John060167

Hi all, I have a Leontinoi Tetradrachm that apparently came from Tom Cederlind’s 134 sale, but I do not know the date of that sale, and I would like to find my coin in that booklet. Does anyone have a copy or know where to find one? Cant seem to find one anywhere. Here is a photo of the coin incase you have one and can look through it…if you can and send me a pic it will be so appreciated!!! Thanks!

Thats an awesome pickup, congrats! I have one, my baby nephew absolutely loves them cuz they look like brownie bites….then he lost his two front teeth biting into it. He doesn’t love them so much anymore. At least the coins okay! Ptolemy III AE drachm, 43mm, 70g

Won one of these bad boys in a recent Stacks Bowers auction. Ptolemaic Kingdom/Kingdom of Macedon ”Alexander” AR tetradrachm, 24mm, 16.74g, 11h. Struck 322-321BC, Memphis mint under Ptolemy I as Satrap Price 3971 Alexander tets are a dime a dozen, but the “memphis rose” varieties are quite special. These are considered one of the finest style varieties of the whole Alexander tet series, indeed they are quite beautiful! They were once attributed to Alexanders lifetime but have since been reattributed to after his death. Early Ptolemaic coinage, from when Ptolemy was still just a satrap, can be quite stunning. Here is another example I have from a bit later on which i quite love, the elephant variety. This one was struck between 306 and 300BC at the Alexandria under a reduced standard-the last issues before he started putting his own image on the coinage. This one is particularly cool because it has the “delta” on the elephant skin, so the die engravers signature! You see this also on later tetradrachms of Ptolemy I. （I apologize for the poor image quality in advance , I would take better pictures but am feeling in no mood 🤣) Here is a decent video though, really like the toning! https://imgur.com/a/rimgxQU Any cool finer styled hellenistic coinage to show, or whatever you feel relevant? Lets see! Cheers

woahhh! amazing, congratulations on achieving such a collection! im jealous haha

Sexy coin, who doesnt love gold?? I like the little griffin on the helmet you have, and the nike is of nice style too. Do you happen to have any other greek gold? Theyre quite pricey unfortunately:-( Cheers

Nice Caligula coins! He is tough in general with Roman imperial issues, but especially his precious metal issues…not affordable, yikes! Here’s two i have: Caligula AE As, struck 37-38, Rome mint. “Vesta” Reverse-RIC I 38 Caligula AR denarius, struck 37-38, Lugdunum mint. “Germanicus” reverse-RIC I 12

Very beautiful example, thanks for sharing! Your coins are always beautiful. I recently read about the Randazzo hoard of 1980, which had a lot of coins from places in Sicily such as Messana, Syracuse, Gela, Akragas, etc. But from what I have seen, the hoard of “wet hair” leontinoi tetradrachms comes from somewhere else, and there were apparently 1-2000 of them found? I didnt know about the NFA/Merrill Lynch venture, thats pretty cool though. So most Leontinoi tetradrachms probably have provenance back to that 1993 sale. (By the way here is another picture of mine from the 2004 Dr. Busso sale if anyone wants another shot) Cheers!

Hi again! Coming with a Leontinoi tetradrachm this time, a wet hair example! Sicily, Leontinoi AR tetradrachm, 24mm, 17.03g, 1h Struck 430-425BC, reverse die engraved by the leaf master Obv: Laureate head of Apollo facing left, with “wet hair” Rev: ΛΕΟΝΤΙΝΟΝ, Head of a lion with open jaws facing left, around, three barley grains and behind head, a laurel leaf SNG ANS 257 Video: https://imgur.com/a/qe2uWw8 What is interesting about this coin is that is was made by a die master sometimes called “maestro della foglia”, or the leaf master, who signed his dies with a leaf. He also apparently made dies for Katane too. The style of this piece is what attracted me for sure, so am happy to add it to my collection! Something also interesting is that this is a circulated “wet hair” Leontinoi tetradrachm. Almost all of the wet hair Leontinoi tetradrachms known today came from a hoard found in the 1980s, and they are all in mint state grades from what i hear (there are super forgeries made from the hoard coins-see how similar the genuine and fake coins are-only thing i can tell is the edges on fakes are smoother)-good thing mine is circulated so i have to worry less about this 🤣 Before that hoard, wet hair Leontinoi tetradrachms were extremely rare and always found in circulated conditions, which makes me wonder if this coin has an old provenance? Maybe someone familiar with the series could help? All i know is it has a Dr. Busso Peus provenance from 2004 and is also ex-Tom Cederlind. Please share your knowledge or your coins of Leontinoi, or whatever you wanna show! cheers!

