Anyone up for a game of coin UNO?

[Roman Collector]

LInk: Mesembria.

Gordian III, 238-244 CE, and Tranquillina.
Roman provincial Æ 28.6 mm, 11.36 g, 7 h.
Thrace, Mesembria,  241-244 CE.
Obv: ΑVΤ Κ Μ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC ΑVΓ CΕΒ-ΤΡΑΝΚVΛ|ΛΙΝΑ, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian and draped bust of Tranquillina, wearing stephane, confronted.
Rev: ΜΕCΑΜΒΡ-Ι-ΑΝΩΝ, Demeter standing left, wearing stephane, holding phiale and long torch.
Refs: RPC VII.2, 1236; Varbanov 4190; Karayotov 87; Corpus Nummorum 425 (citing Varbanov); SNG Copenhagen --; BMC --; Moushmov --; Lindgren --; Mionnet suppl 2 --; Sear --; Wiczay --.
Note: Exemplar coin at RPC online. All known specimens struck with the same die pair.

[Phil Anthos]

Metapontum, Lucania

225-200 BC AE17 (17.5mm, 6.13g) O: Head of Leukippos right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with running wolf. R: Demeter standing facing, holding long crossed torch in right hand, left hand on hip; META to right. Johnson Bronze 66; SNG ANS 561; SNG Cop 2249; HGC I, 1099; HN Italy 1702 ex Pavlos Palou

[John Conduitt]

Wolf

Iceni ‘Norfolk Wolf Left, Sideways Diamond’ Stater, 50-35BC

Norfolk. Gold, 17mm, 5.40g. Wolf standing left with bristly back, crescent and large pellet above, large pellet and four-pellet diamond below (only two pellets visible). Left-facing Icenian wreath motif, fibula below (ABC−, VA−, BMC−, COI−, S−. Talbot Norfolk Wolf B, Sub-type D, die group 18, dies T/49). Ex John Follows (Treasure Hunting, October 1999, p.45, this coin). Found Norfolk, CCI 99.1318.

[Phil Anthos]

Argos, Argolis

circa 3rd century BC AR Triobol (15mm, 2.25g) O: Forepart of wolf left. R: Large A, eagle standing right on thunderbolt beneath; IP-EΩ-NO-Σ (Hieronos, magistrate) in corners, all within shallow incuse square. SNG Cop 42; BCD Peloponnesos 1177; SNG Delepierre 2273; Sear 2795v ex Empire Coins The origins of Argos are pre-Mycenaean, making it one of the most ancient cities in Greece. Argos played a prominent role in The Iliad, being claimed by Hera as "one of the three cities dearest to Me". While they did supply ships and soldiers (including the hero Diomedes) for Agamemnon's war with Troy, Argos later remained neutral during the Graeco-Persian wars. And though ostensibly allied with Athens during her war with Sparta at the end of the 5th century BC, Argos was basically a non-participant. Recent speculation dates this coin to the time of Cleopatra VII and may in fact have been issued by her. I remain skeptical, however it is an interesting theory.

[DonnaML]

Link: a coin depicting both a wolf and an eagle.

Roman Republic, L. Papius Celsus, AR Denarius, 45 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Head of Juno Sospita right, wearing goat’s skin headdress tied at neck; circular banker’s mark “well hidden” [per email from Dimitrios G. Gerothanasis, Nomos AG] near Juno’s ear / Rev. She-wolf standing right, holding stick in mouth which she places on fire; to right of fire, eagle standing left fanning the flames with open wings (and with tip of outer wing extending beyond coin’s border); CELSVS III • VIR  above; L. PAPIVS in exergue. Crawford 472/1, RSC I (Babelon) Papia 2 (ill. p. 71), Sear CRI 82 at pp. 51-52 [David Sear, The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators 49-27 BC (1998)], 
RBW Collection 1647 (ill. p. 349) (2014), BMCRR I 4018 (ill. BMCRR III Pl. L no. 22); Sear RCV I 461 (ill. p. 158), Sydenham 964. 18 mm., 3.08 g., 1 h. Purchased Oct. 3, 2021 at Nomos Obolos 20, Lot 1059.*

