DANTE

I'm going for the whole 12 ceasars set.

Looks like a stressed-out turkey, but it's an eagle: Part man, part eagle: a Roman gryllos ring

That is a very nice and hefty frog. Mine's tiny, I think mine would fit neatly on top of the head of yours. I believe it's about 20mm and jasper. Don't know its weight. It was sold as to me Mesopotamian (or Vorderasien, near-east), but given how common frog amulets were in Egypt, it may be Egyptian as well. Which is a nice way of circling back to your hedgehog problem. Perhaps you'll never know where it's from without findspot provenance: Mesopotamia, Egypt or some other place, but in my opinion the fact that the handiwork on your hedgehog is quite detailed doesn't rule out either. I've seen detailed handiwork on bronze weights attributed to Mesopotamia. I guess it really does take an expert. Meanwhile, if you like artistic handiwork on weights, here's a really wonderful Babylonian example: Babylonian Stone weight in the shape of a Grasshopper, Mesopotamia, ca. 2000- 1500 B.C.E. | Ancient art, Ancient sculpture, Mesopotamia (pinterest.com). It's from Pinterest, unfortunately I couldn't find the original source.

Thanks for the tip, @Kamnaskires. And it helped. Here's a hedgehog-weight☺️ Admiddetedly in stone, but it proves they exist as weights. Sold as old Babylonian. acsearch.info - Auction research Igel is a hedgehog in German.

Duck weights are lovely!☺️ I have a few in stone, but only one in bronze. It's of a later date, from the Achaemenid period. Not a looker, but It fits very nicely in the 8,3gr (give or take) Babylonian shekel range. At 259gr. it's a 30 shekel weight, or half a mina if you wish. The extra weight, if any, could be explained by corrosion or patina. I suspect there are some Aramaic letters on the body hidden under the patina, but it's too blurred to make out clearly even with a magnifying glass, let alone to clearly show them in a photograph. It's really amazing how precise Mesopotamian weighing could be. Recently I read an article on a find of a set of weights going all the way down to 1/60th of a shekel, or 0,14 gr! 10,6cm, 259 gr. Good luck with your search!

That's a sweet hedgehog, @robinjojo Are you 100% sure it actually is a weight? I'm not saying it isn't, (weight-wise it will certainly fit in some shekel scale or another) but I haven't seen any hedgehog-shaped weights before. Lots of sphenoids and ducks, some frogs, shells, and scarab and others, but not hedgehogs. That doesn't mean they don't exist, of course. Have you seen any other hedgehog-shaped weight examples? Without something to compare it to it's hard to tell what it is, really. I did some quick searches in the database of some museums on hedgehog and weight, but nothing worthwhile came up. Since hedgehogs had an amuletic function in Egypt and Mesopotamia, could yours perhaps be an amulet instead? Perhaps you could ask the question in the Ancient Artifacts in groups.io. There's some very knowledgeable people there who can hopefully answer your question better than most people here. Hedgehogs were relatively common as adjunct symbols/space fillers on old-Babylonian cylinder seals. As on this one: cylinder seal | British Museum

That's the coin.🙂 The bad news is that it is all really speculation on my part. The thought behind it was quite simple and intuitive: the reverse grape type that's unmistakenly from Soloi in combination with a crudish obverse that unmistakenly imitates Tarsos from the time of Pharnabazos. With that in mind, is it really surprising that one's thoughts and speculations should turn in the direction they went? A coinage struck in Soloi as tribute/tax for the Egyptian expedition. It's an almost inevitable conclusion. But pure speculation, of course. And without the context of similar types. When I saw your imitation coins above my thoughts immediately turned to the 'Soloi' coin. Like the Soloi coin, the Artaxerxes imitations combine unusual/unmatching types,they are both rather crudely executed, and they are from roughly the same place and not too far off from each other in time. You can see why I thought I saw a pattern. But the 'Soloi' likely predates Artaxerxes, because It still has an incuse reverse (although you never know for sure, it's an imitation, after all). Could what I suggested about your coin and the 'Soloi' be true? Sure. But is it a theory I can support with evidence? No. But I hoped the 'Soloi' could provide some context for your coin. This of course leaves the mystery of why the Great King should replace Ba'al on the issue that your coin copies. Not surprisingly, I have no answers, but I agree with you that the narrowing down of the dating of them would be all-important for their interpretation. Also, I learned that there is some discussion about the headdress, some suggest an Egyptian crown as you mentioned, others suggest a Phrygian cap. Deciding which one it is will have a big impact on how you interpret the coin. (conquest of Egypt vs. the warrior king ). My loose suggestion about the depiction of Artaxerxes as a way of re-asserting authority is inspired by an article I read called: 'Datames and Mazaeus: the Iconography of Revolt and Restoration in Cilicia'. In it the writer attempts to interpret the coinage of Tarsos as political and propaganda tools during and after the Satrapal revolt. A worthwhile read, I thought. ( Here's the link: Datames and Mazaeus: The Iconography of Revolt and Restoration in Cilicia on JSTOR). Either way, it's an intriguing and coin. But then again, I've always liked the coins of Tarsos. Intriguing and mysterious types with a unique and beautiful iconography. What more do you want?🙂 Here's an oldie:

