Coins That Go Bump In The Night 6...66: with an upside down crucifix *NSFYMW

[Ryro]

Hard to believe it's been a Satanic and sadistic six years since putting together the first gorific celebration of ancient coins with creepy, or creepy looking, imagery known to the world at large as "Coins that go bump in the night"!

Why do you do this to us Ryro!?!? You may ask. Welp, I've always been drawn to the macabre. Scary stories, horror movies, spooky comics etc. And have a love/obsession of ancients, duh. So, why not put them together during spooky season for others whom revel in evil and ancients to enjoy?

This year's installment has so many nastastic coins that I'm dying☠️ to share! We have trunks of bodies (severed by axes), free wheeling spare body parts, snakes, trail blazing psycho killers and more!

Time to double check that the doors are locked, hide under the covers, and buckle up buttercup! Cause this thread ain't for the squeamish🤢

I'll start with a coin and theme we're all aware and a-scared of, SNAKES😱 Just recently I purchased and posted Herakles 2nd labor, 

while dealing with my own two headed monster 

Herk dealt with nine:

CILICIA. Tarsus. Caracalla, 198-217. 18,78 gr - 33,88 mm, 211-217. AYT KAI M AYP CЄYHPOC ANTΩNЄINOC CЄB ✱ / Π - Π Laureate head of Caracalla to left. Rev. ΑΝΤΩΝΙΑΝΗC CЄYΗ ΑΔΡ ΜΗΤ / TAPCOV / Δ / Ε Κ Herakles standing left, with lion's skin draped over his left arm and raising club far over his right shoulder, about to strike the Lernaean Hydra. Fine RARE

I'm excited to say that I've picked up all the parts needed to make my own triskeles!

(Though apparently it's like ikea and I have to put the pieces together myself)

PISIDIA. Selge. Ae (19mm, 4.84 g) (2nd-1st century BC). Obv: Round shield with monogram. Rev: Triskeles.

Pamphylia. Aspendos circa 465-430 BC. Obol AR (10mm, 0.90 g). Vase with two handle, E-Σ retrograde across field / Triskeles within incuse square.

Also very pleased to say that I've purchased my first trunk! No, I'm not moving anywhere it's the trunk of a human body (presumably hacked apart by the trusty old Labyrs on the reverse)

CARIA. Aphrodisias. Ae (12mm, 1.24 g) (1 century BC). Obv: Cuirass in incuse square. Rev: ΠΛA / AΦPO. Double axe.

Happy to point out one more area that the ancient Greeks were just much better craftsmen at then we moderns. Just look at the sloppy results from when I gave it a try!

Next up something truly disturbing, on a fairly common type...

Don't worry Wayne. It's not that. It's TWO severed heads:

Moesia, Istrus, 450-300 BC. 1/4 Drachm AR 11mm, 1.3 grams. Two male heads facing, the left inverted / Lettering above sea eagle left on dolphin, letter A beneath dolphin

And a type I know I've shared before. But still...

Mysia. Pitane circa 350-300 BC.

Bronze Æ, 8 mm, 0,63 g, very fine

And we'll cap off this pleasantly disturbing display of debauchery with a true HORROR of a coin. One that celebrates the uncle of the most notorious female serial killer of all time!

His name was Stephan.  

If that hole isn't devil damned ironic:

Poland. Stephan Batory AD 1576-1586.
3 Groschen AR

20 mm, 2,37 g

very fine

He was the Voivode (prince) of a place called Transylvania. Maybe you've heard of it:

Shortly after his death his niece, Elizabeth Bathory,

would be put on trial and found guilty of the torturing and killings of hundreds of the women and girl peasants in the countryside, along with her four servants. Elizabeth thought that by bathing (or should I say Bathoring?) in her victims blood she would stay young. 

But don't worry, just like in modern times, the rich and privileged get away with murder, and she would be put merely on "house arrest" while her four servants, that helped in the murders, were put to death!