 

*According to Crawford (Vol. I p. 481), the moneyer is “not otherwise known, but perhaps the son of no. 384” (L. Papius, Obv. Juno Sospita/Rev. Gryphon). The type “refer[s] . . . to the moneyer’s Lanuvine origin . . . ; the reverse . . . seems to portray a prodigy associated with the foundation of Lanuvium, D. Hal. I, 59, 4-5.” Id. p. 482. See also David Sear’s discussion of the type at CRI p. 52: “L. Papius is known only from his coinage though it seems likely that he was the son of the Lucius Papius who had held the office of moneyer about three and a half decdes before (cf. Crawford 384). Both moneyers indicated their origin by the depiction of Juno Sospita, the goddess clad in a goat’s skin, who was especially sacred to the inhabitants of Lanuvium (modern Lanuvio), an ancient Latin city in the Alban Hills about twenty miles south-east of Rome.” The depiction of “the she-wolf and eagle kindling a fire . . . appears to illustrate the legend of the foundation of the city as recorded by Dionysius of Halicarnassus in his Roman Antiquities (i. 59), written during the reign of Augustus.” 

The details of the myth portrayed on the reverse are set forth in the text accompanying a May 13, 2020 CNG sale of an example of this type (see https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6982290 . ) “The curious scene depicted on the reverse of this type refers to a foundation myth for the city of Lanuvium, parent city of Rome. According to a legend related by Dionysius of Halicarnassus in Roman Antiquities [i, 59, 4-5], the hero Aeneas saw a fire burning in a nearby forest and went to investigate. As he drew closer, he saw the fire was being fed by a she-wolf, who was dropping sticks into the blaze, while an eagle standing nearby fanned it with his wings. A fox kept intruding, trying to snuff out the fire by wetting his tail in a nearby stream and beating the flames down with it, but was driven off by the eagle and wolf. The fox was interpreted as Carthage, trying to snuff out Rome before its flame could burn brightly, while the eagle and she-wolf are symbols of the Roman army and people respectively.” See also the discussion at BMCRR I pp. 519-520 n. 2.

Regarding the CELSVS III • VIR legend on the reverse, see the Numiswiki entry for IIIVIR, at https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=IIIVIR: “On coins of the Roman Republic IIIVIR is used as a shortened abbreviation for IIIVIR AAAFF, which abbreviates ‘III viri aere argento auro flando feiundo’  or ‘Three men for the casting and striking of bronze, silver and gold,’ a moneyer or mint magistrate.”  The other two moneyers for 45 BCE, together with Lucius Papius Celsus, were Lollius Palicanus and Lucius Valerius Acisculus. See CRI p. 51. “Collectively, their coinage represents the last normal republican issue from the Capitoline mint prior to the fundamental changes introduced by Caesar at the beginning of 44 BC, which, within a few years, were to lead to the complete cessation of regular production.” Id.

Edited April 9 by DonnaML

[John Conduitt]

Eagle (and another animal).

Dubnovellaunos Eagle, 25BC-5

Cantii. Bronze, 14mm, 1.75g. Boar right, reversed S under head; DVBNO in two lines in panel below. Spread-winged eagle standing three-quarters right (ABC 345; VA 180-01; BMC 2509-10; S 183). Found Hertfordshire.
 

[Victrix]

Link: eagle

Messambrian Tetradrachm

 

[Edessa]

Link: Posthumus Alexander III type

Thrace, Odessos. AR Tetradrachm (30mm, 16.52g, 12h). In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Struck 120-90 BC. Obv: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion's skin headdress. Rev: ALEXANDROY / BASILEWS; Zeus seated left, holding eagle and scepter; AP above knee, OΔH (civic) monogram below throne. Ref: Price 1177; HGC 3, 1587. Good Very Fine, toned, slight porosity on reverse. Ex UBS 57 (15 Sept 2003), Lot 174. Ex HD Rauch 73 (17 May 2004), Lot 1152. 

Edited April 10 by Edessa

[Roman Collector]

Link: Zeus enthroned left. 

