NewStyleKing

What does this mean? Headdress of Isis trumping Star and 2 Crescents! Romans defeating Mithradates? Why Headdress of Isis? Is it because Isis's epiphany at Rhodes was the first Roman (allied) victory over Eupator?  That's what I think! Anybody else has any views?  I mean this would be pivotal and this unique coin a major relic. What did Thompson make of it? DeCallatay...Meadows...Morkholm etc.......silence...(except me?)?

The coins of the Mithradatic times  needs to be addressed as a whole ...by an expert!  

DeCallatay did some in Les histories des guerres Mithradatiques vous la pour les Monnaise 1997 with some of the big silver issues, Bithynia, Odessos Pontus..etc  but my French is zero!

The influence of Rome forcing allies to contribute donations is becoming more and more obvious and seen as proxy coinages. I view Athens NewStyle as one such coinage. This should be a major graduate study subject. Some coins even put a Pontic Star and crescent ( two crescents for Athens!) on their coins!

Whole areas of who supported who and for how long is moot.....the example of the Pseudo-Athens NewStyles of Crete of who made them and what for depends on who you think controlled Crete at the time..as a single entity or competing city states?  Is that why Metallus hammered Crete just after the 3rd Mithradatic war?

All very confusing  and ruddy interesting but no one seems to tackle it as an "integrated" whole.

I see the egregious fake on NN London . lot 324, has been withdrawn now!

I don't think that's how authentication actually works. No information, no metrics, no provenance......yep that's the way to do it!!!!!

Meanwhile, ATTICA, Athens. Circa 86-81 BC. Æ (31mm, 9.45 g). Helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing right, head facing, on amphora; all within laurel wreath.

BUT, not always! This if it was silver and weighed c 16.80g would resemble a NewStyle tetradrachm c 135BC. There is no coin of this type of MENED in AEand the weight is a fantasy!  This "coin" is probably a modern tourist cast Fake, not even a fouree! No such AE coin of the period 86-81 looks like this having magistrates names and controls nor Asklepios posing!! Also the wreath is often described as a olive wreath!

Athens New Style Tetradrachm c151/0 BC

Obs : Athena Parthenos right in tri-form helmet
32 3 mm 17.20 g Thompson Issue 14
Thompson catalogue: Obs 87 : Rev NEW
Rev : AΘE ethnic
Owl Standing on overturned panathenaic amphora
on which month mark M/B
2 magistrates monograms in both fields
LF symbol : Term of Hermes
All within a surrounding olive wreath

I don't know what he's supposed to be holding? No, really  I don't!

All that glisters is not gold. It's Electrum!

You're a winner Panzerman! That's really nice.

Oh Dear, once or twice such depository's have been penetrated recently in the UK. One by taking members families hostages , the other is the (in)famous Hatton garden job where they drilled through the wall! Both are far better than my security at home! What would they make of As Rude etc?😀

I don't think Imperator as translated to Emperor can be accurate as this time, since he was ostensibly fighting to preserve the Republic and an Emperor was the exact opposite what they were trying to achieve.  It means that his troops had hailed him as a victorious general. It later became the equivalent of emperor during Augustus' rule when the Republic was dead and buried. 

Oh Yes, I liked the Nectanebo coin too, Nefer Nubw good gold! I'm sure it'll be as good today as it was yesteryear!

I must admit I don't think that it is that stunning as previous Tritons, unless I am too habituated after all these years

The hi-lights are a Porus Alexander-Elephant medallion and a Eid Mar (Fouree)  But of the NewStyles...not a chance

To make up for that I offer the choice weapon of the tritons, a trident on a NewStyle

The other remarkable "coin" is this unknown quantity in the Imperial Roman selection. 

"In the years since Professor Buttrey's comments, further research has been done on this coin as well as others of its type. New evidence supports this being a Paduan-era medallion of the 16th-17th century schools in Italy".

 I agree looks wrong to my spidey senses, definitely a Faker!

 For those disappointed there is a CNG e Sale that's new. But again I am disappointed, the usual  swarm of OldStyles is missing and a single, very sad, NewStyle is offered.

Well, no Xmas prezzy for me!

What do you like? Anything interesting for you? Are the prices of the Triton offerings too high?  Discuss!

How is the chronology rationalised?  Mixed Hoards?  Do mixed ( with silver) exist? Mixed with other mints coins? Just how do they do it?  I mean with WM Flinders Petrie seriation he had loads of graves to sample and stratification..... but I can't see a parallel here.  Athens NewStyles are easy by comparison to get conclusions for, but not exact dates- but good enough.

Ended up in Australia and then Canada/USA. None of which the Geography wise Greeks knew about!  How's that for Irony! Coins from Antartica next!!!

Would toothpaste be acceptable?  I found it works a treat!😀 Then I'm not very picky! Life is abrasive one way or another!

@Deinomenid T 992 New Reverse B on amphora...Any signs of undertype of A?

I guess the cap thing could a be a wreath? A wreath awarded to victors?

@Deinomenid  Where's the full photos and details?

The Agon figure on my coin seems very syncratic, he has some kind of headdress which I cannot fathom, the wings of Nike and/or possible Hermes and a cloak chlamys also of Hermes, so maybe they were getting a all in one representation. 

@Curtisimo

Thanks for unravelling the grouping. I'd  seen it but didn't understand it. Now , is there a winged Agon around?

