I think we need our own 'Post an Old Coin and and an Old Tune' thread

[Roman Collector]

Thinking of Ahmad Jamal, who died two weeks ago of prostate cancer at the age of 92.

Here's an old coin (my first ancient) with an old man (Tiberius).

Tiberius, AD 14-37.
Roman AR Denarius, 3.87 g, 18.5 mm, 5 h.
Lugdunum, AD 16-37.
Obv: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head, right.
Rev: PONTIF MAXIM, Female figure seated right, holding long olive branch and inverted spear; legs of chair ornate, triple line below.
Refs: RIC 28; BMCRE 42-44; RSC 16b; RCV 1763 var.
Notes: The identity of the female figure on the reverse is uncertain and has been variously identified as Livia, Justitia or Pax.

[Ryro]

Ah, man. That reminds me of another legend who lived into his 90s that we recently lost, Harry Belafonte:

Another old man's coin. Antigonos Monophthalmus died when he was 80 via a volley of spears:

 

[JeandAcre]

Thanks to both of you, @Roman Collector and @Ryro.  Granted, it can be its own kind of joy when a Black man lives as long as either of them did.  One can even give God thanks for lives like that.

Funny, but I was just thinking about Mingus.  

For which, why not, there could be this reduced tremisis of Kaleb, the Aksumite emperor who was that conspicuously contemporary to Justinian I. 

Fun for combining Greek legends --indifferently rendered, a quarter millennium after the initial issues (cf. 3rd c. Roman provincials) --with Kaleb's monogram in Ge'ez; only two characters near the top of the obverse.

...Uh-oh.  And, it being spring and all, I thought I needed a new t-shirt.

https://thekostenfamilys.com/product/burning-spear-dry-and-heavy-album-cover-shirt-tkt-familys2753-1679176447/ 

For which we need some of the same kind.

 

 

[akeady]

This risks becoming a necro thread 😄   I just saw today that Johnny Fean of Horslips has died - he's on the right here.

Horslips had their heyday in the 1970s, but I only dicovered them in the 90s.   Two of their albums - The Táin and The Book Of Invasions - are linked to Irish mythology and prehistory.   This track, Dearg Doom, is from The Táin based on the Táin Bó Cúailnge - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Táin_Bó_Cúailnge.

The riff is from the traditional "O'Neill's March" - here's a fairly remarkable version played by one man.   I was lucky enough to see and hear Cormac Begley (and Liam O'Connor) at the Sugar Club in 2019 - I think they played support for a "Mahler Reimagined" gig with Cello Ireland and Cathal Coughlan, so it was a bit different, but great.

Fean's riff was used as part of "Put Em Under Pressure", the Ireland World Cup song for Italia 90 - happy days, I was going wild in Cork for most of it - I got as far as Paris when the final was on and reached Rome a week later.   I don't know why we didn't get organised enough to go in time for the competition, but we had fun back in Ireland too 😄

Anyway, here's a coin from Elsen - - I had the 365/1b variety already (control letter behind head), but needed this (control symbol behind head).   I still need the control symbol before Victory variety - 365/1c.

Gens:	Valeria
Moneyer:	C. Valerius Flaccus
Coin:	Silver Denarius - Bust of Victory, right, draped; behind, control-symbol (rudder) C·V͡A͡L·FLA IMPERAT EX S·C - Legionary eagle; on left, standard of maniple of hastati; on right, standard of maniple of principes
Mint:	Massalia (82 BC)
Wt./Size/Axis:	3.85g / - / -
References:	RSC 12b (Valeria) Sydenham 747a Crawford 365/1a
Acquisition:	Jean Elsen Online auction Auction 154 #339 17-Mar-2023

ATB,
Aidan.

Edited April 30, 2023 by akeady

[JeandAcre]

@akeady, that Cormac Begley had to elicit this.  ...What you can do with an accordian, if you're that good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDIG-RNwGeI

[AncientOne]

Here's somebody that's alive.

 

 

Seleukid Empire, Antiochos I Soter Æ14

Obv: Helmeted head of Athena facing / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ. Rev: Nike standing to left, holding wreath and palm frond; monograms to outer left and inner right. Smyrna or Sardes, c. 281-261 BC.

