Uncommon reverse on new Roman Alexandrian tetradrachm, depicting two Canopic jars of Osiris

[DonnaML]

Roman Alexandrian tetradrachms depicting a single Canopus of Osiris on the reverse aren't all that common, but I do have two examples (one issued by Hadrian and one by Antoninus Pius). I have previously posted my write-ups and photos of both, and am reposting them below following the description of my new coin.

 

Tetradrachms depicting two Canopic jars of Osiris on the same reverse are considerably rarer, with only two types so far as I'm aware, and a total of fewer than a dozen known examples of those two types. (See the second footnote to my description below.)

 

I happened to come across one of those types in a Kölner Münzkabinett auction early this month, and decided to bid on it even though the condition is admittedly not the greatest. I was fortunate enough to win it -- my first ancient coin purchase of any kind since I bought my Julia Domna lion quadriga denarius from cgb.fr in early September, and my first auction purchase since a Naville auction in June -- and wrote it up yesterday.

Hadrian, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 9 (AD 124/125), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate bust right wearing paladumentum, cuirass, and aegis, seen from rear, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ - ΤΡΑΙ ΑΔΡΙΑ ϹƐΒ [translation: Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus] / Rev. Two Canopic jars of Osiris* standing on base facing each other, each wearing a similar crown of Osiris or Atef crown (combining various elements in slightly different ways, including the white crown of Upper Egypt with curved ostrich feathers on each side, a sun disk, uraei, and ram’s horns), the body of the one on the right decorated with draperies, and the body of the one on the left decorated with figures; ƐT – ƐNAT (Year 9) across fields. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. III 5490 (2015); RPC III Online 5490 at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5490 [6 previous specimens listed, 5 of them in the collections of the British Museum, the BNF in Paris, the ANS in New York, and museums in Berlin and Athens; Specimen No. 7 is this coin from this auction; see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/482482] **; Emmett 829.9 [Emmett, Keith, Alexandrian Coins (Lodi, WI, 2001)]; BMC 16 Alexandria 632 at p. 75 [Poole, Reginald Stuart, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 16, Alexandria (London, 1892)] [Rev. ill. Pl. XVIII; also ill. as RPC III Online 5490, Specimen 1]; Curtis 377 at p. 16 [James W. Curtis, The Tetradrachms of Roman Egypt (1969)] [described as “Very Rare”]; K&G 32.306 (ill. p. 127) [Kampmann, Ursula & Ganschow, Thomas, Die Münzen der römischen Münzstätte Alexandria  (2008)]; SNG France 4, Alexandrie II 1441 (with ill.) [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, France Vol. 4, Alexandrie II, Hadrien – Antonin le Pieux – Nomes (Zurich 2018)] [also ill. as RPC Online 5490, Specimen 2]; Dattari (1901 ed.) 1329 at p. 87 [rev. ill. Pl. XI] [Dattari, Giovanni, Monete imperiali greche, Numi Augg. Alexandrini, Catalogo della collezione (Cairo 1901)] [Specimen 6 of RPC III Online 5490, see second fn. below]; Milne – [not listed]. 24 mm., 12.38 g. Purchased from Kölner Münzkabinett Auction 122, 4 Oct. 2024, Lot 281; from Dr. Victor Wishnevsky Collection,*** acquired in 1972 from Coin Galleries (Stack’s), New York City, per “collector’s note.”

 

* For a discussion of Canopic jars of Osiris like those depicted on this coin and on the two tetradrachms I previously posted that each depict a single canopus, see https://egypt-museum.com/osiris-canopic-jar/, with photos of the well-known Osiris-Canopus Jar from Hadrian’s Villa, now at the Vatican Museum, describing it as “A Canopic jar with the head of Osiris emerging from it. In the cult of Isis and Serapis, during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Osiris-Canopus jars (also known as Osiris-Hydreios) were carried by priests during processions. As they are solid, each symbolically carried water from the Nile, fertility that originated from the god Osiris, one of Egypt’s earliest fertility gods. Osiris-Canopus was named after the ancient Egyptian town of Canopus, on the western bank at the mouth of the westernmost branch of the Delta known as the Canopic or Heracleotic branch – not far from Alexandria. Roman Period, ca. 131-138 AD.” See also https://followinghadrian.com/2017/05/16/art-and-sculptures-from-hadrians-villa-osiris-canopus-jar/ , describing the grey basalt Osiris-Canopus jar found at Hadrian’s Villa (Gregoriano Egizio: Vatican inventory no. 22852) as follows: 

