sand

@thenickelguy You may be correct. However, I wonder, if the round thing at the top of the monogram, that you think may be an "O", may be the round end of the club, or maybe a spike on the end of the club. Perhaps there is a light spot, on the center of the rounded club end or spike, which makes the rounded club end or spike look like an "O". It's just a theory, of another possibility. You have the coin in hand. Therefore, you can see the coin better, than I can.

Here are 2 examples, from ACsearch, of an alpha (A) monogram, including a larger photo of the coin that @Marsyas Mike found.

Here's a zoomed in view, of your coin.

I'll take a whack at it, even though I'm not an expert in Greek letters or monograms, and I'm not familiar with the Sardes Lydia Apollo club coin type. Hopefully, someone who is more expert, will provide a better answer later.

To me, the monogram on your coin, looks like the Greek letter alpha (A), in Byzantine coins. It also looks like the bottom part, of the monogram of Byzantine Justinian II coins. Interestingly, the "A" on the bottom of the Justinian II monogram, often has a line hanging down, below the center of the "A", similar to your coin.

Here are some Byzantine examples.

These are not my coins.

In this 1st example, on the reverse, note the Greek letter alpha (A), underneath the large letter "M". This means, that the coin was minted, at officina A.

This is not my coin.

In this 2nd example, on the reverse, note the Greek letter alpha (A), which is the bottom part of the monogram, above the large letter "M". The "A" is the bottom part of the monogram of Justinian II. Note the line, which is hanging below the center of the "A".

This is not my coin.

Here are more examples. On the reverse, note the Greek letter alpha (A), which is the bottom part of the monogram, above the large letter "M". The "A" is the bottom part of the monogram of Justinian II. Note the line, which is hanging below the center of the "A".

This is not my coin.

This is not my coin.

This is not my coin.

This is not my coin.

4 minutes ago, robinjojo said:

That's a beautiful cob, with great centering and a clear strike for this crude type.  I also like the toning, original and unaltered.

Thanks @robinjojo

37 minutes ago, robinjojo said:

Yes, indeed, the coral die-off is happening around the world, destroying reefs and the life dependent on them.  The Great Barrier Reef is a prime example of the sad and ecologically devastating trend. 

Yes. Equally devastating, seems to be the over-fishing, and the trawling of the ocean bottom, which seems to be going on. I have read, from multiple sources, that all of the fish of the world, particularly the fish that humans like to eat, have decreased to 10% in number, compared to what they were, not long ago. In other words, the number of fish in the ocean, that humans like to eat, has decreased by 90%, in the past 50 years or so. Humans, with their increased population, and with their improved fishing technology, seem to be eating the fish of the oceans, to extinction. Perhaps, in the near future, there will be nothing left in the oceans, except jellyfish.

29 minutes ago, Spaniard said:

Yes I was reading about this earlier this morning..Great finds but so sad about the dead coral reef 😔...

Yes. Here's a quote, from the above article, which is rather alarming, to me.

“The sea bottom is barren,” said Allen. “The colourful coral that divers remembered from the 70s is gone, poisoned by ocean acidification and choked by metres of shifting sand. It’s painfully sad. Still lying on those dead grey reefs, though, are sparkling finds.”

Here's my oldest Spanish colonial coin, an 8 reales cob coin, often called a "Piece Of Eight".

Spain. Philip II. Silver 8 Reales "Piece Of Eight". 1589 AD To 1591 AD. Potosi Mint (In What Is Now Bolivia). Assayer RL. 37.7 mm. 27.20 grams. Paoletti 97. Sedwick P13. KM 5.1.

I wonder, what would happen, if someone were to bid on it.

P.S. : After thinking about it, I'm guessing, that Mr. Robinson has a sense of humor.

I wonder, what the shipping cost would be?

1 hour ago, Kali said:

Hope no one is planning on bidding on lot #604, I plan on putting a strong bid on it.

Just a warning.🤨

LOL! What in the world, is this contraption?