 

 

So go ahead, scare us! Post your spookiest, weirdest, craziest coins! Or whatever adds to the fun. 

I. Dare. You... and thanks for tuning in🤡

Edited October 13, 2023 by Ryro

[Prieure de Sion]

What a fantastic write up! Thanks! 

[Ryro]

17 hours ago, Prieure de Sion said:

What a fantastic write up! Thanks! 

Thanks! Do you have any spooky coins to share? I'll also take weird, deranged or silly😉

[kirispupis]

I have a few that will completely scare everyone here.

 

The extremely ugly coin!

Celtic Gaul. Treveri.
50-30 BCE
AE 16.51mm 3.23g
Obverse: Elephant walking right, trampling on horned serpent
Reverse: Simpulum, sprinkler, axe (surmounted by a wolf's head), and apex (priest's hat)
De la Tour 9235, RPC I 501

 

The coin I bought because I thought it was a unique example of a crab with a potentially amazing story, only to learn that it was a badly centered rooster.

Troas. Dardanos
circa 300-200 BCE
Æ 11 mm, 1,08 g

 

The coin I overpaid for

Scythia, Olbia
Cast dolphin
AE 25 mm, 1.50g

 

And lastly, the coin I really really wanted but misread the auction time and it wound up selling for less than I was willing to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ed Snible]

Portugal, uncertain year. Cabral Antunes (1916-1986), after Spain, 1890, Enrique Simonet Lombardo (1866-1927). 90 mm, 261 grams
Obv: THE ANATOMY OF THE HEART Painting by Enrique Simonet
Rev: Molecule; chemist; Merck Sharp & Dohme. Indomethacin molecule.
 

[Ed Snible]

These are not as scary, but fit with the Halloween theme:

This one is a masterpiece and you should let me show it to you in person sometime:

Portugal, 1975. Vasco Berardo (1933-2017). Mintage: 400. 90 mm (3 1/2 inches), 285 g
Obv: 25 ano dos Direitos Homem (“25 years of human rights”) / 1949 1974; hand in front of man's face; artist’s signature to right
Rev: Text from the declaration; scarecrow
Edge: 74 and privy mark

It won medal of the year at FIDEM in Poland in 1975.

Here is my favorite flying mammal:

France, 1969. Madeleine-Pierre Querolle (1914 — 2014). Monnaie de Paris? Bronze, 180.0g, 68mm.
Obv: Explorer wearing headlamp emerging from cave in mountains above city
Rev: SPELEOLOGIE; Bat in cave; signed Querolle
 

[ambr0zie]

I wouldn't be very happy to bump into Medusa anytime, especially at night 

Even after she performs her annual dentist checkup 

 

[AETHER]

Happy Halloween!

[expat]

A bizarre character, made of many parts.

It commemorates the 300th Anniversary of the Death of Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen. The reverse  features an Allegory based on Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen main piece, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus, the greatest German novel from the 17th century. The frontispiece of his book is pictured here

And the coin guarenteed to scare the pants off people on a dark Halloween night.

 

[DonnaML]

As always, @Ryro, a wonderful thread!

This lady is pretty spooky, perhaps especially because of the bankers' marks around her mouth:

Roman Republic, L. Plautius Plancus, AR Denarius, 47 BCE, Rome mint. Obv. Facing head of Medusa with coiled snake on either side of face [bankers’ marks to left of mouth], L. PLAVTIVS below / Rev. Winged Aurora flying right, holding palm frond and conducting the four horses of the sun, PLANCVS below. RSC I Plautia 15, Crawford 453/1a, Sydenham 959, Sear RCV I 429, Sear Roman Imperators 29 (ill. p. 18), BMCRR Rome 4004. 18 mm., 4.0 g. RRDP die match: Schaefer Binder 9, p. 185-0, Die Type XXVI.

