savitale Posted December 10, 2023 · Member Share Posted December 10, 2023 The oldest coin I could find is this one, from 1984. It would be astonishing to me if this was the first time an Egyptian pyramid appeared on a coin. There are some earlier medals, but even those are from the Napoleonic era. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanxi Posted December 10, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted December 10, 2023 Let's see who finds the oldest depiction. Funny but totally useless 1980: Circulating commemorative coin https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces16142.html 1970: Non-circulating coin: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces33152.html 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Snible Posted December 10, 2023 · Member Share Posted December 10, 2023 If you had asked for pyramids in general, this 20 centavos from Mexico beats your entries. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanxi Posted December 10, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted December 10, 2023 For pyramids in general there are older ones: Sidon 450 BCE https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=146957 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor DonnaML Posted December 11, 2023 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted December 11, 2023 (edited) I don't think you'll find any coins (as opposed to medals) depicting any of the Pyramids of Giza that are older than this 1867 1 piastre stamp issued by Egypt: Edited December 11, 2023 by DonnaML 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted December 11, 2023 · Patron Share Posted December 11, 2023 How about an 1801 dated medal. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor DonnaML Posted December 11, 2023 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted December 11, 2023 1 hour ago, ChrisB said: How about an 1801 dated medal. A very beautiful specimen! It's number 8 in the Mudie series; number 9, also dated 1801, also shows one pyramid on the reverse. (I have photos of only the reverses of my examples.) Great Britain, English Army in Egypt, 1801 (Struck 1820). Obv. Bust facing, uniformed, LIEUT: GENL.: SIR R: ABERCROMBY. Rev. Horse standing, r.; beyond, three pyramids. ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH ARMY IN EGYPT. In exergue: 8 March 1801. AE 41 mm. By T. Webb. Mudie 8, Eimer 929, BHM 504. Purchased from Paul J. Bosco, New York, NY ca. 1999, ex New Netherlands mail auction, Dec. 3, 1974, Lot 542. Great Britain, Egypt Delivered, 1801 (Struck 1820). Obv. Bust three-quarters l., uniformed. MAJOR GEN. LORD HUTCHINSON. Rev. Exchanging a treaty, Hutchinson facing the Bey of Egypt, who holds the reins of a rearing horse; a pyramid beyond. EGYPT DELIVERED. In exergue: SEPT 11 MDCCCI. AE 41 mm. By T. Webb/A. Dupre. Mudie 9, Eimer 934, BHM 509. Ex Karl Stephens Inc., Fallbrook, CA (with old coin envelope). However, regardless of the dates on the individual medals, the Mudie series was not struck until 1820. Therefore, if we're considering medals as well as coins, my Napoleonic "Conquest of Lower Egypt" medal -- dated 1798 but struck in 1810 -- is the earliest medal I have showing one or more of the pyramids of Giza, and the earliest I know of. See my writeup in my 2023 "top French medals" thread posted yesterday. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor kirispupis Posted December 11, 2023 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted December 11, 2023 What I find interesting is the fact that there's not any (surviving) ancient coins with the pyramids of Egypt. They did mint a coin with the Sphinx, which was right there. You'd think some engraver during those thousand years of history before Islamic coinage forbade such images would have included them. But they didn't. Clearly their perception of the pyramids must be different than now. There are ancient records such as those by Strabo and Herodotus of visits to them, so obviously they found them just as (or more) impressive as we, but there must have been something that disqualified them as coinage. Perhaps their use as tombs of kings long gone? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor DonnaML Posted December 12, 2023 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted December 12, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, kirispupis said: What I find interesting is the fact that there's not any (surviving) ancient coins with the pyramids of Egypt. They did mint a coin with the Sphinx, which was right there. You'd think some engraver during those thousand years of history before Islamic coinage forbade such images would have included them. But they didn't. Clearly their perception of the pyramids must be different than now. There are ancient records such as those by Strabo and Herodotus of visits to them, so obviously they found them just as (or more) impressive as we, but there must have been something that disqualified them as coinage. Perhaps their use as tombs of kings long gone? Or perhaps even with all the widespread syncretism, there was no easy way of fitting the Pyramids into the structure of Greco-Roman/Egyptian mythology and religious symbolism. Unlike Isis and Ser-Apis (Osiris + Apis) and Horus/Harpocrates and sphinxes and the Uraeus serpent paired with the Agathodaemon and so on. Edited December 12, 2023 by DonnaML 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AETHER Posted December 12, 2023 · Member Share Posted December 12, 2023 (edited) Caesarea, Cappadocia, Reign of Trajan, 111 - 112 A.D. ? Not my coin Cappacodica. Caesarea-Eusebia. Time of Trajan. Tyche / Pyramid Obv: Turreted and draped bust of Tyche right. Rev: Pyramid. ET (date) flanking. SNG Cop 173. 98-117. Edited December 12, 2023 by AETHER 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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