seth77

This Lysimachos from Lysimacheia or a Western Black Sea mint (Kallatis?): AE16mm 2.68g copper unit, minted at Lysimacheia/Callatis(?) c. 286-281BCE Head of Lysimachos as Herakles right, wearing lion skin BAΣI / ΛYΣI; legend within grain-ear wreath. SNG Copenhagen 1168-9; Müller 15, pl.II-14. Mueller (Den thraciske Konge Lysimachus's Mynter p. 17) assigns this type (15) to a mint in the Thracian Chersonesos to a period after Lysimach's conquest of Macedonia in 286BC. On the basis of design similarities with Lysimacheia 'civic' coins it is possible that the type was struck at Lysimacheia. An alternative mint for some of this type is Kallatis, likely on the account of the similarities with the silver coinage of Kallatis from the late 4th century to 3rd century BC. Similar here, here and here attributed to Kallatis. Could also be a type struck by more than one mint.

I bought some books from them before Brexit. They shipped from UK.

Deventer for the Bishops of Utrecht? The peck marks are clear, it certainly circulated in the Baltic area. Similar to https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4467867 ?

That's one big alley cat @lordmarcovan

This is very evocative of the reasons why the EU is lagging behind the US in terms of business growth: it seems way easier to do business in the US than in the EU. And also cheaper.

No doubt. He once sent me an order before I even paid and I had to actually do detective work and get the MA team involved to get the payment details and eventually pay the man.

Except for Andre Cichos, everyone else I have bought from charges more on MA than VC or eBay for the same material.

Great quality items. I wonder how did they end up at that particular museum, perhaps from a private collection?

The Messenian town of Thouria for Caracalla c. 198-202 AE23mm 4.63g copper-based alloy assarion AV[...] ANTONINOC; laureate, draped, cuirassed bust r. seen from back ΘΟΥΡΙ - [ΑΤΩΝ], Λ-Α; Tyche wearing mural crown standing left, phiale in right, cornucopia in left hand. cf. BMC 7, BCD 833-834.6 Notes: Another Peloponnesos town with very similar coinage. The Λ-Α in fields could mean that at the time, the town was still a Lakedaimon dominion as it had been from the time of Augustus, when the emperor awarded it to Lakedaimon (Sparta) as punishment for Thourians siding with Marc Antony. The explanation stems from Pausanias (A Numismatic Commentary on Pausanias p. 65 - Pausanias IV, 31.1). The Tyche type seems to be minted for Severus, Domna, Caracalla and Geta Caesar -- as usual, at Thouria coinage is not known for Plautilla, implying a coining prior to 202.