"604 COIN Restoration Machine, the device you've always dreamed of, combining the latest in AI,

3-D printing & quantum computing technology; just place a coin in the slot, press the button, and

the coin comes out as new, minus any corrosion, nicks, wear, etc. Satisfaction guaranteed $199.95"

33 minutes ago, akeady said:

Ah, let me try uploading the picture - thanks.

Aidan.

@akeady Now I can see it.

38 minutes ago, akeady said:

I just got this nice Alberto Zecchi cabinet in the door today 🙂   At my next reorganisation/cataloguing effort, some coins are going into this.

It's the CAG11 model with 11 fairly large trays - the one part-open can house 77 smallish coins (denarius-sized); most of the other trays have fewer spaces for larger coins.

The CAG11 isn't on Zecchi's website at the moment - this is the last one they had and it will be a couple of months before they make more trays.   It's similar to the 6-tray version, CAG06, which is still on the website (I guess you'll not have a choice of trays for that either, or will have to wait).

The dimensions are 24.5cm width, 34.5cm depth and 20.5cm height

It seems very well made and looks great.

ATB,
Aidan.

Hello @akeady. I can't see the photo. I don't know if anyone else can see it.

P.S. : The classical Athena owl tetradrachms seem to have high supply, but high demand. Supply and demand. Supply and demand cause prices. Therefore, the high prices.

For myself, I really like the classical Athena owl tetradrachms from 440 BC to 404 BC. They have a primitive beauty, that I really like. However, after 4 years of searching for one, I still don't have one. I've been very picky, and my budget doesn't seem to want to cooperate with my pickiness. There is a huge variation, in the style of classical Athena owl tetradrachms. I like certain examples, way better than other examples. Therefore, I keep waiting, for an example, that meets my very high standards, but is within my budget.

@Al Kowsky I like your coin better. I like the Heracles portrait, and I like the overall appearance of your coin.

I like late Roman coins. Here's my latest camp gate. It's also my latest Western Roman Empire coin. These are seller photos.

Valentinian III AE4 Nummus. Western Roman Empire. 425 AD To 435 AD. Rome Mint. RIC X 2123. 13 mm. 1.34 grams. Obverse Valentinian III Bust Facing Right. Reverse Camp Gate.

P.P.S. : And, Wikipedia has many articles, about the Byzantine Empire. Here's a good starting point, which lists all of the Roman Emperors, and all of the Byzantine Emperors : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_emperors 

And this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire 

P.S. : And, Youtube seems to have wonderful videos, about anything you can think of. I imagine, that Youtube has lots of interesting videos, about many aspects of the Byzantine Empire. I recently subscribed to "Youtube Premium" for $12 per month, so I no longer have to watch advertisements, except for the advertisements that are embedded in the videos, which are easy to fast forward and avoid. I like that a lot.

@ewomack Welcome to the Dark Side of the Dark Side.

My favorite Byzantine coin books are as follows, in order of favorite, with my favorite first.

"Byzantine Coins And Their Values" by Sear : I've used this book, more than any other, whenever I want to lookup a Byzantine coin.

"The Dumbarton Oaks Collection" can be downloaded for free on the internet, and is excellent. I've used this quite often, to lookup Byzantine coins. It has more coin photos, than any other reference, that I've seen.

"ERIC II" by Rasiel Suarez : I like this huge book. It's skimpy on the Anonymous/Jesus folles, but I like reading his descriptions of the Emperors and their coins, and it covers both the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.

"Byzantine Coins" by Grierson : This book has a lot of good information, and has lots of photos of coins.

"Byzantine Coins" by Whitting : This book is interesting to read, and has some good photos of coins.

"Ancient Coin Collecting V : The Romaion/Byzantine Culture" by Sayles : This book only has 1 coin photo per Emperor, but it is an inexpensive book, and is fun to read. I like all of the books, in Sayles's 6 volume series.

For Byzantine history books, I've heard a lot of good things, about the 4 Norwich books. I have the 4 Norwich books, but I haven't had time to read them, except for a few pages.

