DonnaML's Top 12 Roman Provincial (& Greek) Coins for 2023

[Curtisimo]

I have had some great conversations with @Curtis JJ about this collection (you better watch out when two Curtis’s put their heads together). Curtis is a fantastic provenance sleuth and I’ve learned a lot from him. Anyone who wants to know more about George Muller can see the link to the NAC sale below. I still don’t know his life dates so if anyone happens to know more about him please let me know. 

https://www.arsclassicacoins.com/wp-content-nasecure/uploads/2020/06/2013-NAC-73-student2.pdf 

The best guess for the identity of the “student” referenced in the above link is John Pett, also formerly of Spink.

https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n17a11.html

 

[DonnaML]

3 hours ago, Curtisimo said:

Thanks for the shout out @Broucheion.

@DonnaML. Beautiful coins!

Your coin is ex George E. Muller and definitely has a Spink connection. I also have an old tag from this collection. I suspect my tag was written by Leonard Forrer (1869-1953) who held the position of Director of Ancient Coins at Spink before Muller and acted as his mentor (the mentor of the Mentor!). 

Your tag might be from the same hand as mine. Look at the monogram style AE and AR and the use of “4 Drs” instead of “tetradrachm."

 

My working theory is that my coin was sold by Spink in 1941. The Numismatic Circulars of that era are almost impossible to find as you and I discussed on another thread recently.

It’s too bad @Andrew McCabedoesn’t visit the forum very often. I would be interested to get his thoughts. Does anyone know if he frequents any other venues?

Thanks, @Curtisimo! Also the capital G looks similar with Gallienus and Gorytas.

I confess that I had never heard of George Muller before you mentioned him. Even before you mentioned it in your second comment above, I found this short biography in the introduction to the 2013 NAC catalog of the Roman Republican collection of "A Student and his Mentor," with Muller being the Mentor. See https://www.arsclassicacoins.com/wp-content-nasecure/uploads/2020/06/2013-NAC-73-student2.pdf at p. 6:

"For those who do not know him, George Muller was Director of Spink & Son in London for over 30 years. He first came to London to study and attain a good knowledge of the English language, which was essential at the time. Desiring to work for a while in a London firm, preferably in banking, he looked for a position in the commercial field. However, through contacts, he was directed to Spink & Son Ltd, where his father knew a manager.

This firm was well-known as a fine arts dealers and in September 1948, Muller was hired on the merit of his knowledge of French and German, and his great interest in ancient history, Athens and Rome. This fitted him well to assist the old manager (80 years at the time) for Ancient Coins, the famous Leonard Forrer Snr, the co-author with Charles Hersh of a work on "The Roman Republican Coinage", published in 1953, which was a review of the original work of Rev E.A. Sydenham. Though entirely new to him, Muller found this field most exciting, his interest for it growing year by year. Having been told by the Directors of the firm that "he would need 10 years to get to know enough to be useful", he became within 2 years the right hand of Leonard Forrer Snr and, within 5 years (when LF Snr died), he had taken over the Ancient section of the Coin Department. This he developed successfully becoming Assistant Director. His choice fields were Greek coins and the Roman Republican series. When Spink & Son was taken over and things progressively changed within the Company, he decided to leave in late 1982. He continued for a number of years to be actively engaged in the field of Ancient Coins, despite his move to Switzerland with his family, and continued his activity on an international basis.

Muller guided the collector with impeccable taste and competence, choosing every single coin together with him and being just as scrupulous as he would have been when choosing for his own collection. This is a fine example of how a dealer should conduct his business: a dealer must consider their client’s collection as if it were their own and they must never collect coins that could cause a potential conflict of interest with their clientele. Muller belongs to that great generation of numismatists such as Marco and Mario Ratto, Ernesto Santamaria, Leo Mildenberg, Herbert Cahn, Pierre Strauss and Jean Vinchon (to name but a few), who had the capacity to fascinate and captivate their clients, not only with their great numismatic knowledge, but also and above all with their charm, charisma and savoir-faire."

This doesn't say anything about Muller being a collector himself, but obviously he must have been.

PS: Speaking of NAC, I just noticed in your linked post that your Muller coin was, like mine, purchased from a Naville auction. Naville describes itself as NAC's "sister company." So that's another connection. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by DonnaML

[Curtisimo]

1 hour ago, DonnaML said:

Thanks, @Curtisimo! Also the capital G looks similar with Gallienus and Gorytas.