Those of you who are familiar with my posts know by now that my main 'thing' is trying to date stuff. Imperial coins are usually dated quite fittingly tight, thanks to continuous minting, dated legends (COS TR P IMP etc) and a logical progression in effigy and Imperial names. With 'provincial' or 'Greek Imperial' coins often there is no such hint in the coin per se, but rather there is a more contextual approach and theories based on hoard finds and or correlations with Imperial types and/or Imperial effigy are sometimes used to put a ballpark period for the minting of a particular type, almost always in the case of emperors who had long and eventful reigns. There are of course dated 'provincials'/'Greek Imperials' - either by regnal year or different local or political eras (Pompeian, Actian...) - but they seem to be more of the exceptions than the rules. The most known such mints are also the ones that are prolific to the point that they have a steady output year after year - like Antioch in Syria or Caesarea in Cappadocia but also more centrally Viminacium and/or Dacia - almost in the same general manner of the mint at Rome. But most other cities and towns - like it was the case with my previous post about Orthosia - struck coins at particular times for either specific local needs or to ingratiate themselves to the Imperial figure and family when they came visiting. In the general case of the Balkan area - Moesia Inferior and Thracia - most researchers consider that coinage was struck, at least starting with the Severan period (but perhaps earlier too), usually for municipal council needs and expenditures, rather than day-to-day economic needs. That means usually municipal building campaigns, be they religious and or civil, or holiday celebrations and popular games. The other main reason is what interests me here: the Imperial presence. Caracalla AE29mm 14.75g minted at Serdica c. first half of 214 - with Hera seated right holding scepter and phiale, or is this iconography usually reserved for the Queen of the Gods meant here to also serve as a representation of the province of Thracia in a not-so-subtle try at religious and symbolic syncretism? What would be the cause of an Imperial presence in a provincial town or city for that matter -- or actually even in a general area where a group of cities are located for a koinon? Generally it's a military campaign: the emperor moves towards the borders for war and travels a certain itinerary because he needs to both gather troops and perhaps establish new provincial representatives and set up logistics mechanisms for his campaign. On his way back from the front, there are the triumphs and the dedications and the games/celebrations in honor to the emperor by the local elite of a city. In such events the striking of coins might easily be simultaneous with the dedication of inscriptions honoring the emperor and his triumph locally. Caracalla started East in 213, soon after his Germanic triumph in Raetia. His itinerary is more or less known thanks to Cassius Dio, Herodian and the Historia Augusta, and they all more or less agree that he wintered 213-14 in Nicomedia, where he arrived around early December. Dio mentions that the Imperial entourage even took a detour to Troas before the new year. But instead of continuing eastwards, the emperor is again in Thracia in February 214, where he recruits Thracian and Illyrian soldiers - that is possibly also when he gets the idea of recruiting Greeks for a 'Macedonian phalanx' unit. Then he moves north to Dacia Porolisensis for other business -- it's worth noting that there was discontent and a possible revolt or at least raiding parties and the legate for the trium Daciae was in deep trouble after the death of Caracalla in 217. What is interesting numismatically is that at this point, probably before mid 214, Caracalla announces his explicit interest for an actual Eastern campaign in a very official Roman fashion as his 'profectio ad Orientem' complete with an 'adlocutio' in or near Serdica. This moment is distinctly marked on the coinage of Serdica, for the city mints with a distinctly Imperial iconography for the 'adventus/profectio': Caracalla AE30mm 16.89g minted at Serdica in the spring-summer of 214, saluting the troops and the province Thracian cities minted extensively for the later Severans, but Caracalla is favored at Serdica. This type, with emperor on horseback marching right and saluting (the army and the province too likely, see above for the connection with the seated Hera and the military effigy of Caracalla) was very likely minted while the Emperor either resided at Serdica or was in the general area of Serdica, marking also the time when he decided to both launch his 'expeditio felicissima orientalis' (the military campaign against the Parthians) and start his 'imitatio Alexandri'. This makes the Serdica coinage of 214 a first rate historically important coinage.

Moderately small AE10mm 1.36g from Sestos c. 350-300BCE: Herm facing Σ - A; Amphora with two handles in between

This pleasing AE14mm 1.92g Abgar VIII of Edessa and Commodus that has almost full legends, not a common fixture with these:

I wonder if it wouldn't work easier getting rid of the original background with the likes of removebg and then pasting the new transparency image onto the new background?

I considered the Archelaos too, but glad I did not pursue it. It makes way more sense with your collection.

Thank you for the honest thread. I clicked not expecting to see small coins and I wasn't disappointed. And Nic Cage for good measure>

Hi @CPK how do you do these very aesthetic backgrounds for your pics?

This theme is very interesting and that coin is on my wishlist too. It shows that these ludic celebrations and religious festivals were often concurring. Your coin shows the Dousaria and Actia. I wonder if I should add a couple of local 'games and celebrations' issues from Phrygia here or start another thread.

Group 2 for Alexander Augustus, 23 specs in RPC.

Thank you for this observation. I have completely missed this calendar and yes, it is very likely that it is exactly what it was used here.

It may be a local calendar, it could also be Pompeian era (some Orthosian coinage under Cleopatra VII uses this calendar apparently), it could also be Actian era (after Cleopatra) or even regnal years of Tiberius. At different times different calendars were used.

I wondered that too but with just one issue and that rather short for a reign of 20+ years I wonder what kind of religious festival would only happen once every 20+ years? Perhaps the coinage marks a building phase in the town?

