Tracey Aiello’s Gallery thread (here), I admire his spunk in only citing references that he can verify.
I agree with Tracy Aiello for several reasons: first, dealers and other collectors make mistakes, so it's never wise to rely on a dealer's or collector's tag without verification; second, online databases that might cite to numismatic works are also not immune from typos and other errors. If you want to cite to a book you don't own - borrow a copy, find an online copy, or ask a friend or Forum member to confirm the cite (preferably with a photo of the book entry). Alternatively, just cite the books you have and add more cites as books are added to your library. There's no shame in not having every major reference at your fingertips, particularly in Greek coins where there might be multiple major references for each city-state.
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BCD Akarnania is on acsearch—it was an M&M sale about a dozen or so years ago.
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BCD Akarnania is on acsearch—it was an M&M sale about a dozen or so years ago.
Thanks for pointing that out, Molinari. For someone who uses acsearch.info regularly, I was surprised that they have a library of |numismatics|. (https://www.acsearch.info/library.html) with lots of PDFs.
I wasn't able to locate BCD Akarnania right away, though. I kept plugging away and found their page on |auctions| (https://www.acsearch.info/auctions.html). (duh!) Filtering for M&M Gmbh, I found the link for |Auction| 23. I just need to get used to the idea of it being html-based and not a PDF.
(https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=&company=74&auction=646)I agree with Tracy Aiello for several reasons: first, dealers and other collectors make mistakes, so it's never wise to rely on a dealer's or collector's tag without verification; second, online databases that might cite to numismatic works are also not immune from typos and other errors. If you want to cite to a book you don't own - borrow a copy, find an online copy, or ask a friend or Forum member to confirm the cite (preferably with a photo of the book entry). Alternatively, just cite the books you have and add more cites as books are added to your library. There's no shame in not having every major reference at your fingertips, particularly in Greek coins where there might be multiple major references for each city-state.
I take your point, Carausius. In the course of my plunge back into references, I was surprised at the number of dealer errors I uncovered. This echoes what I gathered from Meepzorp's recent site edits. With the availability now of many resources, from very old to the very new, I've validated many, many references, and expanded them substantially. I credit the people and pages of this Forum for helping me to find those resources, and sharing their wisdom.
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While I haven't been posting to this topic recently, I've been perusing the Forvm and going through my collection on a near-daily basis.
I've finished photographing of all the dealer tags for my ancient coins. I picked up a new LED light (a Godox S30, 30 watts) to serve as the main light source for coin photos, and that's taken some getting used to. A Godox softbox (SA-30) for the light, delayed in the mail, eventually helped turn the corner. I've downsampled from 300 dpi to 200 (and as low as 72 dpi) for thumbnails and tags; that makes for smaller files.
I've been collecting Bactrian coinage for some time now. Here are two new additions:
|Baktria. Diomedes Soter. Dioskouroi Tetradrachm. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=170626)
|Baktria, Heliokles II Radiate Zeus-Mithra Tetradrachm. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=170627)
I have a tetradrachm of Heliokles I that I picked up 20 years ago, and now one of Heliokles II. Guess I'm a creature of habit...
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I attended the Annual Upstate South Carolina Coin show and picked up four coins. It was my first time at this show, hosted by the Greenville & Parker Coin Clubs. The show was postponed from its February date, and it was hot in Spartanburg. For what it's worth, business appeared brisk.
|1. |Asia Minor. |Cilicia (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=171988), 379-374 BC. AR Obol (0.68 gm) Veiled head of a female, facing, wearing necklace. / Bearded head of Herakles left, wearing lion-skin headdress, tied at neck. Possibly a satrapal issue of Pharnabazos, and an uncertain mint (Nagidos?)
|2. |Greece. |Crete (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=171987) c. 330-270 BC. AR stater of Gortyna. Europa seated facing in tree, raising her veil and hand on the back of eagle with its wings spread. / Bull stdg right, head reverted. VF. Ex-Thomas Bentley Cederlind.
|3. |Roman Empire. |Orbiana (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=171989), w. Severus Alexander. 225-227 AD. AR Denarius of Rome, 225 AD. Special marriage issue. Concordia seated. RIC IV.2 #319. A duplicate of one already in my collection, but this one pleases me.
|4. Kings of Macedon (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=171986). Philip II, Posthumous (temp Kassander) AR Tetradrachm of Amphipolis. Laureate head of Zeus, r. / Youth on horseback r., holding palm. Probably struck for Lysimachos by Kassander.
Nice to finally go to a coin show again!
