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Identification Help / Which Apollonia? Hermes / Grapes
« Last post by OldMoney on Today at 06:15:36 pm »
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?
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?
