Deinomenid

That's a fantastic achievement! I have only managed to acquire one coin, a Koressos cuttlefish so well camouflaged on the coin that it is impossible to photo as anything other than a blob of metal (probably what it really bought!). That lion statue you mention is quite amusing so I feature that rather than my coin on my relevant "archive". Here is it - I keep hoping more Simodes will turn up in the papyri from Oxyrhynchus, but in the meantime thank him for ~saving Akragas from Hieron's attacks - something not many poets can do.

Just on the article's point about the different tools, there are some working engravers who are fascinating to learn from. I spent some time this summer with Castro Smith at his studio at Cockpit yards in London. He's arguably one of the finest engravers working today. The range of tools and techniques is staggering. Here's a photo of his at work, with some of his tools on the wall to his left.

Thank you! A fantastic presentation. I've always enjoyed the esoteric debate about whether minute engraving was done with rock crystals etc for magnification, or "myopic youths". Glad to see that unusual term used here!

From there, Lockett was sold in a series of 1950s sales by Glendenning. Hope that helps. Lockett has had quite a lot of work done on him recently in one way or another, though/and there's always a good chance that coins that "disappear" in that period would involve him as he had a voracious appetite.

Lockett. Baldwins acted for him quite often I believe. The fees of auctioneer and Baldwins are attached.

Here's an electrum of Agathokles, with a kithara. 72% sure it's genuine, but vague doubts based partly on the seller (who also described Apollo as a nymph), so airing it might help. The lyres with tortoise shells, like this one - - are a bit savage for me, as they remind me of Hermes' laughingly slaughtering a little tortoise, or rather making "the tortoise a singer"!! "For it was Hermes who first made the tortoise a singer. The creature fell in his way at the courtyard gate, where it was feeding on the rich grass before the dwelling, waddling along. When he saw it, the luck-bringing son of Zeus laughed and said: “An omen of great luck for me so soon! I do not slight it. Hail, comrade of the feast, lovely in shape, sounding at the dance! With joy I meet you! Where got you that rich gaud for covering, that spangled shell —a tortoise living in the mountains? But I will take and carry you within: you shall help me and I will do you no disgrace, though first of all you must profit me...Thus speaking, he took up the tortoise in both hands and went back into the house carrying his charming toy. Then he cut off its limbs and scooped out the marrow of the mountain-tortoise with a scoop of grey iron. As a swift thought darts through the heart of a man when thronging cares haunt him, or as bright glances flash from the eye, so glorious Hermes planned both thought and deed at once. He cut stalks of reed to measure and fixed them, fastening their ends across the back and through the shell of the tortoise, and then stretched ox hide all over it by his skill. Also he put in the horns and fitted a cross-piece upon the two of them, and stretched seven strings of sheep-gut. But when he had made it he proved each string in turn with the key, as he held the lovely thing..." etc- Homeric Hymn to Hermes.

I’m delighted, but the Lockett stuff seemed frighteningly good don’t you think? I’m seeing very similar live results in a related field in Sweden too so it’s close. Leaps are happening rather quickly now! There’s definitely going to be a big gap between data haves and have nots. I’m not wholly convinced all will be shared with the altruism of say r numis. To put it mildly. Put another way, say the coincabinet data becomes very accurate then there would be a question as to what that does to premiums for the relevant coins if the information remains in the public market and to the most effective way to monetize it, assuming profit is a major motive for the owner, which is merely a presumption. Subscription model or attempt to buy in as much as possible in private, with capital backing it if needed etc. My main hope is this is only a phase where one or a few will have a large advantage over the great unwashed and the velocity of auctioned money (to coin(!)a phrase) for the provenanced is low enough that most relevant coins won’t trade in that period.

@CPKAhh sorry, yes that wasn't clear - not commercial and certainly not for free. I meant this appears to be for personal consumption, not for sale to you and me. As in an individual buys huge numbers of rare - eg BCD's catalogues, already done - plus the freely available ones such as the great selection on r numis and has a *functioning* coincabinet type program with an autofeeder of new auctions into that. It's a huge competitive edge, in my view, much as I truly appreciate the likes of coryssa et al. I'm absolutely not saying that over time this isn't replicable, but if one has an edge and $$$ there's a lot that can be bought until the rest of us catch up.

If you have "all" catalogues pre whatever important recent date (r numis plus)and can automatically search them for images against a current auction's selection (the claim here) then I am hugely grateful for you leveling this playing field. Hugely! Please send me the link and I promise I will share it with all when I have supped my fill. I haven't seen anyone yet with anything remotely close. It would be like coincabinet fully functioning for image search and instead of manually inputting search coin by coin there, you can feed it hundreds and hundreds of images. I strongly suspect there's going to be a period of time when $ muscle combined with "AI" ability will make it worse for the likes of me and most of us, at least in terms of provenance search. I've seen an attempt made with the Lockett collection, or at least the photographed examples as there are plenty without, and it was getting impressive.

The related issue is simply that this whole process is being weaponised. The coincabinet one might not be great (hopefully just not yet) but there are strong reports of an exceptionally well-off US collector (not the one who is currently buying 12 examples of everything that was ever minted in the Greek world) who purchased practically all known catalogues before a certain date (including I believe a truly huge number from BCD at the time of but separate to the last auction there) who is systematically applying functioning artificial intelligence to them with very substantial resource behind it. In other words, soon there is likely to be at least one private collector who knows far more than the rest of us. The playing field is becoming more and more uneven, at least temporarily. Not complaining or tilting at rumoured windmills, just commenting on what seems to be a real change. I know little of what goes on outside my little Greek world (and little enough within that!) but I believe this individual has far broader numismatic interests. I suppose it is a logical progression of the vast wealth collecting in the hands of the technologically exceptional, and only needing one or two of them to develop this interest...

Click on name then "view their activity" to the right, and then select "posts".

The only indelible image of the Paris Olympics so far is of the politicians forced to swim in the Seine to "prove" it is largely turd-free on Wednesdays and therefore really great to have major water events in. Here's the mayor just after she was chucked in earlier this week. No comments about the position of her arms please. And here's a coin of an old event, the horse race with dismounted last lap. Sicily, Himera, Stater or Didrachm, ~430 BC Nude rider dismounting from a horse galloping left, retrograde legend in exergue IMEPAION . The nymph Himera standing facing, head left, pouring libation over altar, filleted caduceus to right "Horseback riding was introduced at the thirty-third Olympic Games, held in 648 B.C., and generally took a secondary place to chariot events. Beyond the typical horse race, the keles, other events included javelin throwing from horseback, and acrobatics, such as riders leaping on and off horseback, and riders finishing the race course on foot beside their mount (the anabates, ‘dismounter’)."

This is humbling. I really thought given my areas are more Syracuse and Taras, where in the former there are many (730 plus) versions of the tetradrachm in 100 years to ~400BC that one of mine must be exceptional. So I checked - the answer's a resounding no. So I went to Taras, also a prolific producer of endless variety. I found only one that might be seen as top decile in its subseries. Reverse double struck though. Best I've got unless I cheat the system by going for unique coins which are of course best and also worst! Taras Didrachm, 315/281 BC BC; 7.88g rider right with spears and shield//Taras on dolphin left with trident and shield, hippocamp on top, murex shell below.

Milavic suffered somewhat from the juxtaposition with Kagan's star sale, plus the way they laid it out in terms of what was being sold when caused some confusion.

Ahh, I see the site's owner just posted about how embarrassed he is! That's something I suppose....