“The vase represents a form of the Egyptian god Osiris depicted as a jar topped by a human head known as Osiris-Hydreios, or commonly Osiris-Canopus, because it was originally exclusively connected to the Canopic region of Egypt. It was discovered in the middle of the 18th century and is now in the Vatican Museums (Gregoriano Egizio: Vatican inventory no. 22852). It is thought to have come from the Antinoeion, a temple complex devoted to Antinous located along the monumental entrance of Hadrian’s Villa that led to the Vestibule. Several Egyptian-style sculptures were found at the Antinoeion during the excavations in 2002, including Egyptianizing architectural fragments and a small head with pharaonic headgear. . . . The lid depicts the head of Osiris. His hair is arranged in the Egyptian style called the klaft. He wears a crown and the protective uraeus (rearing sacred cobra). His body is in the shape of a Canopic jar, a vessel holding the deceased’s internal organs for the afterlife. The vase is decorated in relief with a religious scene: a winged scarab beetle is holding the sun disc flanked by two uraei (cobras) and surmounted by a shrine to the god Apis bull crowned by two falcons wearing the double crown of Egypt. Representations of Harpocrates flank the whole scene. Osiris-Canopus was named after the ancient Egyptian town of Canopus, located in the Nile Delta, not far from Alexandria. The imagery of Osiris-Canopus appears on Alexandrian coins in the 1st century AD and thrived in the 2nd century AD in Egypt and beyond. Osiris-Canopus’ representation is also known from Rome and Pompeii, where he was closely associated with the cult of the Goddess Isis.” Here are two photos of the basalt Osiris-Canopus at the Vatican Museum, followed by a photo of an extremely similar artifact in alabaster (cited as the Hadrian's Villa Canopus at the first link above, but obviously not the same example): 

 

**In addition, https://www.acsearch.info/ lists only three previous auction sales of this type: one by Leu Numismatik on 8 Jul 2023 (ex Naville Numismatics 15 Dec. 2019 and ex Dattari Collection) [Specimen 6 of RPC III 5490, the one previous auction sale listed on RPC], one by CNG on 13 Mar 2013, and one that was part of a group lot of five coins sold by Stack’s Bowers on 8 Jan 2013. In total, then, there appear to be approximately ten known specimens of this type from Hadrian’s Year 9: the seven listed at RPC III 5490 (including my Kölner specimen and the Leu specimen from the Dattari Collection); the CNG and Stack’s specimens not listed in RPC; and the specimen illustrated at K&G p. 127 (from the Gilles Blançon [Hannover, Germany] Liste 31 in 1999-2000). Some of these specimens show a clearer distinction than mine between the headdresses on the two canopic jars, as detailed in BMC 16 and SNG France 4, cited above.

There was also a similar tetradrachm issued in Hadrian’s Year 10 (Geissen 902, cited in turn in Emmett and K&G, and as RPC III Online 5575), but I have been unable to find any specimens other than the one listed in Geissen, located in the museum in Köln. The Hadrian Years 9 and 10 tetradrachms are the only two Roman Alexandrian tetradrachm types I know of depicting two canopic jars of Osiris on the reverse. However, there were a number of bronze drachms with two canopic jars on the reverse, issued in various years by Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Faustina II, and Lucius Verus. See the listings at Emmett p. 292 and Milne p. 136.

***See this translated description of the Dr. Victor Wishnevsky Collection from the catalog for the Kölner Münzkabinett Auction 122, 4 Oct 2024, at p. 13:

“FOREWORD

We are delighted to present to you the third part of the Dr. Victor Wishnevsky collection under the title "Aegyptus in Nummis" as part of this year's autumn auctions. This catalogue includes around 1,000 individual lots as well as some attractive lots of ancient coins from Egypt from the Ptolemaic period to late antiquity. This is the heart of the collection of over 7,000 coins that the Munich chemist Dr. Victor Wishnevsky (1928-2023) has put together in almost 60 years of collecting. 