"Byzantium : The Early Centuries" by Norwich : This is Volume 1 of the detailed 3 volume series.

"Byzantium : The Apogee" by Norwich : This is Volume 2 of the detailed 3 volume series.

"Byzantium : The Decline And Fall" by Norwich : This is Volume 3 of the detailed 3 volume series.

"A Short History Of Byzantium" by Norwich : This is a 1 volume short version of the history of the Byzantine Empire. Even this "short" history book is 431 pages long.

When I'm searching for provenance, here are the sources that I use, with the most often used, first. I haven't had time, to do a lot of provenance searches. Mostly, I just search, to find other examples of coins, to try to verify the authenticity of coins, before I buy or bid on the coins. However, sometimes, I'll stumble on a provenance, by accident, which is exciting. And, I sometimes search for provenance, if a coin is very expensive. Someday, if I ever have the time, I may do more extensive provenance searches.

1. ACsearch : You may have to register with an email address (I don't remember), but it's free, unless you want to view the hammer prices : https://www.acsearch.info/ 

2. CNG Research : https://cngcoins.com/Coins_sold.aspx 

3. Coin Archives : https://www.coinarchives.com/a/ 

Nice coins @Simon

The Roman bronze coins decreased in size in the 4th century AD and 5th century AD (on average, although there were exceptions). It seems like this was because of inflation in the Roman Empire. The average "nummus" bronze coin declined from 10 grams in weight and 30 mm in diameter with 5% silver during the time of the Tetrarchy including Diocletian in 294 AD, to approximately 1 gram in weight and 10 mm in diameter with no silver by the time of Anastasius I in 498 AD. Then, in 498 AD, Anastasius I created a 40 nummi bronze coin, called a "follis" by present day numismatists, which was supposed to be worth 40 of the old small nummus coins (therefore it had the Greek numeral for 40, the letter "M", on the reverse). However, the first version of the 40 nummi coin weighed only 3 grams to 10 grams, and had a diameter of 20 mm to 25 mm. Numismatists call this version the "small module". Ordinary citizens were unhappy with it, because its weight was nowhere close to the weight of 40 of the old small nummus coins. Therefore, in 512 AD, Anastasius I created a larger version of the 40 nummi coin, which weighed between 15 grams and 20 grams, and had a diameter of 31 mm to 40 mm. Numismatists call this version the "large module". This coin still did not weigh as much as 40 of the old small nummus coins, but it was large enough and impressive enough that ordinary citizens accepted it. The 40 nummi coin represented further inflation, because it weighed way less than 40 of the old small nummus coins. But at least the average bronze coin was large again, and therefore more useful as coinage, along with new 20 nummi coins, 10 nummi coins, and 5 nummi coins. After reaching a maximum diameter of up to 45 mm in 540 AD under Justinian I, the 40 nummi coin gradually shrank to 14 mm to 18 mm in diameter by the end of the 8th century AD, and lost the letter "M" on the reverse, as the Byzantine Empire lost northern Africa including Egypt, most of Italy, and the Holy Land. More inflation, I guess. Then, in the 9th century AD, some larger 40 nummi follis coins began to appear, with diameters up to 30 mm. Why? I don't know.

Here are my 2 Anastasius I coins. These are seller photos.

Anastasius I AE Nummus. Eastern Roman Empire. 491 AD To 498 AD. Constantinople Mint. Sear 13. 8 mm. 0.99 grams. Obverse Anastasius I Bust Facing Right. Reverse Monogram.

Anastasius I AE 40 Nummi Follis Large Module. 512 AD To 518 AD. Constantinople Mint. Sear 19. 32 mm. 15.33 grams. Obverse Anastasius I Bust Facing Right. Reverse Large M Mint "CON" Officina A.