Interesting coin to have. Congratulations. Given that Pars and Gorny have a good reputation it's not likely that they're modern forgeries. Judging by the missing border the third example probably has been zealously cleaned, other than that I don't see anything wrong with them. They could well be imitations. I've seen some crude imitations from Soloi struck for Tarsos as tribute, so it's not unheard of. (although this was probably not under Mazaios, but earlier. These Soloi coins were probably stuck to help finance Pharnabazos' Egyptian expedition. They had the 'Ares' warrior on the obv. and the typical grape bunch from Soloi on the rev.) So tribute/tax from a neighboring city is a realistic possibility. It would certainly help explain the crude style and the odd combination of reverses and types ( note that on the third 'official' specimen you show the lion faces right instead of left: that's unusual in itself.) Running the capital of a double satrapy and maintaining a fleet is a costly affair, so taxes had to be paid. It's not impossible that a neighboring city paid their taxes in imitational coinage rather than in bullion or in their own local coinage. The Soloi analogy suggests that it was an acceptable practice at the time. I don't see any reason why this couldn't be another example of the phenomenon. (If only I had kept the auction photograph of the Soloi example... Seeing your coin makes me sorry I didn't). It's the best explanation I can come up with. FWIW: could it be that the whole point of the king on the obverse of these coins was to emphasize loyalty and submission to the Achaemenid Empire? This was the time right after the Satrapal Revolt, so a period when the rights and authority of the Persian king had to be re-established. What better way to show your loyalty and submission than to depict not Baal, but Artaxerxes himself on the throne? Just a thought I got when seeing your coin. ...🙂I may be wrong, of course.

I'm no expert on reptiles, but 22 sounds like quite an achievement. A provenanced old gecko! May he live and prosper. Here's my oldest antiquity in honour of Achoo. A Sumerian stamp seal from the Jemdet Nasser period (ca 3200-2900 BC, so quite old). The drilling technique is typical of the period. I've had it for about a year and I'm still trying to figure out what the animals are. The top one looks a bit like Goofy swimming free-style, other than that I'm lost. I can't make out a gecko, but they look like reptilians! If you have any idea what they are, let me know.☺️ And the note by prof. Lambert that came with it:

Great coin, and what a lovely list!😊 Is the coin yours or is it just illustrative? Salamis beats Portugal. Alexandria beats Argentina And, ironically, Greece itself is beaten by both Athens and Sparta!

A bit late to the party perhaps, but here's a link to British ADA members' shops. (Antiquities Dealers Association, a trustworthy organization). Some of the dealers mentioned in this thread are members, and some have a collecting 101 course on their site. 'Collectors Antiquities' in particular, already mentioned by @DonnaML has a lot of useful information. Maybe you'll find something useful there. Good luck! Members' Galleries • Antiquities Dealers' Association (theada.co.uk) Btw, that aryballos is a treasure, Donna!

Ah, yet another fake provenance...🙂

Sad news. If only because Roma was one of my favourite auction houses. Not least because I believed they really tried to live up to a certain ethical standard. So I'm really disappointed here. I suppose many feel the same way. And there's a wry irony in the fact that this news comes only days after I received my first coin purchase in almost a year. And where did I buy it? Yes, of course, Roma. Where else? But hey, my coin is good, it's provenanced to 'a private UK collection'. So no worries... Besides, they're dedicated to ethical provenance, they say. It says so under every coin they sell. So, really, I'm good...🙂 'Our commitment to ethical and responsible provenance: the consignor affirms that this auction lot is their lawful property to sell, and where cultural property restrictions may exist, that it meets the requirements to be legally imported into the United States and Germany unless specifically stated otherwise'.

Nice.That picture makes me want to order a plane ticket today!

That's a mouthwatering itinerary, @kirispupis, a whole small Grand Tour crammed into two weeks. One the one hand I admire your zeal and dedication, on the other hand, if I had such a busy schedule, I'd probably feel worried about quantity over quality. As I remember from my travels doing less can sometimes really be doing more. I always liked to suck up the atmosphere of a place, let it grow on me, wander around aimlessly and let it all sink in, and perhaps do something completely different to relax before I moved on to a new site. But hey, that's just me, you may well be cut from a different cloth. Also, as you undoubtedly know, when it comes to photography, wheather and light can be an issue. Having little time can ruin the best of plans when the weather gods don't play along. But, like I said, the itinerary is mouthwatering and I hope the trip lives up to your expectations.!