I've managed to launch my medieval coin galleries here in FAC, with Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Gallic galleries posted. I'll post the Crusader coins next, now that I've photographed them anew. More on that front to come in future months.
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Congrats on some great coins. I really like the stater from Gortyna
I am hoping to go to my first coin show in Calgary later this month.
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Nice coins. I live in SC and had no idea there were any coin shows with ancients anywhere in the state. That said, I am not sure I would know what I was doing at a coin show, but would be fun to go to one. That Gortyna coins has some serious imagery.
Virgil
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I've added a tetradrachm and a bronze of Demetrios I Sotor (162-150 BC) to my Seleukid gallery.
AE20 of Tyre (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174116).
AR |Tetradrachm (Tyche enthroned) of Antioch (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174115).
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Nice additions. I really like the nautical reverse on the AE.
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Before the turn of the millennia, my local coin shop literally gave me this non-descript (literally) coin. A hawk-nosed woman's head, facing right. The reverse looked to be a quadruped, probably a horse. Literally, heads and tails.
It is bronze-ish, green and encrusted. And it is small: under 11 mm in diameter, at its widest. It weighs just 1.23 gm. It's condition qualifies as "Fine." It not the kind of coin one sets out to buy, unless you're one for 'uncleaned coins.'
Unsalable, it remained an enigma, until now. As I reached the bottom of the barrel, figuratively speaking, in poring over the coin collection, the little bronze coin resurfaced. A puzzle, unsolved. A lot has changed in the past 25 years. And yet, nothing answered the riddle, not all the reference works, my visits to coin shows, the online viewing of collections and blogs, or the heft of coin catalogs. Time to fix that.
Under the right light, at certain angles, there was the hint of features unseen in usual viewing. Some identifying features, and some lettering, perhaps? Under magnification, the key jumped out: isn't that a quiver over the woman's shoulder? Who in Greek and Roman mythology would have that... but Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Her familiars include stags.
Off to the ancient coin search engine, "AE Artemis stag" where I got a lot of results. Parsing for weight and size, I landed on the answer. Lycia, Bubon. SNG von Aulock 4286. Too easy? So I thought, so I widened the search, found some alternative attributions (Caria, Amyzon; Lydia, Thyateira), but kept coming back to the same results. I looked for more examples, and I found them. The search term "stag" pointed to a feature around which there was no consensus. I ultimately found citations of stag (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2584230), deer (https://www.cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?PAGE_NUM=&PAGE=1&TABS_TYPE=3&CONTAINER_TYPE_ID=2&IS_ADVANCED=1&ITEM_DESC=lycia+bubon&ITEM_IS_SOLD=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_1=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_3=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_2=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1), and goat (https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8100960). Best of all, the "goat" appears to be a die-match, with a nice coin grade of Very Fine. Seeing the examples, I could then manage to see faint lettering of the ethnic, BOY, above the "goat" on my coin, but only when viewed at an angle, in the right light. I welcome any comments and any confirmation of the von Aulock and Lindgren citations.
UPDATED: Asia Minor. Lycia 2nd-1st C. BC. AE 10 mm (1.23 gm) of Bubon. Draped bust of Artemis right, bow and quiver over shoulder. / Stag standing right. [BOY] above. Fine. Gables Coin, c. 1997. SNG von Aulock 10 (Lykien) 4286; Lindgren III 626; Sear Greek II #5261. cf. Leu Numismatik Web Auction 16 #1091; Künker 133 #7677.
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Goat standing right. [BOY] above.
Although your reference calls the animal on the reverse a goat, I think it is a stag.
The antlers are long (also visible on your coin), and the body looks more like a stag.
More important is that there are a lot of coins with Artemis from Bubos which clearly show a stag, e.g.:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2223998
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8100961
https://tinyurl.com/9h7jytt6
https://tinyurl.com/46mk77ve
even on this coin which Leu calls goat it's clearly a stag
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8100960
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... I welcome any comments and any confirmation of the von Aulock and Lindgren citations. ...
I have neither SNG von Aulock nor Lindgren, but I have SNG Tübingen. There this smaller denomination (there is also a larger one) is described as numbers 4226 and 4227, they date it to the first century BC and refer to SNG vAul 4286 :).
