Cool discovery!

[CPK]

Not too long ago I was taking some updated photos of some coins, and doing a bit more research on them. In particular, this little group of small Greek bronzes which I won some time ago from CNG. This is the auction house's photo/description:

"DESCRIPTION

GREEK. Magna Graecia & Sicily. Lot of four (4) Syracusan bronze issues. Includes: various types. Average Fine. LOT SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS. Four (4) coins in lot."

 

Ordinarily I'm not interested much in these little Greek bronzes, but I liked the top coins - the Kore/bull and Arethusa/dolphin. The coins didn't come with much identification so I had to dig a bit ( with a little help from CT and NF members) to get correct attribution.

 

They are all interesting in some ways, but the one I'm focusing on now is the bottom left - Athena with raised helmet and thunderbolt:

 

 

In combing through auction listings I found that this coin (as well as two others in the same lot) had been sold by CNG in a previous group lot in 2008:

 

 

The interesting thing was that this group lot gave cursory descriptions of each coin, and this is what they said of the Athena/thunderbolt coin:

 

"...f) Æ Hexas(?). Struck circa 304-289 BC. Athena / Thunderbolt. CNS 118; Favorito type 38a (this coin, illustrated)..."

 

A plate coin? Not being familiar with Favorito I did some quick searching. The Bronze Coinage of Ancient Syracuse came up. I went to eBay and found a copy for sale, made an offer and was accepted! It is my first Greek reference work.

 

 

Quickly turning to the pages of plates I discovered indeed, my coin is the Favorito plate coin! 🥳

 

 

 

The coin also matches the physical dimensions given:

 

 

And, here is the updated photo presentation -

 

 

It is - as far as I'm aware - my first plate coin! I think it's pretty cool. 🤓

 

Also I'm curious to know why this information was not included in CNG's later group lot listing, which I bid on. Could it be that a CNG researcher failed to note that the coin had gone through the auction house back in 2008 and so failed to see the Favorito notation? I wonder if, being a plate coin, it might have warranted being in a lot by itself. Surely, at the very least, it would have been worth a mention!

 

Be that as it may, I'm happy to have been the one to re-discover the provenance! Thanks for looking and please feel free to post any comments or photos of your own plate coins!

 

[Ryro]

Great work doing the research and coingrats on your plate coin!!

I love the coins of Syracuse as well. Here's my Arethusa and dolphin:

Sicily. Syracuse. Dionysos I (406-367 BC). AE Hemilitron. Obv. Head of Arethusa left, wearing necklace, hair bound in ampyx and sphendone; olive leaves behind. Rev. Dolphin swimming right; Σ Y P A and cockle shell below. CNS II 24/1-7; HGC 2 1480. AE. 2.58 g. 16.00 mm. Good VF.

[CPK]

20 minutes ago, Ryro said:

Great work doing the research and coingrats on your plate coin!!

I love the coins of Syracuse as well. Here's my Arethusa and dolphin:

Sicily. Syracuse. Dionysos I (406-367 BC). AE Hemilitron. Obv. Head of Arethusa left, wearing necklace, hair bound in ampyx and sphendone; olive leaves behind. Rev. Dolphin swimming right; Σ Y P A and cockle shell below. CNS II 24/1-7; HGC 2 1480. AE. 2.58 g. 16.00 mm. Good VF.

Lovely example! 👍

[Curtisimo]

That’s fantastic @CPK!

Good work on the research. That makes the added provenance much cooler IMO.

Here is my favorite plate coin.

Egypt, Alexandria 
Antoninus Pius
BI Tetradrachm, Alexandria mint, RY 11 = AD 147/8. 
Dia.: 24 mm
Wt.: 13.81 g
Obv.: ANTωNEINOC CEB EYCEB, Laureate bust right
Rev.: L ENΔEKATOV, Elpis standing left, lifting hem of skirt and holding flower
Ref.: Dattari-Savio pl. 111, 8160 (this coin illustrated); Emmett 1383.11; RPC Online IV temp #13607 (this coin cited).
Ex Giovanni Dattari Collection (1853-1923); Ex Robert L. Grover Collection of Roman-Egyptian Coinage; Ex Art Institute of Chicago (1981.511)

Edited May 7, 2023 by Curtisimo

[Theodosius]

That is really cool that you discovered that it is a plate coin! It is hard to believe that any plate coin would be sold in a group lot. If that had been an imperial Roman coin you can bet that the provenance would not have fallen through the cracks.

There are just not that many people interested in Greek bronzes it seems. Look how many more posts there are in Roman imperial than there are in Greek on Numisforums.

John

 

[Deinomenid]

On 5/20/2023 at 10:58 AM, Theodosius said:

There are just not that many people interested in Greek bronzes it seems

Agreed though it is partly because of the huge number of forgeries, especially of Sicilian ones relative to silver.

Also because they have a much shorter lifespan as they were introduced very late relative to silver (and for mostly unpleasant reasons!)

 

 

 

[Theodosius]

I never really thought of Sicilian bronzes as being a series that was heavily forged. I guess I should see how I've bought a few myself. 😑

[Limes]

Great find! It's a neat little coin, and the fact that it's illustrated makes it all the better. 

[CPK]

Here's an interesting update. It didn't register at the time, but recently I noticed that the Favorito reference work I had purchased - The Bronze Coinage of Ancient Syracuse - was embossed as coming from the library of Kenneth E. Mayo, member of the Society Historia Numorum, who also contributed to the reference work.

 

What was really cool is that this book was also signed by (presumably) the author Emilio N. Favorito for Kenneth Mayo, with a personal note of thanks -

 

As you can see some of the coins cited in the reference work came from Mayo's collection.

I thought it was an interesting addition to the story of the OP coin. 🙂 

[Xeno]

Super awesome find, especially from a group lot with little attribution. I am incredibly impressed with the research abilities of the people on this forum and this is no exception. A plate coin is a great box to check off in your collection and even cooler you discovered that yourself. I had one coin that in attributing I was able to find an auction record for the exact coin and that was a great feeling. I am recently combing through an unattributed group lot and am impressed with what I am finding.