During a trip to Egypt that Wishnevsky took with his wife in the 1960s, his interest in the country's ancient numismatics was sparked. Wishnevsky was soon in contact with numerous dealers and began to build up his collection. When the Giovanni Dattari collection came onto the market in the early 1970s, he already had the necessary expertise and acquired numerous high-quality coins with the provenance that is so sought after today, so that the current catalogue contains over 300 pieces "ex Dattari". In addition, there are also pieces from other interesting provenances such as the Steger, Mabbott, Curtis, Aiello and Wetterstrom collections. The Wishnevsky collection will now join this series of illustrious special collections, which is certainly one of the best Alexandrian collections to have come onto the market in recent decades. The importance of the collection is based not only on the high density of pieces with interesting provenance and rarities, but in particular on the quality and variety of the pieces, which reflect the entire range of Alexandrian coinage. In order to do justice to the character of the collection in this catalogue, we have made a representative selection from the approximately 3,000 Egyptian coins in the Wishnevsky collection. Duplicates and additions to this catalogue will be offered as part of an e-auction next year.

We hope you enjoy studying this catalogue and look forward to your participation in the auction!

Cologne, September 2024.”

And here are my two specimens each depicting a single Canopus of Osiris on the reverse, both previously posted. The first footnote above is equally applicable to these two coins:

Hadrian, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 11 (126/127 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from rear, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ - ΤΡΑΙ ΑΔΡΙΑ ϹƐΒ / Rev. Canopic Jar of Osiris (a/k/a Osiris-Canopus Jar and Osiris-Hydreios) facing right, surmounted by Atef crown above ram horns; body of jar with decorations including disk and horns below right, walking male figure to left; L ΕΝΔ - EKATΟΥ [= Year 11 spelled out]. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. III 5640 (2015); RPC III Online 5640  at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5640; Köln 939 [Geissen, A., Katalog alexandrinischer Kaisermünzen, Köln, Band II (Hadrian-Antoninus Pius) (Cologne, 1978, corrected reprint 1987)]; Milne 1205 at p. 30 [Milne, J.G., Catalogue of Alexandrian Coins (Oxford 1933, reprint with supplement by Colin M. Kraay, 1971)]; Emmett 827.11 [Emmett, Keith, Alexandrian Coins (Lodi, WI, 2001)]; Dattari (Savio) 1327 [Savio, A. ed., Catalogo completo della collezione Dattari Numi Augg. Alexandrini (Trieste, 2007)].  25 mm., 13.41 g. Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 212th Buy or Bid Sale, August 2020, Lot 497.

Antoninus Pius, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 2 (138-139 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint.  Obv. Bare head right with traces of drapery, ΑVΤ Κ Τ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤѠNΙΝΟϹ ƐVϹƐΒ / Rev. Canopic Jar of Osiris (a/k/a Osiris-Canopus Jar), bearded, right, standing on cushion, crowned with horns, disk, plumes, and uraei; body of jar with decorations including diagonal lines beginning in upper left, and, in upper right, horizontal lines enclosed with border of dots in shape of shield [see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/120672 for specimen (No. 26 of RPC IV.4 13409) with virtually identical decorations on body of jar], ƐΤΟ-VϹ around from 8:00, Β (Year 2) in right field beneath end of legend. RPC IV.4 Online 13409 (temp.) (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/13409); Emmett 1373.2, BMC 16 Alexandria 992 at p. 115; Milne 1591 at p. 40 (ill. at Pl. I) [body described as “entirely draped,” differentiated at p. 136 from other specimens]; K&G 35.6 (ill. p. 158); Sear RCV II 4339 (ill. p. 241). Purchased on Jan. 14, 2022 from Keith Candiotti (Miami, FL) at NYINC 2022. 22 mm., 9.84 g.

Please post any Roman Alexandrian coins you may have that you find interesting, particularly those depicting figures or objects -- canopic jars or otherwise -- harkening back to traditional Ancient Egyptian religious practices, rather than products of Greco-Roman syncretism.

Edited November 2, 2024 by DonnaML

[ambr0zie]

Extraordinary. I don't think I saw this particular reverse. 

Being an admirer of Alexandrian coins, canopus reverses are very attractive for me. 