4 years ago, I purchased the 2 volume hardcover set "Greek Coins And Their Values" by Sear, the year 2000 reprint, from Ebay. When they arrived, they had a very strong smell of cigarette smoke, every time I opened the books. I guess the previous owner, or someone in his/her house, smoked cigarettes. I have noticed that, if a person smokes cigarettes indoors, then, depending on how often he/she smokes, everything in his/her house, that is made of cloth or paper, eventually can smell like cigarette smoke, to a person who doesn't smoke cigarettes, unless he/she has a designated "smoking room".

If I remember correctly, the cigarette smoke smell was very strong, for at least the first year that I owned the books, or maybe longer.

However, over the past 4 years, the cigarette smoke smell has diminished greatly. Nowadays, when I open either of the books, I don't smell the cigarette smoke smell, unless I put my nose in the book and inhale.

I've bought approximately 50 used coin books, but this was the only time, that any of the used coin books had a strong smell.

On the other hand, I have some old coin books, which have a very pleasant "old book smell", almost a sweet smell, especially the books with high quality paper. However, the smell is usually not very strong, unless I put my nose in the book.

@ewomack Does the book smell like mildew? Mildew happens, if a book (or clothes) get wet, and are left wet for a few days or longer. What does the book look like? Are the pages wrinkled? Are the pages discolored? Does the book smell like mold? Does the book smell like a dead mouse?

Here are some ideas I had.

1. You could try spraying the book, with a strong perfume, if you prefer the smell of perfume.

2. You could spray the book with air freshener.

3. You could spray the book with "new car smell", or "old book smell", etc, if Amazon has such things.

4. You may need to open the book, and spray each page of the book.

5 minutes ago, Etcherdude said:

If your camera has a shutter timer, that and a copy stand that will prevent shake when you take long exposures.

That's an excellent idea. Now that I think about it, my camera has a delay option, for either 2 seconds delay, or 10 seconds delay. Thanks @Etcherdude

9 minutes ago, Etcherdude said:

@sand that’s a beautiful hand-held tet shot.

In my experience, a good camera and a copy stand really are your best bet. Copy stands can be improvised or found online cheaply.

Here’s an example:

https://www.amazon.com/MINI300-Digitizing-Documents-Photography-Megapixel/dp/B07T2TMJZ6?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A2I0X2KR87388X
 

 

Thanks @Etcherdude

That copy stand looks like something, that may be very helpful, to decrease camera shake, when I push the camera button. Perhaps, I'll look at some copy stands, on Amazon.

1 hour ago, Prieure de Sion said:

Don't laugh! 😄 

I have packed the microscope camera away again. It's going back to Amazon tomorrow. Why?

1. the blurred edge cannot be removed. It doesn't bother me for the shop. But it bothers me for the pictures on the homepage. This means I have two systems - pictures for the shop, pictures for the homepage. If I make pictures for the homepage with a good setup - I can also make them for the shop with the same system.

2. exposure. Some coins came out better with a white background, some with a black background. The camera constantly has problems adjusting to changing "coin colours". Sometimes it is too bright, sometimes too dark. If something disturbs it, the whole light setup is disturbed and has to be completely readjusted. You are forced to search and try out the ideal set for each coin. 

I don't want to say the product is bad, because you can't expect more for the money. It is a nice toy under 100 euros. But not ideal for MY purposes. In that case, just under 80 euros is too much - to use it only sporadically.

Now I'm going to buy a fixed tripod and a macro lens for my system camera.

Like your microscope, my microscope has a feature, in which it automatically adjusts to the amount of light. If I increase the amount of light, then the microscope dims somewhat, to try to keep the amount of light somewhat constant. This doesn't bother me too much, but it can be annoying sometimes.

My main purpose for buying the microscope, was to view particular details of coins. For example, to look for signs of a coin being fake. Or, to view details of a coin in real time, while I carefully remove dirt or debris or encrustations from the coin, using a pointy scalpel. For that purpose, my microscope has worked very well.