This coin is also mentioned and pictured in Ahmet Tolga Tek, "Hellenistik ve Erken Roma İmparatorluk Dönemlerinde Likya'da Basılan Otonom Şehir Sikkeleri", in "The IIIrd Symposium on Lycia, Symposium Proceedings pp. 769-787, AKMED Antalya, 2006:
https://www.academia.edu/335124/Hellenistik_ve_Erken_Roma_Imparatorluk_Donemlerinde_Likyada_Basilan_Otonom_Sehir_Sikkeleri (https://www.academia.edu/335124/Hellenistik_ve_Erken_Roma_Imparatorluk_Donemlerinde_Likyada_Basilan_Otonom_Sehir_Sikkeleri)
(with the help of some translation software you can read it :)).
And yes, the animal is with no doubt a stag and not a goat.
Regards
Altamura
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A hearty thanks to you both, Altamura and shanxi. Great insights and information. A stag it is. The references cited are all spot-on, and some are rather obscure. I hadn't used the Internet Archive Wayback Machine in that manner in simply ages; and a Turkish journal with photos of this rare (if unexciting) coin type, well that's both simply amazing and exactly what I needed.
For clarity: I have updated the original post to say "stag standing right" instead of "goat standing right."
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I picked up five coins on my second visit to the Annual Upstate South Carolina Coin show, hosted by the Greenville & Parker Coin Clubs. Three of the five are obols, or fractions thereof.
|1. |Sicily. |Himera. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174889) 530-483/2 BC. AR Obol. Cock standing left. / Mill-sail incuse. An early coin from Himera, sometimes described as a litra. It's ex-D. Alighieri Collection. Came with a Rudnik Numismatics tag. I've seen several mentions of the D. Alighiere Collection in sales catalogs, but can otherwise find nothing. Has anyone heard of this collector?
|2. |Baktria. |Eukratides I. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174890) 171-145 BC. AR Obol (0.66 gm) of Baktra. His bust right. / Piloi of the Dioskouri.
|3. |Roman Empire. |Manlia Scantilla (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174893), Augusta, 193 AD. Wife of Didius Julianus, who reigned for 66 days, and mother of Didia Clara.
AR Denarius of Rome. Her draped bust right. / Juno standing left. She was no beauty, unlike Didia Clara.
|4. |Roman Empire. |Britannicus. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174892) 50-54 AD. AE16 of Ionia, Smyrna. His bust right. / Nike advancing right with trophy.
|5. Macedon. |Tragilos. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=174891) Circa 450-400 BC Hemiobol. Grape bunch. / Quadripartite incuse square. An impossibly small coin of 0.2 gm.
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Good finds Chris. I really like the Baktrian and Britanicus
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All very nice, Chris, though Himera would get my vote :laugh:.
Cheers,
Steve
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Chris, for your Aligheri question, check CNG Triton XII (2009) - it has many lots "From the D. Alighieri Collection". The Triton catalog may say something. I only have lot descriptions immediately on hand. Maybe it's a real person? Maybe it's a CNG collection code-name like '"The Leonardo da Vinci Collection". Dante Alighieri? Don't know. Let me know if you find out.
Cheers,
Steve
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Steve, thanks for the suggestion. Very on-target.
I thumbed through my Triton XII catalog (unusually, no PDF is available anywhere online) and saw the provenance "From the D. Alighieri Collection" on a number of ancient coins. However, this catalog had no introductory remarks about the collections being auctioned beyond the initial page (https://www.cngcoins.com/Catalogs+and+Subscriptions.aspx) (shown below), and there is no reference to D. Alighiere even there. I searched the auctioneer's site and found some two thousand lots being auctioned from that collection, bunched into 2009, including large lots, and some now reauctioned.
Person or pseudonym, D. Alighiere remains a mystery.
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Chris, I've seen speculation elsewhere that it was Cornelius Vermeule's collection. He was curator at the MFA in Boston and a well-known numismatist. He died in 2008 so the timeline would fit. I have no other proof as yet, so just speculation at this point.
Steve
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I'm thinking the manlia scantilla is likely quite a rarity. I've not looked it up, but didius julianus coins in general are rare and desired.
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Hi Chris. On further reflection, 'D.Alighieri' = Vermeule seems very unlikely. Some of Vermeule's collection was sold by Stacks in 2010 and his name was used. The catalog including his biography are on archive
https://archive.org/details/2010_01Stck_NYInternational_LR/2010_01Stck_NYInternational_LR/page/n5/mode/2up (https://archive.org/details/2010_01Stck_NYInternational_LR/2010_01Stck_NYInternational_LR/page/n5/mode/2up).
Earlier CNG sales (eg CNG50) sold some of his coins and used his name. There doesn't seem to be a need for a pseudonym.