I have been wanting one of these for some time: ANTONINUS PIUS (138-161) AE23mm 9.34g copper multiple, minted at Orthosia, ca. 150-1 ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ ΤΙ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤWΝΕΙΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ; laureate bust of Antoninus Pius wearing cuirass and paludamentum, right, seen from back ΒΞΥ - Baal of Orthosia wearing kalathos(?) standing in biga drawn by griffins, right, holding harpa; ΟΡΘWϹΙΕWΝ underneath. RPC IV.3 6211 Scarce type, 5 noted in RPC + 3 in acsearch, possibly all struck with the same pair of dies. Orthosia was not a first rate city during Imperial age, despite being mentioned in Maccabees and by Plinius and Strabo. The finds of coins containing the ethnic (possibly of this type or the sister issue showing Astarte) and the Tabula Peutingeriana helped narrow down the location of the town to the Lebanese coast near the Eleutheros river, but not much remains of it. The 'Baal of Orthosia' is a local god of Phoenician origin. This representation might be based on an actual cult statue dedicated to the Baal, as it appears throughout the history on Orthosian coinage at least since the time of Cleopatra VII. Influenced by both Mesopotamian and Egyptian figurative art, the 'Baal of Orthosia' and his companion Astarte bring a very distinctive idea on the local religion, while the 'Baal' seems to also act like the symbol of the town. As seen here, in the 2nd century the representation also includes a kalathos(?) or another similar head gear that might had been attached under the influence of the cult of Serapis. Unfortunately on this specimen the harpa, used here likely as an attribute of chthonic force, is not very clear. For such a brief and singular emission, the coin design is remarkably complex and standardized, employing even the dating system of the local area as ΒΞΥ (462, hinting to a possible foundation of the town in the Hellenistic period).

Since I am not in the know regarding the tetarteron and its minute particularities I have some questions: 1. is the 'new' argument based solely on the work of J. Baker? I'm sure you know I am a big fan of his work on the denier tournois of the Frankokratia and the previous circulation of the original Frankish blueprint, but we should keep in mind that what he writes in his 'Medieval Greece...' book is extremely conservative, fixing on certainties or near certainties and leaving very few spaces in between for theories dubbed as 'alternatives' -- for instance I can't find much help for my interest in the 'forgeries' or 'local imitations' of the Frankish denier tournois, a field that not only accepts but requires space for theories, arguments and conjectures. In many ways this is also what you need for these tetartera, no? 2. if these are not 'Latin' or 'Bulgarian' then it probably leaves the Empire of Nicaea as possible minting authority. And since they are rare and few specimens are known, then the finding place is is even more relevant to attribute them. 3. the tetartera that are tentatively assigned to Venetian interests such as at Corinth or on the Via Egnatia are copies of known types from the 12th century, not new types with distinct iconography. In fact as in the case of the trachea, the clearly 'Latin' types (A-D) are different from the later types (Asen types?) and certainly different from the 'religious types' (Peter and Paul Hoard); for 'Thessalonica' types the Series III types follow closely the late Komnenodoukas types and the novelties only appear later, possibly into the rule of Michael VIII; finally the 'Nicaea' tetartera of the later Nicaea Empire c. 1250s are often of wild discrepancy quality-wise, possibly implying a central minting (Magnesia) and 'provincial' minting operations not-that-on-par with the center coinage. I know I did not answer any of your questions, but perhaps my thinking aloud helps you towards new conjectures.

I'll PM you later on when I get to my laptop.

This is from the last phase of local minting during the reign of Philip the Arab: AE28mm 11.44g bronze tetrakaihemiassarion(?), c. 245-9. AVT M IOVΛ ΦIΛIΠΠOC AVΓ M WT / A CЄBHPA CЄB; Draped busts of Philip, laureate and cuirassed, and Otacilia Severa, wearing stephane, facing one another. MHTPO - ΠO - NT TOMEΩC; Homonoia in chiton and himation, standing facing, head left with kalathos, holding cornucopia and patera. AMNG 3583, Varbanov 5765; RPC VIII unassigned ID 28170 There are 25 on RPC and some more on acsearch but somehow so they are far from rare, but you dont see that many on trade at the moment.