Cleopatra Thea, Queen of Syria, with son Antiochus VIII.
AR tetradrachm; 15.85 gm, 27 mm.
Antioch mint, 125-121 BCE.
Obv: Jugate busts, right.
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, Zeus Nikephoros seated l., holding lotus-tipped scepter; IE outer left, A under throne.
Refs: SNG Spaer 2437; c.f. Sear 7135.
Notes: Ex-Henry Clay Lindgren.

[expat]

SELEUCIS & PIERIA. Antioch. Ae Tetrachalkon (63-28 BC). Uncertain date.
Obv: Laureate head of Zeus right.
Rev: ANTIOXEΩN THΣ MHTPOΠOΛEΩΣ.
Zeus seated left on throne, holding crowning Nike and sceptre; [date] in exergue 7,64 g - 19,21 mm

[DonnaML]

Link: Zeus holding Nike.

Syria, Seleucid Empire, Antiochos VIII Epiphanes (Grypon) Tetradrachm, 109-96 BCE Antioch Mint. Obv. Diademed head of Antiochos VIII right / Rev. Zeus Nikephoros seated left on high-backed throne, holding Nike on outstretched right hand and scepter in left; to outer left, E/P monogram above A [Antioch]; ΔI monogram below throne; BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOY EΠIΦANOYΣ; all within laurel wreath. Seleucid Coins [SC] Pt. 2, 2309; Seleucid Coins Online [same] (see http://numismatics.org/sco/id/sc.1.2309 ); Seaby 7145 (ill.) [Sear, David, Greek Coins & their Values, Vol. II: Asia & Africa (Seaby 1979)]; Hoover HGC 9, 1200 [Hoover, Oliver, Handbook of Syrian Coins, Royal and Civic Issues, Fourth to First Centuries BC, The Handbook of Greek Coinage Series, Volume 9 (2009)]; Newell SMA 405 [Newell, E.T., The Seleucid Mint of Antioch (1918)], SNG Israel 2554-55 [Spaer, A.  &  A. Houghton, Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Israel I, The Arnold Spaer Collection of Seleucid Coins (London, 1998)]; BMC 4 Seleucid Syria 2 (p. 98) (ill. Pl. XXVI, No. 3) [erroneously attributed to Antiochos XI] [Gardner, P., A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 4, The Seleucid Kings of Syria (London, 1878)].  27 mm., 16.2 g. Purchased from Frank S. Robinson, Auction 111, Feb. 11, 2020, Lot 146.

[expat]

Zeus

Volume: I №: 3062
Reign: Claudius Persons: Claudius (Augustus) Magistrate: Artemas, son of Demetrios (stephanephoros)
City: Cadi  Region: Phrygia Province: Asia (conventus of Sardis)
Denomination: Brass AE 20
Obverse: ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟϹ ΚΑΙϹΑΡ; laureate head of Claudius, right
Reverse: ΕΠΙ ΑΡΤΕΜΑ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΚΑΔΟΗΝΩΝ, ϹΤΕΦΑΝ; Zeus standing, left, with eagle and sceptre. ΡTΛΩ monogram in left field.
Specimens: 33
RPC I 3062; SNG Copenhagen 246-7; SNG von Aulock 3685; BMC 18-19.

[ambr0zie]

26 mm, 10,95 g.
Macedon, Philippi. Claudius 41-54. Ӕ.
TI CLAVDIVS CAES AVG IMP P M TR P P P, bare head of Claudius, l. / COL IVL AVG PHILIP, DIVVS AVG (on base); statue of Augustus in military dress crowned by statue of Divus Julius Caesar wearing toga on central base; altar, l. and r.
RPC I 1654 var. (reverse legend COL IVL AVG instead of COL AVG IVL); SNG Copenhagen 307-8 var.; Varbanov 3774 var.

[John Conduitt]

More Claudius.

Claudius Sestertius, 50-54

Bronze. Head of Claudius, laureate, right; TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP P P. Spes, draped, advancing left, holding flower in right hand and raising skirt with left; SPES AVGVSTA S C; countermark NCAPR. Found Navenby, Lincolnshire.