For taking photos of entire coins, I use a digital camera. I bought the digital camera 10 years ago or so. It's a Nikon Coolpix 18 megapixels digital camera. I think I remember paying $200 or so, 10 years ago. It has a nice telescoping lens, with auto focus. It's not the best camera for taking photos of coins, but over the years, I've figured out how to work around its quirks. I once tried a tripod, with a long arm, but that didn't work all that well for me, because it still shook, when I pushed the camera button. I suppose I could set it up, so that I could take a photo, without having to push the camera button, but I haven't messed with that. Nowadays, I just try to hold the camera steady, preferably with my hand braced against something, or my arms braced against something, and take 10 photos or so. Usually a few of the photos turn out to be in focus, and I pick the best photo. Ideally, I would like to have a fixed rack or something like that, in which the camera couldn't move when the camera button is pushed, and a camera with manual focus. It seems to me, that would be better. But for now, my crude methods seem to work well enough, for me. However, it can be time consuming. However, my biggest, most time consuming problem, is bits of debris, on the coin, or on the velvet tray. I spend a lot of time, dealing with that. If I were trying to run a coin business, then I'd have gone out of business by now. Here are my photos, of my Alexander The Great posthumous tetradrachm, using my digital camera, not my microscope.

Alexander III The Great Posthumous Issue AR Tetradrachm. 280 BC to 200 BC. Odessos Mint. Price 1163. Diameter = 28 mm. Weight = 16.74 grams. Obverse Heracles In Lion Skin. Reverse Zeus On Throne.

@Prieure de Sion Your new microscope is very interesting.

With my microscope, when I adjust the focus using the silver fine focus knob, I can focus on the center, or I can focus on the edges. Or, I can focus on higher points of the coin, such as the devices. Or, I can focus on lower points of the coin, such as the fields. With my microscope, the focus seems to depend on the distance from the center of the microscope's lens. Therefore, as I increase the focus distance, the high points of the center become blurry, and the low points at the center become sharp, and the edges become sharp.

Also, I can compromise, and get multiple areas of the coin with mediocre focus, but not the best focus. For example, I can get mediocre focus on both the devices and fields of the coin, but overall not as sharp as when I focus on one particular area or depth of the coin.

This can be seen, in some of my microscope photos earlier in this thread.

I don't know, if this effect is greater, if one is zoomed way in, versus zoomed way out.

But, my main purpose for buying the microscope, was to view particular details of coins. For example, to look for signs of a coin being fake. Or, to view details of a coin in real time, while I carefully remove dirt or debris or encrustations from the coin, using a pointy scalpel. For that purpose, my microscope has worked very well.

By the way, can your microscope focus, when it is zoomed way out, for example to photograph a 44 mm diameter coin?

21 minutes ago, Prieure de Sion said:

The detail shots don't interest me at all. For me, only the presentation as a whole is interesting - for my shop. If I have 5-10 coins that I want to put in the shop - then I want to quickly put each individual coin underneath, take a picture, next coin. And if the picture is the same or a little better than with the mobile phone zoom - then that makes my work easier. 

The alternative is a camera, a macro, a tripod and a small photo box. But that's also a question of space. I don't really want - if I can avoid it - to make a small photo studio. So if the micro camera is any good - I'm happy.

If it's no good for taking pictures of the whole coin - I'll probably have to use a camera, macro and tripod. But as I said - it doesn't have to be a work of art - it just has to be enough for a webshop.

If I remember correctly, I had trouble taking photos of the complete coin, for large coins. Because I wasn't able to focus properly, when zoomed all the way out, if I remember correctly.

However, for smaller coins, I was able to take photos of the entire coin. For example, I took photos of a complete coin, which was 22 mm in diameter. I don't know, what was the maximum diameter of a coin, for which I was able to take photos of the complete coin. I just remember, that I couldn't take complete photos, of my larger coins.

However, perhaps your brand of microscope, will work better, for taking complete photos of large coins.

As others have mentioned, the microscope LED light, may not be the best, for taking nice photos of complete coins. However, on my microscope, I can turn the LED light off, and then use other lighting. I can also dim the LED light.