Welcome @Spargrodan congrats on your move to Spain!  and good luck with your diadochi collection...are you thinking tetradrachms, drachms, or AE?  all of the above?

Seleukos I Nikator (Second satrapy and kingship, 312-281 BC) AE Sardes, 282-281 BC.

Drachm Lysimachos

Tetradrachm Antigonos I Monophthalmos Price 3853 ca. 316-311 BC

This little coin is 42mm and 72g - in general the bigger coins are more expensive....I think you got a fair deal for a nice coin.

My coin of interest today is the third in a micro-collection with personifications of Boule, Demos, and Gerousia.  This coin from Phrygia, Hierapolis .

What was the Gerousia of Hierapolis?  Which apostle's tomb were found in Hierapolis in 2011 by Francesco D'Andria, Itialian Archeologist?

more in my notes: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/gerousia

Post your coins with personifications of Boule, Demos, Senate and Gerousia.

Always fun to see your Flavian rarities, @David Atherton, congrats on this latest one.  The video really shows the coin well - great condition and super rare!  Here's a common coin of 28 year old Domitian from the end of Vespasian's reign, in the year of the eruption of Vesuvius.  Vesuvius erupted in October, the month of Domitian's birthday.

A nice tetradrachm @Parthicus, here's mine also with officina A from the Simonetta Collection of Parthian coins.

https://www.sullacoins.com/post/the-end-of-parthia

Kings of Parthia, Vologases III (c. AD 105-147), BI Tetradrachm (27mm, 13.49g, 12h), Seleukeia on the Tigris, year 435 (AD 123)

Obv: Diademed and draped bust l., wearing tiara; A behind.

Rev: Vologases seated left, receiving wreath from Tyche standing right, holding sceptre

Ref: Sellwood 79.13

for those interested in seeing hat the 5 control letter (officianae?) look like - I made this collage a while ago (I do not own any other than the one posted)...If I remember correctly the later tetradrachms of Vologases IV and VI only use the letter B...

I do like a nice portrait of ΔHMOC:

Next: Boule or a coin related to voting....

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=377256

I don't think your coin is demeter - it looks more Seleucid king to me...lalso looks like Thrace maybe Agathocles son of Lysimachos....

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6844249

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6783032

although lettering on the reverse is not quite right - maybe over-struck or doubled? and neither of these coins has the prominent border of dots on obverse.

what's really bothering me is that I feel like I once owned this coin or perhaps even own this coin still...

3 hours ago, Roman Collector said:

Link: watercraft.

Gratian, AD 367-383.
Roman Æ maiorina, 5.90 g, 21.4 mm, 11 h.
Constantinople, AD 383.
Obv: D N GRATIA-NVS P F AVG, helmeted, draped and cuirassed bust, right, holding spear and shield.
Rev: GLORIA RO-MANORVM, Emperor standing facing, head right, on ship, raising right hand. Victory seated at helm. No wreath in field; in exergue, CONΓ.
Refs: RIC 52a (unlisted officina).

Link: watercraft

Phoenicia, Arados. Uncertain king. Circa 380-351/0 BC. AR Third stater 2.91g. 13.2mm

Obv: Laureate head of Ba'al-Arwad right, with frontal eye 

Rev: Galley right above waves; 𐡌𐡀 (M A in Aramaic) above; dotted square above, linear semicircle below; all within shallow incuse.

I struggle to determine whether coin prices are higher or my expectations are just not reasonable on price....this coin, that I bought recently for about $100 USD sold in 1977 for DM 287 (about $115 USD at the time). So are prices up or prices down or my expectations just not moving as fast as the value of the dollar is changing?

Kricheldorf, Stuttgart, Nov 1977, Auction 32 Lot 190

  Here's a coin that celebrates his nephew's recovery from Parthia of the standards that had been lost ~30 years earlier by Crassus after a devastating lost against the Parthians in 53 BC.

Octavian a few years before becoming emperor.
Octavian Augustus (27 BC-AD 14), Denarius 19-18 BC, Rome mint, moneyer P. Petronius Turpilianus
Obv: draped bust of Feronia rightTVRPILIANVS III VIR
Rev: CAESAR AVGVSTVS SIGN RECE Bareheaded Parthian warrior kneeling r., holding in outstretched r. hand standard marked X and adorned with vexillum.
 

I find it interesting to see that there is a Pescennius Niger coin with SAETERNITAS AVS (not my coin : ex Leu May 27 2023)

5 minutes ago, Phil Anthos said:

Syracuse, Timoleon and the Third Democracy

344-336 BC AE Hemidrachm (23mm, 12.40g) O: Laureate head of Zeus Eleutherios right, hair short; ZEYΣEA EΛE-YΘEPIOΣ to right. R: Thunderbolt; eagle with closed wings standing to right; ΣYPAKOΣIΩN around. HGC 2, 1440; Calciati II p. 167, 72; SNG ANS 477ff; SNG Cop 727; Sear 1192 ex Forvm Ancient Coins Timoleon was cool. Next: the Moon

Here's Selene : moon goddess (note the large crescent moon in front of her near the left edge of coin)

Egypt, Alexandria, Commodus (177-192) Poitin Tetradrachm., Year Λ = 30 (AD 189/90)
Obv: Μ Α ΚΟΜ ΑΝΤΩ ϹƐΒ ƐΥϹƐΒ; laureate head of Commodus, r.
Rev: L Λ; bust of Selene, l., (wearing taenia); before, crescent

Next: as we have covered thunderbolts & moons, I suppose that we should see some stars...