I remember an auction where there were 2 (simple) canopus reverses - one from Hadrian and one from Pius. Both presentable and in the end both had decent prices, but I managed to lose both. 

I did manage to get a Trajan though and this is a serious candidate for my yearly top 10. 

25 mm, 12,87 g.
Egypt, Alexandria. Trajan 98-117 AD. Billon tetradrachm. Dated RY 15 – 111-112 AD.
ΑΥΤ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ ϹΕΒ ΓΕΡΜ ΔΑΚΙΚ, laureate head of Trajan, right / L ΙΕ (date), canopus of Osiris, right, on base.
Köln 574; Dattari (Savio) 648; RPC III, 4576; K&G 27.372; Emmett 371.15.

[DANTE]

 Congrats on your new acquisition, @DonnaML☺️

If you consider buying your first coin since September is a drought, the coin below is only my second coin purchase this year. ( I've been focusing on antiquities the last two years, so coin purchases have been few and far between). It's from the same K.M./Wishnevsky auction. Mine's the more common variety with a single canopus of Osiris on the reverse. No artistic dies here, no lofty Dattari provenance either, but still good enough for my taste. I briefly considered bidding on your specimen and even had it on my watchlist,( the double, facing canopi look lovely!) but then decided that that coin would likely attract too many bidders. Happy to see that you were the most persistent bidder and that the coin ended up in your collection!

My budget Hadrian:

 

 

 

[JayAg47]

Is it just me or those canopies look like a couple of penguins shaking hands? (or flippers)

Edited October 31, 2024 by JayAg47

[TIF]

What a fantastic catch, Donna!  😍  

Congratulations!!

I can contribute a couple of canopic coins... you've seen mine many times before 😄.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian
year 11, CE 126/7
billon tetradrachm, 26 mm, 12.6 gm
Obv: AVTKAITPAI AΔPIACEB; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind
Rev: L ENΔ EKATOV: Canopus of Osiris right
Ref: Emmett 827.11, R3; Milne 1205

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian
year 18, CE 133/4
Æ drachm, 26.4 gm
Obv: AYT KAIC TPAIAN (A∆PIANOC CEB), laureate and draped bust right
Rev: Canopic jars facing; L I H across fields
Ref: Emmett 933.18, R1 

 

An early purchase, needs a reshoot--

EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
Regnal year 2 (138/9 AD)
billion tetradrachm, 24 mm, 12.63 gm
Obv: AVT K T AIL ADP ANTWNINOC EY CEB, bare head right
Rev: ETO VCB, canopus of Osiris right on cushion

[DonnaML]

8 hours ago, TIF said:

What a fantastic catch, Donna!  😍  

Congratulations!!

I can contribute a couple of canopic coins... you've seen mine many times before😄.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian
year 11, CE 126/7
billon tetradrachm, 26 mm, 12.6 gm
Obv: AVTKAITPAI AΔPIACEB; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind
Rev: L ENΔ EKATOV: Canopus of Osiris right
Ref: Emmett 827.11, R3; Milne 1205

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian
year 18, CE 133/4
Æ drachm, 26.4 gm
Obv: AYT KAIC TPAIAN (A∆PIANOC CEB), laureate and draped bust right
Rev: Canopic jars facing; LIH across fields
Ref: Emmett 933.18, R1 

 

An early purchase, needs a reshoot--

EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
Regnal year 2 (138/9 AD)
billion tetradrachm, 24 mm, 12.63 gm
Obv: AVT KT AIL ADP ANTWNINOC EY CEB, bare head right
Rev: ETO VCB, canopus of Osiris right on cushion

Thank you,@TIF -- and everyone else as well. Great coins, as always. I don't remember seeing your bronze drachm with two canopi before. There were a half-dozen of them (issued by Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius) offered in the same Kölner Münzkabinett auction earlier this month in which I bought my Hadrian tetradrachm, and I considered bidding on one or more of them, but after I won the tetradrachm I decided that I had spent more than enough money that day! (I had a competitor who drove the price up beyond what I had expected, but it had been so long since I bought anything at an auction that I decided to be persistent.)