Hello! After itching for one of these gold staters types for so long, I finally picked one up! This one is actually of Philip III, so not of Alexander the great, but has that iconic Athena and Nike on it so close enough for me. Went for a great price at Naville! Kingdom of Macedon. Philip III (r. 323-317BC). AV Stater, 19mm, 8.56g, 10h struck 323-317BC, Babylon mint Price P180 Anyone have any kind of greek gold/electrum? Please share! Video link: https://imgur.com/a/T56Pnod

Amazing set, wow! Especially love the entella tet and the Agathokles tet, super jealous. How long you have been building this set? Cheers

Late as hell but thanks for sharing Deinomenid! I guess I spoke on them but showed no images haha…I really like the underwater portrait type and hope to get one eventually; right now am building my sicilian typeset so that one’s on my hit list 👍 Maestro della Foglia is interesting since unlike Eumenos and his contemporaries, he only signed with a leaf! I wonder how do they know his issues of Katane and Leontinoi are really of him when his signatures are different anyway? Anyway, I have one issue from him, but from Leontinoi. I love it quite a bit! Cheers

Hello, long time no see! Its 3:50am the morning after valentines day and my mind won’t let me sleep tonight, so here we go…🤣 I have not posted here in a while…mostly was posting Roman stuff before, but now its Greek season for me so gonna post some more Greek coins I’ve had picked up! Here is a really awesome one I picked up at the last NYINC: Sicily, Syracuse AR tetradrachm, 23mm, 16.92g, 6h struck 415-405bc, second democracy era double signed dies by eumenos Tudeer 31 (v11/r21) Obv: charioteer , driving galloping quadriga left , holding kentron in right hand, reins in both; nike flying above, crowning charioteer; in exergue, dolphin chasing fish to right, EV signature below horses Rev: ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΟΝ, head of arethusa left, wearing earring and necklace, four dolphins swimming around. EV signature below neck Whats awesome about this coin is that it was struck during the height of Syracusan numismatic art following the defeat of the Athenians who invaded Syracuse during the Peloponnesian war era (c.413bc if i recall) . The Syracusans employed some of the finest artists around Sicily to make dies for the coins, and they started doing experiments with the dies and raising coin art to a new level not seen before. The artwork was so good that syracuse allowed the artists who made these dies to sign their coins , and the artists apparently became famous in their own day for it. You can see some really experimental designs, such as arethusa facing front, arethusa under water(which i really want, shared below-not mine), and very lively variations of the quadriga. This is the era in which the decadrachms were made too, so yeah. In this case, both dies were signed EV, by Eumenos it is said. I find it cool that some “signed” issues are signed only on one die while the other side is unsigned, some dies have both sides signed by different artists, Ive seen some by Eumenos and Eukleidas, etc. In this case, the coin was made only by one artist entirely, and it is cool that we know this was entirely made by one master engraver. Signed issues became was a thing in Sicily before 415bc, you see them in issues from Katane, Akragas, Leontini, etc. even Syracuse had an earlier case of a master engraver signing their coins. Sometimes the artist only signed with a symbol of some sort, not actual lettering like the “Leaf Master” of Leontini & Katane. The artists were not necessarily restricted to one city either but appeared to move around to different cities who contracted their services, which is interesting and i do wonder more on how that worked. Only if we knew more about these master engravers… would be cool to know their stories. Have any coins from sicily? Please share! Cheers PS: Here is an imgur video of the coin for anyone interested https://imgur.com/a/14xR1tA

those are nice! id say those first three are lifetime issue caesars, just not lifetime issue portraits so more than good enough! high quality lovely specimens. cheers!

sick quality example! wow! what good metal and handsome portrait on that issue. thanks for sharing!

haha yeah thats a good point on that elephant denarius. Never thought of it that way….Lets just say these dict perpetvo denarii are the “coins that put a nail in caesars coffin”(well not coffin since he was cremated but!) cheers!

lovely coins! both still of nice quality for the type, not sure which i prefer! i remember you showed em to me on reddit, i dont see you there too often anymore. cheers!

ohh thats very cool, love that issue! my favorite thing is that it has a double portrait of caesar and antony, you can see here how antony was really trying to come off as caesars true successor, even if octavian was his real designated heir lol. thanks for sharing!