Glad to help. I’m curious, is there anything written on the back of your tag?

[DonnaML]

1 hour ago, Curtisimo said:

Glad to help. I’m curious, is there anything written on the back of your tag?

I just checked. I'm afraid the back is blank.

[Roman Collector]

You have had a great year of collection, @DonnaML! I really appreciate the detailed research you do on all your acquisitions. All coins are gorgeous, but my favorites are the Claudius Obol with the grain ears and poppies, the Agathodaemon, and the Triptolemus. I hope 2024 is similarly coin-filled. 

[Coinmaster]

You’re such a specialist Donna, always great to read your topics!

I’m also curious about the why of your acquisitions, perhaps you can add this to future posts.

Enjoy your coins!

[DonnaML]

@Curtisimo, you noted elsewhere that Muller's birth and death dates appear to be unknown. I think the most obvious explanation for that is that he clearly wasn't born in the UK (see the biography quoted above). And that he probaby didn't die there either, given that he apparently moved to Switzerland after his retirement -- making Switzerland his most likely birthplace as well, given his fluency in French and German also mentioned above. Switzerland is a notoriously difficult place to find birth, death, and census-type records, especially compared to the US and UK. Especially for someone with a common name like Muller's!

Edited December 9, 2023 by DonnaML

[Curtisimo]

7 hours ago, DonnaML said:

@Curtisimo, you noted elsewhere that Muller's birth and death dates appear to be unknown. I think the most obvious explanation for that is that he clearly wasn't born in the UK (see the biography quoted above). And that he probaby didn't die there either, given that he apparently moved to Switzerland after his retirement -- making Switzerland his most likely birthplace as well, given his fluency in French and German also mentioned above. Switzerland is a notoriously difficult place to find birth, death, and census-type records, especially compared to the US and UK. Especially for someone with a common name like Muller's!

I wasn’t aware that Switzerland was difficult for that type of research but it makes sense. Google searches for “George Muller” almost always bring up the British orphanage founder or the American rocket scientist.

I suspect that we might have more luck if we had his full name. The best I was able to do was find his middle initial “E” from the records of the Royal Numismatic Society. There are auction records where the stated provenance indicates Muller was still selling ancient coins into the late 80s.

I hope to eventually find out more. It would be nice to have a reasonably complete biography outline for him like we do with many other collectors who put together important collections. From the sales over the last few years it is clear that his collection was impressive and immense.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Curtisimo

[Qcumbor]

@DonnaML, I'll have to take the whole lot of alexandrian at once... I can't decide which to choose 😞 

Fabulous group of coins !

Q

[singig]

I have four favorites, in this order :

10.  Septimius Severus, AE Tetrassarion

12.  Islands off Caria,

3. Nero, Billon Tetradrachm,

6.  Gallienus, Billon Tetradrachm

Congratulations !

[robinjojo]

Those are wonderful Roman provincial coins, Donna!  Your detailed writeups for each coin are awesome and reflection of your dedication to the scholarly side of our hobby.  The coins we collect are reflections of the history and your descriptions of those you post help widen our understanding of their historical contexts. 

Now, for the coins posted, I like the Nero galley tetradrachm for its quality of strike, and ditto for the Gallienus billon tetradrachm (great portrait). 

 

  

[DonnaML]

Regarding the Gallienus Alexandrian tetradrachm with eagle which a lot of people have liked -- perhaps especially because the portrait is so much more well-done than most of his Imperial portraits! -- and which I now know came from the collection of the long-time Spink Director George Muller, I have one remaining question: does anyone have the Dattari (Savio) volume with all the pencil rubbing illustrations? If so, could they please check the illustration for Dattari 5290, just on the chance that the coin may have originated with the collection of Giovanni Dattari himself? It's certainly nice enough that it's a possibility worth checking. Thanks!

[panzerman]

Donna......I REALLY like 4/5 and 12.  😃

However it was a hard choice/ all are exceptional in their own right. You certainly love the hobby since you do so research into your coins/ medals/ antiquities. Thus your writeups are supberb. Thanks for sharing!

PS: I got a ZERO in grade nine typing/ reason the old bat stood over me to check if I was looking at my keyboard. I haven't the faintest idea were the things are/ so I look at the board=no spelling mistakes🙃 In my world common sense prevails....