[Shea19]

Link: Spes

Valerian I, Antoninianus (22 mm, 3.00 g) Viminacium, 255 A.D., IMP VALERIANVS P AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Valerian I to r./ Rev. SPES PVBLICA Spes advancing left, holding flower in her right hand and raising skirt with her left.  RIC 257.

[Ryro]

Link: grump face

VESPASIAN

Denarius. Minted AD 69-70 . ASIA MINOR. Anv.: IMP. CAES. VESPAS. AVG. Laureate head to the right. Rev .: AVG within laurel. 3.42 grs. Dark patina. Nice piece. EBC / Vespasianus. Nice coin with dark patina and extremely fine. C-36b; RIC-311; BMC-497. Purchased from Soler y Llach, Coleccion Scipio, Oct 2021

[ambr0zie]

Not easy to beat this one in grumpiness

25 mm, 12,22 g.
Syria, Seleucis and Pieria, Emesa. Caracalla 198-217. AR tetradrachm. 215-217.
AΥ•T K M ANTΩNEINOC CE•B•, laureate bust right / ΔΗΜΑΡX ΕΞ VΠΑΤOC TO Δ, eagle standing facing, head left, with wreath in beak; H under beak; radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Shamash left between legs.
Prieur 983.

[John Conduitt]

Eagle

Verica Minim, 10-40

Silchester or Chichester, Atrebates tribe. Silver, 7mm, 0.35g. Wine cup; REX above. Eagle right; VERICA COMMI F around (S 159).

[ambr0zie]

A recipient for wine 

17 mm, 3,73 g.
L. Censorinus 82 BC. AR denarius. Rome.
Laureate head of Apollo right / L·CENSOR, Marsyas walking left, naked with right arm raised and holding wine-skin over left shoulder; behind, column bearing statue of Victory. Banker’s marks on legend.
Crawford 363/1d; Marcia 24; Sydenham 737.

[Ursus]

Link: satyr

Islands off Thrace, Thasos, AR trihemiobol, c. 411-350  BC. Obv: Satyr kneeling l., holding kylix. Rev: ΘAΣ-IΩN; amphora. 12mm, 0.87g. Ref: SNG Copenhagen 103.

[Edessa]

Link: Wine production - Dionysos holding grapes

Cilicia. Nagidos, circa 385-375 BC. AR Stater (22mm, 10.74g, 5h). Obv: Aphrodite seated left, holding phiale over altar; Rev: NAΓIΔEΩ-N; Dionysos standing left holding grapes and thyrsus. Ref: SNG France 21; Casabonn Type 5. NGC MS, Strike: 4/5 Surface: 4/5. Stacks Nov 2011 Baltimore Auction (16 Nov 2011), Lot 20833. 

Wikipedia: As Dionysus Eleutherius ("the liberator"), his wine, music, and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His thyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself.

[expat]

A cup for the wine

Kyme, Aeolis. AE17. 320-250 BC. Magistrate Pedieus. 4.68 g.

KY ΠEΔIEYOΣ, forepart of horse right.
One-handled cup, HAP monogram to left.

Unpublished monogram for this magistrate. Emporium Hamburg 91, 95. Paris Inventory 1945.

[Phil Anthos]

Drink to Dionysus!

Taras, Calabria

272-240/35 BC AR Obol (11mm, 0.35g) O: Kantharos, 5 pellets around, within dotted border. R: Bucranium. D'Andrea XLIV, 1505; Vlasto 1615-17; Cote 446; SNG France 2201; HN Italy 918 Scarce From the E.E. Clain-Stefanelli Collection. ex Naville Numismatics

[ambr0zie]

Kantharos

11 mm, 2,38 g.
Boeotia, Thebes. AR hemidrachm. Circa 395-338 BC.
Boeotian shield / Kantharos; above, club right; battle axe to left; Θ-EB across lower field; all within incuse square.
BCD Boiotia 411.

[John Conduitt]

Axe

Vasiliy Dmitrievich Denga, 1416-1423

Moscow. Silver, 0.71g. Warrior with a sword and axe, left. КHYA/ZЬ ВЕЛ/ИКИ ВАС/ИЛEI (GP 1577).