So is this "Old Man of the Mountain" type, I think:

France, AE Medal, First Empire, Mont Blanc School of Mines, 1805 (original strike, no hallmark). Obv. by Bertrand Andrieu: Laureate head right, NAPOLEON - EMPEREUR; beneath truncation in two lines, DENON DIR. | ANDRIEU F. [fecit] / Rev. by Nicolas Guy Antoine Brenet: A figure of an old man of colossal size, personifying the mountain of Mont Blanc; he appears in a crouching attitude, blind from age, with his bald head penetrating and capped with clouds; his right hand grasps a gigantic rock, under which appears a cavern with miners working within; his left hand, in repose, lies across his left thigh; water flows from rocks and from his long beard to feed rivers at the base of the mountain, where his left foot rests; in exergue in two lines, ECOLE DES MINES DU | MONT BLANC; above exergue on raised edge of ground line, BRENET F. to left and DENON D. to right / Edge: “34” written in old ink on edge (probably a reference to the medal’s catalog number in Laskey 1818, infra). 40 mm., 38.52 g.  Bramsen I 471 pp. 77-78 [Ludvig Ernst Bramsen, Médaillier Napoléon le Grand, ou, Description des médailles, clichés, repoussés, et médailles-décorations relatives aux affaires de la France pendant le consulat et l'empire, Vol. I, 1799-1809, at pp. 88-89 (Copenhagen 1904), available at Neuman Numismatic Portal]; Millin & Millingen 79 p. 30 (Ill. Pl. XXIII) ) [Aubin Louis Millin de Grandmaison & James Millingen, Medallic History of Napoleon (London 1819), available on Google Books]; Julius 1498 p. 92 [Sammlung Dr. [Paul] Julius, Heidelberg: Französische Revolution Napoleon I. und seine Zeit : Medaillen, Orden und Ehrenzeichen, Münzen (Auktion 11 Jan. 1932, Otto Helbing Nachf., München, Auktions-Katalog 66), available at Newman Numismatic Portal); Laskey 34 pp. 68-69 [Capt. J.C. Laskey, A Description of the Series of Medals Struck at the National Medal Mint by Order of Napoleon Bonaparte (London 1818), available on Google Books]; Zeitz 34 p. 94 (ill. p. 95) [Lisa & Joachim Zeitz, Napoleons Medaillen (Petersberg Imhof 2003)]. Purchased from Münzenhandlung Wolfgang Rittig, Schwelm, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, April 2023 (with old German-language coin ticket from a previous owner, with purchase date 1971).*

 

The names of Brenet and Denon on the reverse can be seen only when viewing the medal from its edge. This photo shows the names, and also gives an idea of the medal's three-dimensionality:

The inked number on the edge probably represents the medal's Laskey number (also used in Zeitz), based on a list of the Napoleon Medals available for purchase at the Monnaie de Paris (i.e., the Paris Mint) in 1815: 

*This medal commemorates the establishment of a school of mineralogy in the Department of Mont Blanc. According to Zeitz (see p. 94), the medal’s reverse design was announced on 12 Feb, 1802, the die was completed by Brenet in May 1805, and a specimen was presented to Napoleon’s Council of Mines on 16 Feb. 1806. Both Laskey and Millingen suggest that the reverse design was inspired by the famous 11-meter high 16^th century “Apennine Colossus” statue by the Flemish sculptor Giambologna (Jean de Boulogne), located in Tuscany, intended as a personification of the Apennine Mountains. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apennine_Colossus and the photos of the Colossus at that page, e.g. the following:

 

There is undeniably a resemblance.

 

[Parthicus]

I've shared these before, but it's the appropriate season again:

On this Sasanian drachm of Khusro II (590-628) the combination of wear patterns and partial toning combine to give Khusro a corpse-like, zombie-ish appearance.

And this AE stater of Kashmir has an obverse featuring Toramana II and his HIDEOUS CLAW HAND:

 

[Roman Collector]

Last time I saw a face like Uberitas' it was in a haunted house!