[expat]

Obverse: Bearded male head right. Iberian sign BON behind

Reverse: Helmeted rider with lance in right hand, galloping to the right. Below on line, Iberian inscription BOLSKAN.

AR, 3.44gr. 22mm (VG +). Jenkis Palenzuela type. Huesca province, Spain.
ACIP. 1423.

The "Palenzuela" type coins correspond to the Sertorian war of the years 80-72 BC

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by expat

[Roman Collector]

Kings of Thrace under Roman rule.
AE 24 mm, 6.88 g.
Uncertain mint of Thrace.
Obv: ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟ[ΡΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ ΣΕΒΑΣ]ΤΟΥ, bare head of Augustus or Tiberius, right.
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩ[Σ ΡΟΙΜΗΤΑΛΚΟΥ], jugate bust of Rhoemetalkes I or II, diademed, and queen (Pythodorus?), right.
Refs: RPC I, 1721; BMC 3.209,23; Sear 5405; Youroukova 201–3, pl. XXIV; Forrer 207.

[expat]

 

[akeady]

I got stuck in YouTube again tonight - Aslan, Gilbert O'Sullivan (!), Session Motts, Bubonique (bizarre Freebird cover which ends up sounding like 2 Unlimited) and finally The Riptide Movement.

Here's TRM's best-known song.   I've only seen them once - they played at the end of the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Dublin one year and were pretty good.

Here's a coin I got a couple of months ago and gave to my nephew as he'd asked me about ancient coins a couple of weeks before.   One of these was my first RR denarius and now he's got one too - maybe he'll be hooked too!

Gens:	Anonymous
Coin:	Silver Denarius - Head of Apollo, right, wearing oak-wreath; below, thunderbolt - Jupiter in quadriga, right; holding reins in left hand and hurling thunderbolt with right hand
Mint:	Rome (86 BC)
Wt./Size/Axis:	3.60g / 19mm / -
References:	RSC 226 (Anon.) Sydenham 723 Crawford 350A/2 RBW 1333
Acquisition:	Numismatica Tintinna Online auction Asta 104 #96 25-Feb-2023

ATB,
Aidan.

[Steve]

The Tragically Hip - New Orleans Is Sinking (.) - Bing video

 

 

[expat]

 

 

Antoninus Pius, AE Dupondius, Rome 140-144 CE.

ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P COS III, radiate head right

 PROVIDENTIAE DEORUM, S-C, winged thunderbolt upright. RIC 663; Cohen 685

Scarce. Green patina with small erosions. 11.72g. 28mm

Edited May 12, 2023 by expat

[Roman Collector]

"He's a complicated man and no one understands him but his woman!"

Marcus Aurelius, Augustus AD 161-180.
Roman AR denarius, 3.15 g, 18.1 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 36th emission, AD 178.
Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG, laureate head, right.
Rev: COS III P P, Annona standing left, holding corn-ears in right hand over modius and cornucopia in left hand; to right, prow.
Refs: RIC 424; BMCRE 691; Cohen 151; RCV 4893; MIR 436-4/30.

 

[JeandAcre]

@Roman Collector, that kicks a Whole lot of stuff All Over the Block.  Had to upgrade the grin imojee to a laugh.  That took a second listen --which is heartily recommended.  

...Nope, this takes Thinking of something.  Gimmeaminnit....

Best I can do on short notice: another repost of my later, common Dublin penny of King John.

And some Ella.

 

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by JeandAcre

[JeandAcre]

I've been far too remiss in adding anything to this thread.  Here's my only shabti.  Circa late New Kingdom, 20-somethingeth Dynasty.  From here, the chronological range, including the 25th, was just right.

And some balafon. 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by JeandAcre

[Roman Collector]

17 minutes ago, JeandAcre said:

I've been far too remiss in adding anything to this thread.  Here's my only shabti.  Circa late New Kingdom, 20-somethingeth Dynasty.  From here, the chronological range, including the 25th, was just right.

And some balafon. 

 

 

Incredibly skillful musicians!! Wonderful! 💗

[JeandAcre]

With thanks for your less than surprising acutity!  I love and need kora and balafon, especially from Mali, especially together --and variations, including djembe and other percussion. 

This is West African Classical music, on the level, and going back nearly as far (c. 13th c. CE), as Indian ragas, with their funly comparable synergy between sitar and tabla.

