A few new coins in each of my 3 galleries (Provenance, Captives, Animals)

[Curtis JJ]

The Greek Overstrike Database is alive and well, and coming along nicely.

Good to hear! I hadn't seen anything since some early presentations about it (maybe 6 or 7 years ago), but I hadn't looked hard or tried to contact anyone. If Callatay still manages it from the Belgian Coin Cabinet or another institution, that's good news.

[Curtis JJ]

A few more Gallery additions, including one major collecting goal achieved: one coin from all 10 of the major BCD Collection sales. (The catalogs themselves are harder! Still need the BCD Akarnania catalog.)
My Gallery for that particular sub-collection: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7851

The last two additions were a pair of AR Obols (I'm a lover of Greek factions generally):

BCD Olympia 126 (also the HGC 472 plate coin). Hera (or Nymph?) & Eagle. 105th Olympiad:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=183326

O. Hoover (HGC5) describes this obverse as Hera while A.S. Walker (BCD Olympia) calls her the nymph Olympia.
Not exactly sure of the significance yet.... Why did Walker think that?

EDIT: After a bit more reading, I have a better idea what ASW was thinking (but not why Hoover doesn't accept it). I added the following notes to the gallery:

Importantly, there is an AR Stater w/ a Zeus obv. & the nymph on the rev. (BCD Olympia 118 [LINK], pp. 52-3), along w/ a rev. inscribed OΛYMΠIA, apparently naming her. ASW writes: "Both the legend and the lack of the stephane prove that she's not Hera: she reappears, in a more mature and commanding way, on the contemporary issues of the Hera mint (see below, lots 122-127)" [i.e., including my coin, 126].

BCD Boiotia 277. Shield & Horse.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=183325

I love how much vigor and physicality the engravers could put into the tiny animals on Greek obols.
The contours of the shield are also very appealing. Very satisfying to see it as a set w/ my full-size AR Stater (not yet in gallery) & AE (same gallery).

Another interesting addition:

Hendin 160a (GBC plate coin [2nd ed.]). Bar Kochba Middle Bronze overstruck on a Titus-Agrippa II RPC of Judaea Capta type.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=183323

I also collect Roman "Capta" coins, which made this one irresistible.
Hendin described the undertype as "Vespasian?" or a "Flavian" bust, but I think it was RPC II 2285 [LINK], probably the same obverse die as RPC's Ex. 7 [LINK].

And:
I posted this new Hadrian Alexandrian Drachm (not one of the ones from ETB / Okidoki, which I'll post soon), commenting about the interesting bust type, which I don't think I've seen on other Alexandrian coins of Hadrian (not with so much of the torso shown): https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=183299

A scarce & interesting AE14 from Phalanna. This was a very hard one to find, w/ (partial) inscription identifying the obv. as (Zeus) Peloris. (Also, really nice surfaces!) Phalanna's coins come in so many varieties, this city will still keep me busy for a long time to come: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=183322

[Pharsalos]

Fantastic additions and write-ups as always Curtis! Hard to pick a favourite, but that Phalanna is my choice; interesting, beautiful and BCD. I had not heard of Zeus Peloris before, it’s an unusual looking bust of Zeus to my eyes.

[Tracy Aiello]

Stunning coins, Curtis. And as always, outstanding write-ups.

Tracy

[Mark Fox]

Dear Curtis and Board,

I was very close to bidding on the same Phalanna bronze, restrained only by a tight budget!  I wrote an article for The Numismatist some years ago, titled "The Myth of Zeus Peloris" and published in the April 2013 issue.  If you have access to the digital archives or a print copy of the relevant issue, I recommend reading it, which goes into some detail on possibly why the elusive inscription has yet to be encountered in full.     


Best regards,

Mark Fox
Michigan

[Curtis JJ]

I wrote an article for The Numismatist some years ago, titled "The Myth of Zeus Peloris" and published in the April 2013 issue.

Mark – Thanks so much for your comments and mention of The Numismatist article!

     -  EDIT: OOPS, I mistakenly read "The Celator" at first! That helps explain why I couldn't find it! I've just read the article and found the historical background on the type's discovery and interpretation of the legend fascinating.


I have a particular interest in Phalanna's coins, so I’m excited to read it. Phalanna gets good coverage in Rogers and BCD, and its coins are often described along w/ the other cities of Thessaly, but very few studies have focused specifically on Phalanna (and almost nothing else in English). The only other Phalanna-centric article that comes to mind would be Papaevangelou-Genakos 2004 (written in Greek!). (I actually have a draft research note I’ve worked on, off-and-on for a couple years, about the more common Phalanna AE type w/ the “young male head”; Zeus Peloris plays a role in his interpretation.)

I just added to my gallery an example of the other Zeus type w/ the nymph seated feeding stork (also ex-BCD, which he bought from CNG EA 183 (5 Mar 2008), 54 [LINK]), and an interesting banker's mark/countermark inside Zeus' ear:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=183349



Also: Always valuable to learn who else noticed one’s coins at auction -- thanks for mentioning it! Now that we do so much of our buying online, we may never learn who else encountered our coins first or what they thought of them. Any exception is very welcome! (Of course, once they’ve been purchased, we now have wonderful outlets like this one for discussing our collections with the whole world.)

[Curtis JJ]

I just added a new coin to my gallery that some may recognize... It was published in Michael Molnar's (1991) The Celator article & 1999 book, The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi, and all kinds of other surprising places. (Also: This is my first New York Times "plate coin." [ARCHIVED])

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=184185

It's the Year 44 (ΔM) bronze from Syria, Antioch that Molnar always used to illustrate (and reportedly inspired) his theory about the "Star of Bethlehem." (That it was the conjunction of Jupiter & Aries in 6 BCE, commemorated on the "ram leaping & star" coins of Antioch. There's more info in the linked Numiswiki "Star of Bethlehem" article by T Cartwright.)

Someone must've finally removed the artificial desert patina from the coin's surface. It's a rare case where I would've been perfectly happy to keep the "makeup," but either way, I'm quite thrilled to have this coin.

I hadn't heard any news about the death of Michael Molnar (1945-2023) until I noticed his collection coins appearing at auction. (Still don't find anything besides his Legacy-dot-com obit [LINK].)

[Tracy Aiello]

Great coin and great story. Congrats!

Tracy

[Curtis JJ]

The Greek Overstrike Database is alive and well, and coming along nicely.

It took me until now to find it online, but better late than never: https://silver.knowledge.wiki/
Also linked (top left) is a "Die Studies Database" which looks pretty great after just briefly perusing. But the Greek Overstrikes Database link is top right: https://silver.knowledge.wiki/Greek_Overstrikes_Database

It includes the coin I posted above and which made me think of it: https://silver.knowledge.wiki/?curid=19640 (I hope that link works)