Trebonianus Gallus, AD 251-253.
Roman AR antoninianus, 5.43 g, 20.1 mm, 6 h.
Antioch, first series, AD 251-252.
Obv: IMP C C VIB TREB GALLVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right; •••• below.
Rev: VBERITAS AVG, Uberitas standing left, holding purse and cornucopiae; •••• in exergue.
Refs: RIC 92; Cohen 125; RCV 9652; Hunter p. cvi; ERIC II 63.

A rather ghoulish-looking Pudicitia -- or perhaps she's just wearing a gas mask:


Julia Domna, AD 193-217.
Roman AR denarius, 3.20 g, 17.6 mm, 7 h.
Rome, AD 211.
Obv: IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: PVDICITIA, Pudicitia veiled and stolate, seated left, head and torso facing, right hand on breast and left hand resting on chair and holding scepter.
Refs: RIC 385; BMCRE 19; Cohen 165 (error); RSC 172a; RCV 7105; Hill 1298; CRE 383; ERIC II 210.
Notes: Ex E. Button, Frankfurter Münzhandlung 114, lot 619, Dec. 5, 1967. Ex CNG Triton XX, lot 614 E053, Jan. 9, 2017.

[expat]

A reverse with Pudicitia removing her veil, showing she is actually a hound of Hell in disguise.

 

Herrenia Etruscilla, wife of Trajan Decius. 249-251 AD.
AR Antoninianus
Obverse: HER ETRVSCILLA AVG. Diademed and draped bust right on crescent.
Reverse: PVDICITIA AVG. Pudicitia seated left holding sceptre and drawing veil from her face.
RIC IV 59b. Hunter 5; RSC 19
 Rome mint, A.D. 250.  3,8 g – 20,5 mm

Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla was Roman empress as the wife of Emperor Decius. She was the mother of Emperors Herennius Etruscus and Hostilian.
As with most third-century Roman empresses, very little is known about her. She was probably from a senatorial family. It is assumed that her ancestors settled in Etrusian lands. Herennia married Decius probably before 230 and gained the title Augusta when Decius became emperor 249.
While information about her is scarce, coins with her portrait are numerous and easy to obtain.

 

[Ryro]

Some disgustingly delightful drachms of death! Spanks for the spooks☠️

All terrifying scenarios @kirispupis! Each one more disturbing than the next. Had me going...

Excellent imagery @Ed Snible! And some enormous coins!!!

The heart being taken out of the chest by, what clearly looks like a wild haired, mad scientist is excellent.

And you are spot on about that second being a masterpiece🤩 And are you kidding?! I would kill to have a coin meet up and see that thing and others in person. Maybe I'd show you an MSC or two that you haven't seen... though, still no left facing elephant. Which you have seen☺️

I don't recall ever seeing a bat on a coin before. And rendered so exquisitely eerilie!

@ambr0zieyou still surprise me! That top gorgon is to die for!

Happy to share some of mine:

Happy Halloween @AETHER!

Sensational Satanic imagery @expat! Sounds like I'm going to have to read the Adventurous Simplicissimus. And show that coin of yours to my wifey in Hallows eve to, "scare the pants off her"😉

And @DonnaML, I've been looking for a Plancus Denarius for sometime. Though, primarily for the wonderful artistry on the reverse. And yours is AMAZING! That said, your obverse is creepy as hell 😱 Reminds my of the classic 90's horror by Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) called

And yeah, it's scary as it looks. 

ps, LOVE the Napoleonic coins, but WoWiE yours is something spooky and special. 

Excellent Zombie @Parthicus! And the claw hands reminds me of my Celtic creature of nightmares:

Those bug eyes must've scare some ancients silly, @Roman Collector !(hell, she scared me today!) Something about the bug eyes:

And damn that Pudicitiais freaky! Those Romans didn't know how to do a facing coin without it being spooky! Here's a rather Satanic looking Roma. Don't look straight into her face though...

I told you NOT to! Now she owns your soul. 

Maybe it's just Pudicitia who is to blame as yours is just as creepy, love the dog faced woman @expat!

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Ryro