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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Themes & Provenance| ▸ |Types| ▸ |Astrology||View Options:   | | | |
The star almost certainly depicts one of Mithridates comets. According to Justin's epitome of the Historiae Philippicae of the Augustan historian Pompeius Trogus (Justin 37.2.1-2): "The future greatness of this man [Mithridates Eupator] had been foretold by heavenly portents. For both in the year in which he was born [134/133 B.C.] and in the year in which he first began to rule [120/119 B.C.], a comet gleamed so brightly for 70 days throughout each period that the whole sky seemed to be on fire. In its extent, each of these comets filled one quarter of the sky and surpassed the sun in brilliance. They took four hours to rise and four hours to set."GB92048. Bronze AE 18, cf. SNG BM Black Sea 980; SNG Stancomb 645; SNG Cop 230, HGC 7 314 (S), VF, green patina, weight 4.930 g, maximum diameter 17.9 mm, Amisos(?) mint, c. 120 - 100 B.C.; obverse bashlyk (Persian satrap's leather cap with flat top and ear flaps), bow on left pointed right, monogram(?) on right, facing horned bust of Pan below; reverse comet or star of eight rays, bow on right facing inward; scarce; $125.00 (€115.00)
Islamic, Seljuqs Sultanate of Rum, Ghiyath al-Din Kay Khusraw II bin Kay Qubadh, 1237 - 1246 A.D.
The source and meaning of this sun and lion design is uncertain but there is a popular (although unlikely) explanation. The sultan was madly in love with his beautiful Georgian wife and wanted to put her portrait on his coins. His advisors disapproved, however, so he put his wife's horoscope on his coins instead - the Sun in Leo. The Ilkhan descendants of the Mongols copied this design on a copper fals nearly a hundred years later. After that it became a popular device with which to ornament the copper coins of eastern Anatolia, and particularly Iran where it eventually became the country’s national symbol.IS95340. Silver dirhem, cf. Mitchiner 983, Izmirlier 464, Album 1218 (none with these controls, date on our coin uncertain), VF, toned, weight 2.987 g, maximum diameter 22.6 mm, die axis 270o, Siwas (Sivas, Turkey) mint, AH 637 - 641; obverse al-imam al-mustansir billah amir al-mu'minin (the Imam al-Mustansir, Commander of the Faithful), sun in radiance above lion passant right (the sun in Leo), pellets between rays of sun, no stars or crescents (controls), pellet (control) below lion; reverse in central square: al-sultan / al-a'zam / kaykhusraw / ibn kayqubad (the Supreme Sultan Kaykhusraw ibn Kayqubad); around: mint & dates (struck in Siwas, in the year [639?]) ; ex Specialty Stamp and Coin, Champagne, IL (2002); scarce variety; $100.00 (€92.00)
Septimius Severus, 9 April 193 - 4 February 211 A.D., Nikopolis ad Istrum
There are peculiarities about these Roman crescent and star reverse types that are difficult to understand. First, the crescents are almost always depicted with the horns up. The moon is never seen this way in the sky. Also, in the sky stars are never visible within the horns of the crescent moon because there they would be behind the shadowed yet solid and opaque orb. The crescent with horns up may represent a solar eclipse.RP92881. Bronze assarion, H-H-J Nikopolis 8.14.48.37 (R2), Varbanov I 2474 var. (obv. leg.), AMNG I/I 1432, Moushmov 986, gVF, green patina, slightly off center, scratches, spot of corrosion on reverse, weight 2.928 g, maximum diameter 16.6 mm, die axis 180o, Nicopolis ad Istrum (Nikyup, Bulgaria) mint, 9 Apr 193 - 4 Feb 211 A.D.; obverse AY K Λ CEVHPOC, laureate head right; reverse NIKOΠOΛITΩN ΠPOC IC, five stars above and within crescent with horns upward; $70.00 (€64.40)
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