So, the Alighieri mystery remains.
Steve
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Steve, thanks once again. With coins "From the Estate of Cornelius C. Vermeule" in the Stacks auction catalog, we can put to rest the thought of Cornelius Vermeule III as the mysterious D. Alighieri. Vermeule was prone to pseudonyms (Wentworth Bunsen, Isao Tsukinabe and Northwold Nuffler), so not a bad hunch. It could just as easily be a nefarious character whose name could tarnish the coin, someone like (just say) Ken Lay of Enron, who died awaiting his prison sentence in 2006 (|ANS Pocket Change blog post (https://numismatics.org/pocketchange/infamy/)). Good catalog, by the way.
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Two Cilician coins added to my Asia Minor gallery:
- 1. |Soloi (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=175232). 410-375 B.C. AR stater. (10.67 gm, 19 mm). Amazon (Antiope?), wearing pointed headdress, nude to the waist and kneeling l., stringing her bow, with drapery & gorytos (bow-case) at her waist. / Bunch of grapes on vine; ankh to lower right (partially off flan); ΣΟΛΕΩΝ - Θ. Large test cut on ℞.
Blindado (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=145931) a stater one in his collection (with a few notes on the coin, the city, and the Amazons); as do shanxi (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=166121) and Jay A2 (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=173054). J.B. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=129146) has a hemi-obol (!).
- 2. |Kelenderis (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=175231). 410-375 B.C. AR stater. (10.68 gm, 20 mm). This one is a classic and, yes, generally quite common. A youth dismounting from horse rearing r. Less common: large plume on horse's head. / Goat kneeling right, head left; KEΛE-[N] above.
The 'Best of Type' is noneother than FAC's own Joe Sermarini (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=143496), while Jason T (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=152113) has a really exemplary one with some concise notes.
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I've added three coins of Macedonian kings to my Macedon gallery (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7125)...
|Perdikkas II. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=176503) 451-413 BC. Tetrobol of Aigai? heavy Thraco-Macedon stdd. Mounted horseman wearing petasos, with two spears on horse walking r. / Forepart of lion in incuse square. Two things drew me to this coin: the obverse variety with the horse walking (so I now have one of each, horse prancing and walking), and the unusually good strike of the lion on the reverse (for the type) with little of the usual flatness.
|Philip II. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=176502) 359-336 BC. Tetradrachm of Amphipolis. Laureate head of Zeus r. / Philip on horseback l., wearing kausia & chlamys, raising hand. ΦIΛIΠ-ΠOY, M below raised foreleg. Large test-cut on the reverse. My early acquisitions of Philip II turned out to be posthumous or imitative, so here we have a lifetime issue.
|Alexander III. (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=176501) 336-323 BC. Drachm of Miletos, struck under Philoxenos, 325-323 BC. Head of Herakles clad in lion skin headdress, r. / Zeus Aëtophoros enthroned l., holding sceptre and eagle. ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, ΔH monogram in l. field. A common-enough type, for a lifetime issue.
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Nice additions.
Virgil
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Thanks, Virgil. Not sure I can top that today, but I'll share my latest Roman gallery additions:
Three Antoniniani of Rome, 248-249 AD: Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games), commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Rome, from Philip I and Philip II. Celebrated every hundred years! The reverse legend SAECULARES AVGG = 'Saeculares Augustorum' |lion (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=176566), |elephant (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=176565), and a "|goat" (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=176564) that could really be an elk (aka moose). Not the best examples, but serviceable. You can follow the links above, or head on over to my Roman gallery for the period (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7213), Military Anarchy & Revival, 235-285 AD.
Lastly: here (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=176563) is an Advent coin of Trajan Decius. Adventvs Augustorum is the arrival of the emperor to a city. This antoninianus has a nice portrait and some lovely toning.
Post scriptum: Here (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=176579) is a much-awaited denarius of Hadrian with a galley reverse.
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Those are all beautiful.
Virgil
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While I have been poring over my ancients to add diameter and die axis, I took a moment to add a new nomos (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=178744) to my Greek Italy gallery.
Calabria. c. 272-240 BC. AR Nomos (6.58 gm, 19mm, 3h) of Tarentum. Euph.., Ariston, and Zop…, magistrates. Nude warrior wearing crested helmet riding left, holding reins & ornamented shield; EYΦ to left, API-ΣTΩN below. / Phalanthos astride dolphin left, holding hippocamp and trident; ΤΑΡΑΣ below, 𐊈ΩΠ to right.