Apart from non-Western scales --which, on a technical level, go sailing over my head-- one main feature is the way that much of this stuff can be polyrhythmic and contrapuntal at the same time.  Nope, much as I love him, J. S. Bach only managed one of those.  Some of that has to involve the capacity of both balafons and tablas to function simultaneously as percussive and melodic instruments. 

Edited May 14, 2023 by JeandAcre

[expat]

To appreciate this song, we of course need two coins

 

[akeady]

Today is the first anniversary of the untimely death of Cathal Coughlan - here was an encore from the penultimate Microdisney gig (the following night in Cork being the last):

And a John Cale cover from a few months later, the very last time I saw CC - from a "Mahler Reimagined" gig:

Here's a coin I haven't posted here before:

Coin:	Silver Denarius X - Helmeted head of Roma right - The Dioscuri galloping right
Exergue:	ROMA
Mint:	Rome (After 211 BC)
Wt./Size/Axis:	4.23g / 19mm / 5h
References:	RSC 2 (Anon.) Sydenham 229 Crawford 53/2 Brinkman & Debernardi C3
Acquisition:	Michael Stolt Facebook 8-Nov-2022

ATB,
Aidan.

Edited May 19, 2023 by akeady

[expat]

Not really old, either song or coin. Unless you are 8 years old when they seem very old, 🙂

 

 

 

[Roman Collector]

I'm in the mood for some Steely Dan.

Germanicus, 15 BC - AD 19.
Roman Æ as, 11.18 g, 27.5 mm, 7 h.
Rome, issued under Caligula, AD 40-41.
Obv: GERMANICVS CAESAR TI AVG F DIVI AVG N, bare-head of Germanicus, left.
Rev: C CAESAR DIVI AVG PRON AVG P M TR P IIII P P around large SC.
Refs: RIC 50; BMCRE 74-78; Cohen 4; RCV 1822; CBN 123.
Note: Reverse die-match to Henry Cohen, Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire Romain, Tome I, Paris, 1880, page 225, no. 4.

[Dafydd]

L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi 90 BC. Rome
Denarius AR

18 mm., 3,68 g.

Laureate head of Apollo right, uncertain symbol or figure behind / Horseman galloping right, holding palm, [L #] PISO FRVGI above LXXXX.

I love these posts and decided to contribute.

This is a galloping song.

As one of Apollo's attributes was healing , I thought I would post Alex Harvey and his "The Faith Healer". I was lucky enough to see him twice in the same year that I saw Bowie at the London Hammersmith saying he would never appear again. Alex was full of humour and menace. I used to threaten my kids that if they didn't behave I would invite him around.

The first video is the full 7 minute version and the second is their appearance on the old grey whistle test, an iconic BBC TV program for progressive bands. Harvey was iconic and sadly died prematurely of heart disease.

You need to get past the first couple of minutes of this track. It raised the few hairs I have on the back of my neck...

 

 

[expat]

Hadrian, Rome mint 125 – 126 CE
Hadrianvs Avgvstvs Laureate bust right
COS III above, SC below. Galley with arched cabin in the stern, 5 rowers visible, 1 pilot and a vexillum at the prow, facing right.
AE, AS Light green patina 12.65 g. 26 mm. Scarce.
RIC 2- Volume 3 (Second edition). Hadrian 820, BMC 1342

 

[Roman Collector]

Antoninus Pius sort of reminds me of Lemmy.

Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 23.16 g, 29 mm.
Rome, AD 142.
Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head right.
Rev: ANNONA AVG S C, Annona standing right, between modius and prow, holding corn ears and out-turned cornucopiae.
Refs: RIC 597; BMCRE 1228; Cohen 37; RCV 4147; UCR 502.

 

[JeandAcre]

This is a petit denier of the abbey of Nivelles that I just bought.  These have a pronounced family resemblance to issues of the neighboring dukes of Brabant, who were suzerains of the abbey at least from the 13th century.  This issue, anonymous as it is, is dated further back into the 12th.  Suggesting that the coins' similarity to eachother had more to do with regional economic and monetary affinities, predating the merely political dynamics. 

And, for no good reason, there was this stuff, which was on FM radio during a correspondingly appropriate time in my life.