The eyes have it!

[Pellinore]

The eyes - appeal to me, too. I'm sure it's a subconscious reason to buy coins. 

Be it the Emperor Phocas, as was mentioned before: 

3517. Byzantium, Phocas (602-610). AE half follis (20 nummi), Cyzicus (off.A.), year II. Obv. Crowned frontal head. Rev. XX/ ANNO/ II/ KYZA DOC 79. 24 mm, 6.25 gr. Sear 670. 

 

With his hippie glasses. 3535. Byzantium, Phokas (602-610). AE follis (40 nummi), Cyzicus, y. 3 = 604/5. Obv.: Facing bust of Phokas, wearing consular robes, holding mappa & cross. Rev.: large XXXX, ANNO above, III to right, exergue KYZ A. 28.5 mm, 10.16 gr. Sear 665. 

And the Gallic eye: 

4147. Remi? AE14. Obv.: Celticized head right, hair upwards. Rev.: Celticized horse left, dot in pellet above, three dots in pellet below. 14 mm, 1.73 gr. ‘('unlisted', cf. Scheers Tf. 19.528). RRR, found in northern France.

4144. Celtic coinage. Bellovaci (Beauvais), after 57 BC. AV starkly scyphate quarter stater. Obv. Schematized portrait of an old man with a sleepy, yet piercing eye! Reminding one of ... . Rev. Horse galloping to the left, pellet-like body, with a large pointed ear. Above and below, a star. Class I. 11 mm, 1.49 gr. Scheers, Traité 160. Scheers, Dan., 308; B.N. 7236; Delestrée & Delplace 32 var.; DT 267 var. Elsen auction 145, nr. 221. A very mysterious coin.

These people from Zoroastrian Persia, a venerable priest, an old goddess - are appealing to you with their eyes, sadly, saying: our faith is waning, we, our values are waning, youngsters are coming without any sense for what was sacred to us. 

I'm sure many of you are feeling like this. This little copper piece of c.700 AD is expressing a universal sense of passing by. It is very dear to me.

5403. Arab-Sasanian AE pashiz, dating from 65-96 AH / 685-715 AD, Istakhr (Naqš-i Rustam). Obv. Old man facing with Pahlavi inscription 'mwhlwp'. Rev. Goddess Anahita with inscription 'st' in Pahlavi, [‘pwnp’ invisible on this coin]. 14mm, 0.9 gr, 6h. Album A46. Gyselen Type 23.

 

 

[Pellinore]

Some more of the eyes, the esoteric eyes that hypnotize you: 

6810. Lu'luids of Mosul (now Iraq). Badr al Din Lu'lu'. 1234-1259 AD. Dirham Al-Mawsil, dated 631 AH = 1234. Obv. Large-eyed head (‘Picasso eye’) to the left in a square frame of pearls, text in top, right, foot and left. Rev. 4 lines of text in a circle. 23 mm, 6.70 gr. Spengler/Sayles 68. 

 

This fascinating huge-eyed small barbarous coin from Central Asia (now Uzbekistan) is booked as a Seleucid imitation with the head of Antiochos left and a horse-head to the right on the reverse. 5626. AR obol-size silver scyphate coin. Samarqand Soghd, "horse-head" type Antiochus AR drachm imitation, c.200-300 AD. Obv. Head left. Rev. Horse head to the right. 13 mm, 2.18 gr. Head/ horse type Smirnova #33. See Zeno 141977 and 162353.

A shaggy dog, no, a movie scarecrow, could be... a silly old dog forgotten by its owner, a clown without a pension, no! This is a dear old Indian fellow for certain. It is the smallest coin of the three Eyes, a little silver damma of the Habbarids of Sindh, now part of Pakistan at the border with India. Amir Ahmad, second half 10th century. 9 mm, 0.52 gr. 

Naturally, the next question is, whom do you identify most with, of all the coin portraits here on NumisForums!