This NewStyle is slap bang in the coins that sit astride the contentious Rome-Pontic times. Times where the politics of Athens were split between those who supported Rome and those who supported Eupator of Pontus.  So this competition was tearing apart Athens, so what is more suitable than this coin with the personification of competition...the Agon! Anywhere where is a tension be it in a play, in politics in a arena  on the playing field, the minor god/personification Agon symbolises this tension.

This is where we get the words Agony, Agonist, protagonist, antagonist, etc from.

I have looked hard but there appears to be NO clear statue of Agon I can find so the best representation is on the coins of the Athenian NewStyle. Can any help here-I issue the challenge ?

A figure with a headdress of some type which I cannot make out..looks like a spiked/helios type headdress, with Nike's wings symbolising victory, a palm leaf, again symbolising victory, a chlamys, and in his hands...apparently(!) dumbbells that are used in jumping completions to give you an extended effort called halteres, of which examples still exist.

Is this symbol just a comment of the time or is the first magistrate Aropos, issuing a challenge? Who will take up the glove! No, I cannot believe this was anything other than a deliberate symbol, thus a key coin for these troubled times.

A good strong mintage   of 25 obverses, 61 reverses and issues of 11 Athenian months. This is obverse die-linked to Coiled Serpent whose magistrates issued the Roma coin of my last post and thus associated with the pro-Roman side!

Enjoy- the 2nd coin is mine.

How do we know it is a genuine style progression against a random die artists competence. Margaret Thompson in NSSCA had accordion sheets of the NewStyle obverses where individual artists can be traced. cf, Flinders Petrie seriation of Egyptian pots and things.

Thanks @Robinjojo !  It is far better than the photographs. The original flan was underweight and smallish, the obverse die was well used , almost to destruction . What a story it could tell!  I think the "home grown" store of Athenian silver was running out. The next coin Griffin of Apellikon of Teos are well struck and of 12 obverses. Maybe Mithradates sent some silver over to tide them over whilst he sent Apellikon to take Delos and its treasury from Roman control...he failed and Archaelos had to do the job! However the next coins of King Mithradates are rare  but there is a massive striking of AE , and the gold tells of trouble.....think the gold coins struck at the end of the Peloponnesian war from the statues from the Parthenon.....same here!

Athens NewStyle Roma & Nike T 1125 

Athens NewStyle Roma & Nike T 1128a

The original coin T 1128a, unfortunately has Nike crowning Roma but she is mostly off the flan. I saw this 2nd coin T 1125 on ebay and I was the only bidder  and got it for 300$US  then plus juice, s&h  about $400.  This is very reasonable by today's prices.

OK the coin is 15.47 gm, should be c 16,65 ish, and worn dies and generally wear worn, but Nike crowning Roma is complete! The reverse 3 magistrates are readable and the whole was very identifiable.

Athens New Style Tetradrachm c90/89 BC

Obs : Athena Parthenos right in tri-form helmet
29 mm 15.47 gm 
Thompson catalogue: 1125
Rev : ΑΘΕ ethnic
Owl standing on overturned panathenaic amphora
on which month mark A control ΠΡ below
3 magistrates : KOINTOS KLEAS SOSTRA
RF symbol : Roma & Nike
All surrounded by an olive wreath

At this time the political climate in Athens was volatile with supporters of Mithradates and Rome pitched against each other for c 10 years since about 99BC. This battle is often reflected on the coinage where known names exist and symbols can be seen to be contentious right down to the Sullan sack.

The 1st magistrate is Kointos, which is the Greek form of the name Quintus. We don't know nothing about him but that says a lot! Who Kleas and Sostra is we don't know but fair to say they that they are likely to be Roman supporters!

Now why is Roma being crowned?  There was a festival called Romalia and the previous obverse die linked NewStyle has the figure of Roma on it, same as on here. Could it commemorate a victory at the games at the festival, could it be a signal of the victory of Rome in the social wars, could it be that the Romans had a significant result in Macedonia, where the Mithradatic proxy war was occuring in Macedonia?  We don't know! But it sure was a C'mon if you think you're hard enough challenge at this febrile time! A Roman as the first magistrate and Roma being crowned...outrageous!

These coins were only made from 7 obverse dies and for the first 4 months . Maybe the silver was running out, maybe things weren't good at the mint? The dies on Roma & Roma & Nike coins show stress!

The next coin which has Drachm obverse die links is Griffin with the first magistrate Apellikon, a known entity! A book collector, library thief, from Teos where the city badge is a Griffin! He was nominated as an Athenian diplomat to the Pontic court and on return was nominated as a strategos to take Delos from the Romans and loot the treasury.  He was a miserable failure and Mithridates' general Archaelos had to do the job!  And then the next coin and very rare is the NewStyles, (inc GOLD), of 1st magistrate KING Mithradates & Aristion as 2nd magistrate, who is another known entity ,as  an Athenian diplomat sent to Pontus who was eventually killed holding the Acropolis by Sulla in 85 BC. Aristion was a Greek tyrant who had featured on an earlier NewStyle with symbol Pegasos which has Mithradatic connotations! The AE coinage of fulminating Zeus with Pontic Star between 2 Crescents is very common, maybe to fill in for the shortage of silver during Eupator' s magistrary ! Gold is a sure sign of trouble ahead! 

Headdress of Isis.

Isis with sistrum

It seems that they put lots of effort into reshaping and restriking these coins. Folding can only mean heating the old ones, holding with tongues and bashing them carefully to stop them shooting off somewhere.  What a lot of fuss and economically not worth it.  Why?  We will never know. Another problem that will never be solved!