Which Apollonia? AE10, 0.88g, 12h. Obv:
Hermes, Rev: Grapes.
I picked up this top coin recently without knowing exactly where it was from, with the
only epigraphic clue being the letters "
AΠΟΛΛ" on the
reverse. It was not clear whether
this referred to a city or a magistrate.
I was originally going to ask for
help working out from where it may have been struck,
but before I did so I naturally worked my through all of the
search facilities and various
catalogues, etc., trying to find something - anything - with
Hermes on the
obverse and a
grape bunch on the
reverse.
Bizarrely, perhaps even
ridiculously, I went back to the original source and saw that
there was an
obverse die-matched coin from the same
mint in the same
auction (
which I had somehow missed in spite of my specific searches for this type of coin;
how I missed it I will never know). See lower image.
This second coin gave an answer - but only
part of the answer. It revealed the more
complete ethnic AΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΑΤΩΝ, but I
still have the problem of working out which
Apollonia it may be.
I have my suspicions that it may be
Lydian Tripolis, which was renamed
Apollonia for a
short time, but cannot immediately confirm this. I think I can rule out most of the other
cities with the same name, but am open to suggestions.
If anyone has a better idea or can confirm a proper ID then I would love to hear it.
All the best,
- Walter
P.S.
As an aside: I recall a chat about whether the proper term is "bunch of grapes" or
"grape bunch", but cannot recall which was which. Can anyone clarify this as well?