GinoLR

That was my 2023 Halloween pumpkin.

This is a complex case. The dealer who first bought it for € 150 made extensive research, even a radiocarbon analysis. He found that this mask had a precise provenance, it was brought from Gabon by a colonial administrator in the early 20th c. The radiocarbon confirmed the wood dates back from the late 19th c. An object like this one draws its value from its context. Without context, it's just worth a few hundreds €uros, but with a precise and dated context, it's a piece of history. This is not all. This story attracted some Gabonese people's attention on this mask. They too could add more knowledge : it's a white powerful mask used by the secret society of the Ngil, among Fang communities. The activities of the Ngil were forbidden by the French colonial power in the early 20th c., just the same period the colonial administrator acquired this mask and carried it in France. No one knows in which circumstances he acquired it : presented, bought, confiscated? For many Gabonese people, who value the history and traditions of their countries, this mask belongs to their national heritage. It's not like a mask specially created for the tourists or even the collectors market, this one has been actually impregnated with magic power, according to the rites of the Ngil society. It should be repatriated to Gabon.

Well... that's still compatible with the Masqued Cucumber hypothesis.

The story about @Qcumbor's grandpa finding a Commodus sestertius in Verdun during WW1 is so interesting ! That's funny, my own grandpa too found some very ancient relic during WW1, but I don't know exactly where and under which circumstances (probably digging a trench? he was in the artillery). It was not a Roman coin but a very elegant neolithic flint polished axe, c. 4th - 3rd Millenium BC. Another question : if @Ocatarinetabellatchixtchix took his name from an Asterix character, what about @Qcumbor? Is it from ... ?

medieval Antioch - Bohemund III - Denier. 1163-1201 AD. Class C. Obv: +BOAMVNDVS, bust r. wearing helmet with cross and chain-mail, crescent left and star right. Rev: +ANTIOCHIA, cross with crescent in first quarter. Next : crescent and star

In the late 19th C. Mr Cecil Rhodes, director of a mining company, did better than this : he had not a city but a whole country named after him : Rhodesia.

Thanks for posting ! This "Ayad S" posted pictures of these gold coins on April 10, 2022, and it has been his only post on Forum. He was last active on April 15 2022... His text is hilarious: "Sorry i do not know the law. I want to know information about this treasure I find while I hunt in the sea in Gaza. Gaza territory do not have law for old coins. I get good information before and like to get it again." CNG auctioned these coins on October 6-8 2022 and January 11 2023, all of them with no provenance (as if nobody wants to know...), but these coins do have a provenance, "Ayad S" post is evidence. And who will believe nobody at CNG was aware of this "Ayad S" post? We don't know who commissioned the coins and pocketed most of the money, but we know CNG got its percentage and can be proven in court making a profit from illegally trafficked coins. If the commissioner has links with the Hamas armed branch, officially on the list of terrorist organizations, CNG can be sued for funding terror. Whow... I can't wait for the next episode. Something is rotten...

It must be something like this : https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8963395

Excellent. He finally confessed what was obvious for most: the Alexander decadrachms (plus a number of tetradrachms he auctioned too in the same time) originated from the underwater Alexanders Gaza hoard. This means that these coins are officially the property of the Palestinian Authority. I wonder if the Palestinians will or will not demand repatriation. These coins are not all. In July 2017 4 other decadrachms were seized by the Israeli police at the Erez crossing from a person attempting to smuggle them from Gaza to Israel. They have been handled to the IAA, who AFAIK currently keeps them in some drawer. Will the Israelis repatriate them to Gaza, too? 😉

very stylized on this antoninianus of Tetricus

A funny Constantine, from Alexandria

You think the obv. countermarks are ankh ? The ankh hieroglyph, meaning life, is frequent (and not as a countermark!) on 4th c. BC Cypriot coins. On your coin the countermarks look more like the hieroglyph nefer ( = good, beautiful).

link : medieval Turkish Seljuks of Rum, Rukn al-din Suleiman ibn Kilij Arslan (1196-1204), AE fals.

Link : Constantius II Constantius II, Antioch, AE3 Obv.: D N CONSTAN-TIVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed head right Rev.: VOT / XX / MVLT / XXX within a wreath, exergue S M AN A RIC VIII Antioch 113

This is my nicest Vespasian (sorry) Vespasian, dupondius, Lugdunum, AE 29 mm, 13.07 g Obv.: IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG C[OS III], radiate head to right, globe at point of bust Rev.: PA[X AVG] / S C, Pax standing facing, head to left, holding branch and caduceus, and patera over lighted altar to left RIC II, Part 1 (second edition) Vespasian 1143 Next : Lugdunum !