17 minutes ago, Ryro said:

Next: thunderbolt

A Macedonian Thunderbolt:

Koinon of Macedon. Antoninus Pius. A.D. 138-161. AE 24

Obv: KAICAP ANTΩNЄINOC, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Antoninus Pius right

Rev: KOINON MAKЄΔONΩN, winged thunderbolt

Next: more thunderbolts

5 hours ago, DLTcoins said:

Based on Rabino ('Coins of the Jala'ir...', Num Chron 1950), BMC Oriental VI 'Mongols', and Zeno, the inscription in the 5 vanes should be (from top, the missing vane in parenthesis):

في دولة

(السلطان)

الاعظم

جلال الدين

حسين خان

and at center:

خلد ملكه

(fi dawla / al-sultan / al-a'zam / Jalal al-Din / Husayn khan // khallad mulkahu)

With some imagination I can convince myself that it fits but it's screwy (technical term of art 🙂). An imitation? I don't see a mint name or a date anywhere. There is no way, I suppose, to know the Zeno poster's level of expertise. We can only take it at face value. There is an example of the smaller single dinar at Zeno with clear inscriptions, including the mint name Hamadan written between lines of the Kalima. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=78353

Thank you for the references and research, @DLTcoins, very much appreciated!  I like your "shrug": ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 🙂

Rabino, “COINS OF THE JALĀ’IR, ḲARA ḲOYŪNLŪ, MUSH͟A’SH͟A’, AND ĀḲ ḲOYŪNLŪ DYNASTIES.” The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, vol. 10, no. 37/38, 1950, pp. 94–139.

Catalogue of Oriental coins in the British Museum Vol. VI; The Coins of the Mongols in the British Museum, classes XVIII-XXII, Stanley Lane & Stuart Poole, BMC, London, 1881

(Plate IX coin 615 )

https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.67049/page/n295/mode/2up

 

 

several general questions about this coin and Islamic coins more generally:

- are the four caliphs always ordered on coins in chronological order?

- does the engraver of my Jalayrid coin have really bad handwriting?

- can anyone make sense of the lettering in the "vanes" on the 5-vaned obverse? e.g. I am trying to make out "Hamadan" the mint anywhere on the reverse or obverse.

حمدان    (maybe in the center of the 5 vanes in a tortured two lines?)

22 minutes ago, maridvnvm said:

I am rephotographing and reorganising. In the last 25 years I have found my collecting themes. I am now going through the early purchases and taking stock as to whether they are core to my collection, whether they should leave my collection or whether I even have a "keep pile" forming a non-core collection.

Coins I part with now will go towards my main collections.

When I have occasionally taken stock of "coins I already have" I enjoy the three categories that I usually find:

- coins that I am thrilled to have

- coins that I forgot that I owned

- coins I am happy to part with

I keep a box for the last category that eventually makes it to an auction house to fund more in the first two categories.  Here's an old friend, Gallienus (AD 260 - AD 268)/ MARTI PACIFERO (RIC 236), purchased while I was living in the UK ~30 years ago.

8 hours ago, DLTcoins said:

Here is your coin. Not only the same type and mint but apparently the same die pair! Credit to @John Conduitt for suggesting Jalayrids.

https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=83055

Thanks, @DLTcoins - That is more than the same die pair - that is my coin!  Zeno 83055, with photos that are differing a little in perspective and lighting.

That's a fantastic coin with gleaming surfaces @Parthicus! I am a fan of the caligraphy on these Seljuk coins.  Here's the Lion and Sun, გურჯი-ხათუნი issue of Sultan Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Kayḵosrow, first reign, AH 634-644 / AD 1237-1246, Dirham, from Sivas

I have a writeup of the story of this coin with some of my other favorites from the children of Sultan Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Kayḵosrow here:

https://www.sullacoins.com/post/lion-and-sun-გურჯი-ხათუნი

4 hours ago, John Conduitt said:

Some of these are really light... I think this is the right area, just need to find the mint and date.

This in Album is very close but too light now...

Sultan Husayn I (Jalal al-Din), 776-784 / 1374-1382
2308.3 AR dinar (1.44g), type TC (five-vaned pattern / quatrefoil), 779-783
The date is engraved in minuscule words between the five vanes, often so wretchedly as to be utterly illegible.
The mint is normally inscribed interlinearly on the reverse, with khulida mulkuhu in the obverse center, but this phrase is sometimes replaced by the mint name.

Thank you! that looks like the right answer!  I found one from Steven Album in ACSearch:

Islamic - Post-Mongol Iran & Timurid https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6687878
JALAYRIDS: Sultan Husayn I, 1374-1382, AR dinar (1.46g), Ani (in Armenia), AH780, A-2308.3, very rare mint in Armenia, well known for the later Ilkhan rulers, but virtually unknown for the Jalayrids, and abandoned shortly thereafter, wonderful strike, with bold date on the obverse (in words) and the mint interlinearly within the reverse, EF, RRR.