Hi everyone! Hope y’all are doing well, I would just like to share a new pickup of mine, a type of coin that is among one of my favorites out there to collect. I am talking about the portrait denarii of Julius Caesar, especially the lifetime issues struck between Jan and March 44BCE, especially the DICT PERPETVO types. These coins are particularly significant because they are known as “the coins that killed caesar”. Not to mention they are also the first proto-Roman Imperial coin issues too, as no Roman coin ever before beared a portrait of a living man nor did anyone before Caesar ever put such a powerful title on their coinage such as dictator for life, or even held such power like Caesar. This trend that Caesar started would be continued by his successors Octavian and Mark Antony (as well as others including Caesar’s asssassin, Marcus Junius Brutus, ironically ) and would be used in the Roman Empire for the rest of its history. Here is the coin anyway: Late Roman Republic Julius Caesar (d. 49-44BC) AR denarius, 17mm, 3.88g struck mid Feb-mid March, 44BCE , Rome mint RRC 480/8 Obv: CAESAR DICT PERPETVO, Laureate head of J. Caesar facing right, border of dots around. Rev: L. BVCA, Venus standing left, holding Victory in right hand and long sceptre in left hand. Border of dots around. (and here is a video: https://imgur.com/a/pGuZJja) This coin was issued by one of the 4 moneyers that year, Lucius Aemilius Buca. An interesting fact is that typically there were only 3 moneyers during the republican period (this system was called this tresviri monetales, meaning the three moneyers). However, in preparation for Caesars anticipated parthian war, the mintage output was increased and so Caesar appointed 4 moneyers that year. It is clear production was high that year based on the known coinage as well as the quality of the coins themselves, ie weight tolerances were fairly large and the dies/striking quality was not always the best. My example is fairly high grade , but is struck on a thick flan and slightly off center so a portion of Caesars portrait and the legends are off. It has really nice surfaces and metal, and no bankers marks. The die itself seems to have some wear as evidenced by the die cracks present on the obverse and reverse. The RRC 480/8 denarius I picked is an upgrade to another DICT PERPETVO type I already have, specifically an RRC 480/13, which is a veiled head type struck by P. Sepullius Macer, another of the 4 moneyers for 44BC. This coin is well struck but fairly beat up, it has been well circulated, scratched up, bankers marked, etc. but still a decent example of the type. Late Roman Republic Julius Caesar (d. 49-44BCE) AR denarius, 19mm, 3.15g struck mid Feb-mid March, 44BC, rome mint. RRC 480/13 Obv: CAESAR DICT PERPETVO, veiled head of J. Caesar facing right. Border of dots around. Rev: P SEPVLLIVS MACER, Venus standing left, holding victory in right hand and sceptre in left with shield at bottom. Border of dots around (a video: https://imgur.com/a/05lAB0Z) Anyway, do you have any coins of Caesar? If so please share, would love to see what you got! If not, share something you have that you feel is relevant! Cheers!

Wow, some wonderful owls here!! A big owl thread is always fun! I see classical mass emissions, transitionals, archaics, new style, intermediates, and also various denoms! Even a gold one, darn! Awesome variety. I have a few owls, but here are two pretty neat ones you do not always see: (left coin) 1-Athenian Owl tetradrachm, struck 465-455bce, Starr group VA (transitional series). 22mm, 17.14g (right coin) 2-Athenian Owl Drachm, struck 449-404bce, Kroll 10; HGC 4, 1631. 15mm, 4.22g If you all had to pick getting one athenian owl coinage for free (you cannot sell it), which would you choose? cheers!