[DonnaML]

Another Roman Provincial coin arrived yesterday -- certainly my final one this year -- that I am sure I would have included in this list if I had bought it before I posted this thread. So I'm posting it here instead of in the "latest ancient coin" thread.

Hadrian, AE Diobol, Year 17 (AD 132/133), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from front, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙϹ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ – ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ / Rev. Harpocrates (Horus-the-Child), nude, standing facing, head left, crowned with skhent (double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, with Uraeus [sacred cobra] at left), raising forefinger of right hand to lips*, holding cornucopiae with left hand and chlamys over left arm; L – IZ (Year 17) across left and right fields. K&G 32.564 (rev. ill. p. 142; this coin) [Kampmann, Ursula & Ganschow, Thomas, Die Münzen der römischen Münzstätte Alexandria (2008)]**; RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. III 5863 (2015); RPC III Online at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5863***; Milne 1386 at p. 33 (date placement var.  LI – Z) [Milne, J.G., Catalogue of Alexandrian Coins (Oxford 1933, reprint with supplement by Colin M. Kraay, 1971)]; Dattari (1901 ed.) 1722 at p. 109 (date placement var.  LI – Z) [Dattari, Giovanni, Monete imperiali greche, Numi Augg. Alexandrini, Catalogo della collezione (Cairo 1901)]. [Not in Emmett or in SNG France, which list only the Year 17 type with a ram’s head in reverse left field; not in BMC 16 Alexandria.] 26.57 mm., 10.63 g. Purchased from Astarte S.A., Lugano, Switzerland, Web Auction 2, 9 Dec. 2023, Lot 253; ex Lanz München 92, 5 June 1999, lot 609; from the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection.****

 

* “Harpocrates (Ancient Greek: Ἁρποκράτης, . . . ) was the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in Ptolemaic Alexandria (and also an embodiment of hope, according to Plutarch). Harpocrates was adapted by the Greeks from the Egyptian child god Horus, who represented the newborn Sun, rising each day at dawn. Harpocrates's name was a Hellenization of the Egyptian Har-pa-khered or Heru-pa-khered, meaning ‘Horus the Child’. Horus is represented as a naked boy with his finger to his mouth, a realisation of the hieroglyph for ‘child’ (𓀔). Misunderstanding this gesture, the later Greeks and Roman poets made Harpocrates the god of silence and secrecy. . . . 

Egyptian statues represent the child Horus, pictured as a naked boy with his finger on his chin with the fingertip just below the lips of his mouth, a realization of the hieroglyph for "child" that is unrelated to the Greco-Roman and modern gesture for "silence". Misunderstanding this sign, the later Greeks and Roman poets made Harpocrates the god of silence and secrecy, taking their cue from Marcus Terentius Varro, who asserted in De lingua Latina of Caelum (Sky) and Terra (Earth).

‘These gods are the same as those who in Egypt are called Serapis and Isis, though Harpocrates with his finger makes a sign to me to be quiet. The same first gods were in Latium called Saturn and Ops.’” Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpocrates.

** I am reasonably certain that the reverse illustration of coin no. 32.564 at p. 142 of Kampmann & Ganschow, marked with a red dot, is of my coin, even though the source of the photo isn't listed -- I don't understand why -- in the otherwise extensive "Bildnachweis" (photo credit) section at the end of the book. Does anyone disagree? The shape of the flan (including the rim nicks and cracks), and the places where one can still see beading at the border, appear to be identical.

***https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/79367, not illustrated there, appears from the description of its pedigree to be this coin, erroneously categorized as Specimen 10 under RPC III Online 5862, a similar Year 17 type with a ram’s head in the reverse left field in front of Harpocrates. I have submitted the following correction to RPC via the online form: "This coin should properly be categorized under RPC III 5863, not RPC III 5862: there is no ram's head in the reverse left field. See the first attached photo. I purchased the coin from Astarte S.A., Lugano, Switzerland, Web Auction 2, 9 Dec. 2023, Lot 253; ex Lanz München 92, 5 June 1999, lot 609; from the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection (see https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=7417&lot=253). This coin is also the "plate coin" for K&G 32.564 (rev. ill. p. 142; this coin) [Kampmann, Ursula & Ganschow, Thomas, Die Münzen der römischen Münzstätte Alexandria (2008)]. See the second attachment. Thank you." Does anyone know if RPC actually pays attention to submissions of this kind?

