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Sale of rare peacock feather coins of Metapontum


Deinomenid

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Sheesh... there's something you don't see every day! You would have thought that the jewelry store would have done its homework, but maybe they're just trying to make these images resonate more with the average Joe...

It is tough as a numismatist to see these classic motifs degraded by such fluff and ignorant marketing though.

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12 hours ago, Romismatist said:

It is tough as a numismatist to see these classic motifs degraded by such fluff and ignorant marketing though.

Yes but a significant portion of the population defines 'good' as what can be sold for a 'good' profit.  People with excess money and no desire for learning do not care and we can take some comfort in the fact that most of the jewelry pieces are fakes rather than real coins. When it comes to gold, it is even hard to disparage using real coins since many were saved from the melting pot buy being used in jewelry.  Most coin shops today have turned into venues for turning antique gold into new bricks.  Perhaps some of the real coins used in this way will resurface as coins when the granddaughters of the people who bought these decide that they are so out of style they should be sold for melt.  The rest will be melted. Such is, has been and will be the fate of gold 'things' for all time. 

My only Roman gold coin shows marks from the 4 prong mount that saved it from the pot once upon a time.  I got it years ago for very little over 'melt'.  Today it is worth no more than 'melt' but 'melt' has changed.  If I were to want to market it, I would suggest that it was once the possession of Attila the Hun (omitting the part of the weight of it and its brothers paid in tribute in 443 AD partly explaining why these are so common).  My regret is there is no apple on a coin of Theodosius II.  Perhaps we could tool one from the globus crucifer and sell it to a well healed history buff?  Some of us collect coins because they are shiny and pretty.  Others appreciate the way they encourage us to learn about some people of the past every bit as stupid as some we know today.  Theodosius became emperor as a small child.  From there it seemed to go downhill. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius_IIry8080b01548alg.JPG.542110eeafea90204def5d85bdea1c7f.JPG

Did you read the story of the apple in the above link?  We are told that John Malalas means John the orator so it is only coincidence that the Greek word for apple is suspiciously close to his name.  I am a great believer in the theory that there is no 'truth' in history but only a study of what people believed to be true (most often because someone else told them it was true).  Maybe in the end we all are entitled to our own facts rather than just our opinions?  Can I hold my coin and choose to believe it once belonged to Attila, Johnny Appleseed or a beautiful girl who really should have bit into that apple?  Stupid?  I have heard worse.  On this page???  Does this mean I need a coin of Eudocia or Pulcheria?  Anyone know where I can get one for 'melt'???  🤪 (The preceding emogee applies for everything I wrote and everything I might have thought of writing except that I really do believe that line about history being a study of what people believe to be true rather than what is actually true. I was introduced to that concept by something written by Mary Beard but can not be sure if she actually meant what I believe to be what she meant to say. 🤪🤪)

Edited by dougsmit
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