Hi ! I have some experience with acetone, I would recommend using pure acetone only(make sure it is the only ingredient, even bitterants should be avoided.) Best way to find them is at the hardware store or sometimes you can find pure acetone at places like walgreens where it is the only ingredient. I would soak for at least several minutes each side, could be longer depending on severity of the residue…at least do it until you cannot see the residue on the coin anymore. Make sure you do not use plastic as a container and maybe use glass or something like that instead as acetone eats through plastic. Also keep your container in a well ventilated area with some lid over it, as acetone evaporates quite easily and you 1) do not want to inhale and 2) do not want the acetone to evaporate to the point where the coin is no longer fully saturated in the solution and acetone is evaporating on the coins surface, otherwise pvc residue can be redeposited…a big no no. When you take it out, I would suggest a thorough distilled water rinse ideally before the acetone has much time to evaporate. Then to dry the coin without using, I keep the coin tilted at an angle( I use a piece of paper folded into a V like shape and rest the coin there, picture included as an example). That way the liquid falls down the coin and doesnt dry on the coin. Also since paper absorbs the liquid, it also helps dry up the coin without rubbing it with anything. You can flip the coin around to get this done on both sides. I have done this numerous times and have never had an issue with spotting. Good luck with doing the pvc residue removal! Cheers

Amazing decadrachm, definitely a dream coin…maybe one day! Must feel good to hold that in your hands! I really do like the diework on the tetradrachm too, so much going for it! I like the detailed horse and the chariot rider, could make out facial features on him! Arethusa looks great too. For these coins, I feel style and die state are very important as they are highly valued for their beauty. Thanks for sharing, cheers friend!

love this tetradrachm, really like arethusas head and the detailed obverse! Thanks for sharing!

So cool, finding a civil war token? That would hook anyone lol. Did you end up buying any other tokens after that one? Love the owl, looks like a later intermediate pi style tetradrachm, those cuts/marks add another level of history to it over a pristine one! Good strike and centering for the type too. Cheers and thanks for sharing

Haha thanks for sharing, I think i know what you mean, like HSN network right? Can’t remember the last time i ever saw anything for $5 on there lol, must have been a while ago! Love your setup btw, cool coins on display! Cheers

Hey! I would like to ask this question to the various numismatists old and new in this forum. What got you into coin collecting? I always find it interesting to know what was the spark for someone to start collecting coins… My story is as follows: I was 8 and was in a flea market with my dad. I passed by this guy selling some US coins, and I started looking and was amazed to see these really large sized coins with old dates on it like 1795, 1885, etc! I asked the vendor if i could see one of the coins, it was a 1795 Flowing Hair dollar, and just holding it in my hands felt like something really special, to see what the old money of yesterday was like. The size, heft and peculiar design intrigued me, so I asked “how much”? The vendor said “for you, only $5! a steal!” Then my dad went and bought over 10 of them, some were Morgans, Draped busts, Flowing hair and even a 1906 American Silver eagle. So when I took them home, I stared at them for a while and become more and more excited and decided I wanted to add another coin to my collection not too long after. My first (real) coin purchase was an 1899 Indian head cent on Amazon or something like that, for $5 plus shipping …when I got it in I was so happy and spent long periods of time just staring and feeling it up. Eventually after some more researching I found some local coin dealers, and a month later my mom took me to one. When I went in, it was surreal! The sight of old coins and monies all over as well as the smell of these old coin shops(if you know, you know), I was a kid at a candy store! I asked the dealer if I could see a old toned up Morgan dollar, and I asked him “how much”? He said “$30”, I laughed and said “thats too much! I got some others which are nicer for $5 each” and pulled out my bag of 10 silver dollars I bought from the flea market and proudly showed him it with a grin on my face. When he looked at it, I saw him slightly smirk and he simply said “they’re all fake”. The more he smirked the more I frowned. He then explained to me the various issues with them, how some issues such as the 1795 dollar are extremely expensive, etc, and out of pity, he told me that he will give me the morgan for half off, that I could buy two for the price of what he would normally sell one, so that I could finally own some “real coins”. And so I walked out of that store with two genuine morgan silver dollars and a bag of fake silver dollars. Then I told myself that one day I would own the real deal 1795 Flowing Hair dollar, my dream coin..the rest is history! For me it was a bunch of fake coins and an overpriced 1899 Indian head cent that got me into coin collecting, and here I am today! Whilst I do not buy US much anymore after having purchased my dream US coin, I still greatly appreciate the US coins I have purchased and have owned/still own. Nowadays I mostly buy ancients as you can see from my post history, but yeah…. Anyway, whats your story? Please share! Here are pictures of some of the fakes my dad purchased! Which one do you find the most funny? It is the 1906 ASE for me! Haha Cheers! Cant wait to read the stories you all tell!