****The auction catalog for Lanz München 92, 4-6 June 1999, does not appear to be available online, so I have not been able to confirm the pedigree. However, I found an inexpensive copy for sale on ebay, and have ordered it. When it arrives and I am able to check the illustration (assuming there is one) against my coin, I will post an update. I am also curious as to what, if anything, the catalog says about the coin being from the Staffieri Collection, and whether there were other Staffieri coins sold in that auction. I am, of course, familiar with the major sale of Staffieri's Roman Alexandrian coins -- many of them originally from the Dattari Collection -- at CNG's Triton XXI on 9 Jan. 2018 (I own a hard copy of the catalog), but wasn't aware that he had previously sold Alexandrian coins from his collection, as far back as 1999. If this coin really is from the Staffieri Collection, it is my first with that pedigree. Here is a short biography of Giovanni Staffieri from p. 8 of the Triton XXI catalog:

Edited December 16, 2023 by DonnaML

[Di Nomos]

Wait, so there's a God of silence? With a 5 and a 12 year old girls in my house arguing all the time, I wish he'd pay me a visit!

And a very beautiful coin and really interesting story too. I think this is my new favourite in your Roman Provincials.

[DonnaML]

I thought I would consolidate my several outstanding questions from this thread -- mostly relating to the new addition I posted yesterday to my "2023 top Provincials" list, the Hadrian diobol from Roman Alexandria with a standing Harpocrates on the reverse, forefinger to his mouth (see above) -- in case there's anybody who hasn't seen those questions who might be able to offer their opinion.

First, regarding the Hadrian/Harpocrates diobol, am I correct in believing that the Kampmann & Ganschow "plate coin" illustration of the reverse of the type, at K&G 32.564 (p. 142) -- see the two photos above -- is, in fact, a photograph of the reverse of my coin?

Second, regarding the correction I submitted online to the editors of "Roman Provincial Coinage" project at Oxford, pointing out that the unillustrated specimen on RPC described as having the same pedigree as my coin (to the Lanz Munich auction 92 in 1999, Lot 609, from the Giovanni Staffieri Collection) was categorized under the wrong RPC number, does anyone have experience submitting similar corrections, and did they ever get a response? 

Third, regarding the Gallienus Alexandrian tetradrachm with an eagle reverse that I included as # 6 on my list in my initial post in this thread, which I now know (thanks to information from @Broucheion and @Curtisimo) is from the Collection of George E. Muller (the long-time Spink Director), is there anyone who has a copy of Dattari (Savio) who would be willing to check the illustration of Dattari 5290 for me to see if by any chance George Muller might have gotten the coin from the Dattari Collection originally?

Fourth, regarding the Hadrian/Harpocrates diobol, the same type of request: is there someone who could possibly check the illustration of Dattari 1722 for me to see if perhaps Giovanni Staffieri might have gotten the coin from the Dattari Collection?

Many thanks, and my apologies in advance for being such a “noodge”!

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by DonnaML

[lordmarcovan]

Eyecandy all around, but the one that stood out for me was the Nero tetradrachm with the ship reverse.  I've wanted one of those for some time now, and yours has the ship nicely centered and fully on the flan, with details in the sail and dolphins playing in the waves!  I love it.

Honorable mention: I also was very impressed by the Hadrian with the snake biga and the lovely contrasting grey tone.

[savitale]

I really enjoyed this set, lots of cool types. I was particularly drawn to 5. Hadrian, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 21 (AD 136/137), Alexandria, Egypt, obviously for the reverse. I know this isn't the same reference but I can't help but think of Euripides' Medea flying away in her chariot pulled by serpents. 

[Edessa]

On 12/17/2023 at 4:30 PM, DonnaML said:

Second, regarding the correction I submitted online to the editors of "Roman Provincial Coinage" project at Oxford, pointing out that the unillustrated specimen on RPC described as having the same pedigree as my coin (to the Lanz Munich auction 92 in 1999, Lot 609, from the Giovanni Staffieri Collection) was categorized under the wrong RPC number, does anyone have experience submitting similar corrections, and did they ever get a response? 

 

I have submitted several new examples to the RPC Project, corrections to their current listings and even a few corrections to my corrections. Most have been adopted in a short period of time and only a very few have been ignored for one reason or the other.  

[SGTKinzer]

@DonnaML this is great!  I enjoyed this so much!  Thank you for the shout outs!  Glad to see my old babies!