10 minutes ago, John Conduitt said:

The weight would be very low, but Album suggests there wasn't a standard:

"temp. Khalil Allah I, 821-869 / 1418-1466
2470 AR tanka (5-vaned design with mint name in center / various reverse arrangements). The 5-vane type, dated 823-853 (sometimes undated), follows a
weight of about 4.0-4.1g, but occasional specimens weigh up to 4.5g or as low as 3.0g. Probably coinage to be weighed rather than counted."

He then says:
"Reverse has the date, usually in words but occasionally in numbers. There are two principal types, one with the date between the lines of kalima, the other with the date in the center of kalima. Known dated as late as 853, possibly 856."

Dates in words are not easy to find, because they are written in the form 'in the year seventy three (and) eight' for 873, but if it is mixed up with the kalima...

Thank you for the research - and a good point about the dates being written out.   My coin definitely doesn't have a date mixed in with the Kalima.

50 minutes ago, John Conduitt said:

The lettering is often different to what you'd expect. They take a lot more liberties than we do. Sometimes it runs in different directions, or into other words, or around them, or scattered around the coin. Kufic can look like they just replaced letters with a line, like some people's signatures.

As soon as you see those loops either side of the first line (There is no God...) you can usually ignore the rest as it is the Kalima and will tell you nothing about the coin.

If that is the date, it isn't 719. It would be 219, or 834. Like these.

Thanks @John Conduitt, that is a good visual match & a useful avenue to chase....  what I am seeing is that there are no coins on zeno from Shirvanshahs in a weight range of 2.2-3.5g (compared to my coin of 2.78g)  and the writing on the reverse much different and these 4-5 gram tankas  seemingly always on a flan too small for the die....and hard to see a quatrefoil surrounding the Kalima..

http://search.zeno.ru/index.php?v=0&ar=on&th=on&c=&t=Shirvanshahs&k=&d=&wmin=2.2&wmax=3.5&smin=&smax=&m=&ymin=&ymax=&y=&u=&n=&a=&e=&f=0&s=0&p=2

Here are two favorite Valerian portrait.

For an article with a Valerian reconstruction see: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/13041/valerian-facial-reconstruction/

This coin is the coin that first inspired any interest in these little lumps of metal.

If I make a small attempt each day, eventually my expectation is that I should start to be able to read the inscriptions on Islamic coins more easily.  I have to admit that it still feels more like identifying shapes that reading...some words and names are starting to be easy to see.

Here's my coin of interest today....

Looking at this coin the first thing I see  is :

"There is no God but God"

although I am not sure I am reading this right as there are some stray lines in red that I can't explain other than an engraver who wasn't very good or some flourishes.  Here's a cleaner version from another coin:

The next element that stands out for me:

"Muhammad"

I enjoy this style of script with its elongated letters and flourishes, although I have to admit that I have difficulty seeing the mapping to محمد

and the next (at this point expected line of the Kalima) which seems fairly easy to see even with the sloppy calligraphy of this coin:

rasūl Allah (is the Messenger of God)

and the last elements are the names in the four lobes of the quatrefoil which I am expecting as the names of the first four caliphs, i.e. the "rightly guided" caliphs because they learned directly from Muhammad.  Abū Bakr/'Umar/'Uthman/'Ali

only two are visible which I see as:

(bottom lobe)

 (left Lobe)

here again - I am seeing with more expectation than ability to read letters and asking questions like:

- are the four caliphs always ordered on coins in chronological order?

- does this engraver just have really bad handwriting?

Here is an example with much neater calligraphy from a coin of Abu Sa'id.

SOLVED with many thanks to @John Conduitt. 

Jalayrids: Sultan Husayn I, 1374-1382, AR dinar (2.78g), AH 780-783, AR 2 dinars (variant of A-2308.3 and Zeno 53369)...and thanks to @DLTcoins the mint is Hamadan, rather coarsely engraved, undated, Zeno #83055 (this coin).

type TC : five-vaned pattern / quatrefoil, kalima within

Album notes: "The date is engraved in minuscule words between the five vanes, often so wretchedly as to be utterly illegible"

This coin weighs 2.78g and could be a 2 dinar based on the 1 dinar coins that I have seen in the 1.4-1.5 range.  It is an ellipse with a diameter that ranges 17-21mm.

What was the region that the Jalayrids ruled?

The Jalayrids were a Mongol tribe that  spread over Central Asia after the Mongol conquest in the 13th century, those that migrated to Iran and Iraq founded the Jalayrid Sultanate in 1330 the the breakup of the region ruled by the Ilkhanids (the core territories of which are today parts of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey).

Public Domain map via Wikimedia Commons.

Share your experience reading medieval Islamic coins, post coins with interesting calligraphy from this period, or anything else you find interesting or entertaining.

Here's one of my favorite coins with an unusual obverse portrait of a bull: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/of-greeks-and-cattle