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I continue to add Roman coins to my member gallery (see the link on my signature block), but I have not announced them on the discussion board in 2023. Here we are, near the end of the year, so I thought I would present the year's additions as a Virtual Tray. Several of these are upgrades, picked up while at last week's Richmond Coin & Currency Show, sponsored by the |Richmond Coin Club (https://richmondcoinclub.com/). It's not Coinex, but you will find dealers in ancient coins.
One of the fun things about coin shows is that you can explore new cities. I took in Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, near Charlottesville and stayed at the historic Jefferson Hotel in Richmond. Makes me wish I had gone to the Worlds Fair of Money show in Pittsburgh last summer.
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Anaximander,
Wonderful additions. Nice to see you posting about your gallery.
All the best,
Tracy
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Thanks, Tracy! I'm really very fond of the Greek coins of Corinth, Akarnania, and the myriad Italian colonies. I do move into related fields. Here's a few I picked up in 2023...
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Not an especially active year for collecting Seleukid or Thracian coinage, but several tetradrachms - my favorite denomination - did make their way into my collection.
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Lovely coins and a beautiful presentation. Well done mate! 👍
~ Peter
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Those are lovely additions, thanks for posting them here like this. I look at the galleries, but can be pretty inconsistent in doing so.
Virgil
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Hello Anaximander
I came across this very recent article by Catharine Lorber, discussing a hoard of hemidrachms of Pharsalos:
https://www.e-periodica.ch/cntmng?pid=snr-003%3A2006%3A85%3A%3A274
Coin 1 in the plate is your Pharsalos hemidrachm:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=155885
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Well spotted, Pharsalos!
If anyone would spot Lorber's revision to her 2003 book report of Lavva's 2001 work on the coinage of Pharsalos, it would be someone named Pharsalos.
Whilst this coin may not quite rise to the level of a "plate coin", the article certainly adds to its pedigree. It's a known hoard disbursed in 1999. I'm chuffed!
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Nice!
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Anaximander I've taken the liberty of checking some of your Tarentine coins against D'Andrea, as we spoke of in my thread here... https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=78345.275
and the results are interesting.
Your didrachm, Vlasto 589, corresponds to D'Andrea Series XL, Type 918, and is listed as R3. The dating moves up to 290-281 BC.
F-B 79, 1086-87, 1090, 1093-96; ANS 988-89; Cop 842; France 1833; Cote 236-37; Oxford 287
Your didrachm Vlasto 594-96 should probably be cf 594-96, as the magistrate is different (DAI vs the more common EA). It corresponds to D'Andrea XXXIX, 848, and the date moves back to 302-290 BC. The only attribution is to F-B 77, 988-89. Again R3.
Also, the Vlasto 96 we discussed in the other thread seems to be a die match to the D'Andrea specimen.
I'll work up the others if you like.
~ Peter
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I updated Numiswiki to give a URL for the Côte (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Cote) Collection sale, Monnaies de Tarente (Rodolfo Ratto, Lugano, 1929). Not the reprint, but the original catalog. The BnF Gallica site has things found nowhere else online. This little gem will give me some references for my small collection of coins of Tarentum. Points to Enodia for pointing out this source.
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+++
Regarding 594-96, my mistake. I looked up the right coin but copied down the wrong one. Vlasto 594-96 is correct (still D'Andrea XXXIX, 848), 302-290 BC. It is properly listed as 'common'.
Carrying on...
Vlasto 732 corresponds to D'Andrea XLII, 1181, dated 276-272 BC.
Cote 391; ANS 1098-1102; France 1900-03; Oxford 322-23.
Vlasto 928 = D'Andrea XLIV, 1412, dated 272-235 BC.
ANS 1238; France 2050.
Stay tuned...
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Continuing, I think this finishes them off...
Vlasto 803-07 = D'Andrea XLII, 1213. 276-272 BC, R1. The only other reference given is Copenhagen 899.
Your drachm, Vlasto 1054-57 = D'Andrea XLI, 1011. 281-272 BC, common.
Cote 323; ANS 1307-11; Cop 954-55; France 1936-37; Oxford 445.
I hope this helps.
~ Peter
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Thank you, Peter, for your kind efforts. All seven attributions are taken in and much appreciated.
I'll propagate the updates (database to coin flips and to FAC gallery) in short order. D'Andrea must be a marvel of scholarship. There were several cross-references that surprised me, such as the BnF (SNG 6.1) and SNG Oxford where I hadn't picked up on their presence in the collections.
May you find rarities at budget prices!
Cheers~
Chris