Every time I see your Hadrian Year 11 tetradrachm with the single Osiris canopus on the reverse -- the same type as the one I re-posted above -- I find it quite interesting that even though our two examples are clearly not reverse die matches, the decorations on the bodies of the two canopi on our coins are extremely similar (although not identical). Some are even sufficiently clear to be identifiable, which is not always the case. In fact, in certain ways they seem reminiscent of the elements of the decorations on the Osiris-Canopus artifacts from Hadrian's Villa (see the photos I posted of the two artifacts, one in basalt and the other in alabaster).* Here are our two reverses side by side, with mine on the left and yours on the right:

 

Thus, moving from bottom to top, even apart from the fact that the bases are essentially identical, the bottom row of decorations on each of our canopi depicts a feathered wing on the left, presumably intended to represent the type of falcon-winged heart scarab amulet often found as a pectoral sewn to mummy wrappings, symbolizing the cycle of eternal death and rebirth as the scarab uses its wings to accompany the sun on its daily journey. See the winged scarab at the bottom of the decorations on both the basalt and the alabaster Osiris-Canopi pictured above, and see the examples of such amulets at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/552816  and https ://www.artic.edu/artworks/136093/winged-scarab-amulet . 

To the right of the wing on each of our reverses is the same type of sun disk between uraei that forms an element of Osiris's crown, and also appears directly above the winged scarab on the bodies of both of the Osiris-Canopi artifacts above.

In the second row from the bottom, both of our reverses depict two figures on the left, gesturing (in different ways) to a quadrilateral on the right shaped like an isosceles trapezoid with the two sides sloping outward (actually two such shapes, one inside the other). What looks like a sun disk or other round object is depicted in the center of the quadrilateral. If I had to make an educated guess, it would be that these quadrilaterals on our canopi  represent pylon-shaped pectoral amulets, "a characteristic chest ornament from the Middle Kingdom onwards" (Carol Andrews, Amulets of Ancient Egypt  [British Museum 1994] at p. 97 & ill. 97e). Such amulets take the same truncated pyramidal form as the elements of the monumental gateway entrance into an Egyptian temple, consisting of "two pyramidal towers, each tapered and surmounted by a cornice, joined by a less elevated section enclosing the entrance between them." See   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pylon_(architecture) , with photos of such temple gateways. Here are two examples of pylon-shaped pectoral amulets, one from the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts and one for sale at Medusa Ancient Art. The first one has no decoration in the center, and the second depicts an Apis bull -- giving it almost exactly the same appearance as the pectoral amulets depicted on the chests of the basalt and alabaster Osiris-Canopi shown above, indicating that those must have been intended to be pylon-shaped as well:

Finally, I have no good guess that might identify whatever sits above the pylon-shaped pectorals on our canopi. The blob on mine vaguely resembles a bucranium to my eyes, but that could easily just be an example of pareidolia. I have no idea what yours could be!

*To clear up the confusion in my initial post about the locations of the two nearly-identical Osiris-Canopus artifacts, it turns out that both were found at Hadrian's Villa. The one made of basalt is the one in the Vatican Museum, with the accession number stated in my initial post. The one made of alabaster is in the Netherlands, at Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. See  https://www.flickr.com/photos/jankunst/24853060659  , describing it as follows : 

"A magnificent alabaster Osiris Canopus or Osiris Hydreios, the god Osiris in the shape of a jar, symbolizing (and meant to contain) the life-giving water of the Nile.

This particularly beautiful example dates from the 1st century CE. It was found in the Villa of the Emperor Hadrian near Tivoli and, in 1846, given by Pope Pius IX to Queen Anna Pavlovna, the wife of King William II of the Netherlands. It is still part of the Royal Collections, but on a long-term loan to the RMO."

See also the photo and description at  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canopo_di_osiride_in_alabastro,_I_secolo_dc,_dalla_coll._della_regina_anna_pavlovna_su_dono_di_pio_ix.jpg .

Edited to add: I just had to turn off spell-check in my Google Chrome settings so that my browser wouldn't keep changing "canopi" wherever I typed it to "canopies." Even in the thread title! I'm not talking about canopies! Frustrating. 

Edited November 1, 2024 by DonnaML

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

I enjoyed both the coins and the informative writeups.

[JAZ Numismatics]

Superb thread! I had no idea such a type even existed.

[Roman Collector]

Cool coins and informative write-up!! 

[DonnaML]

I came back to this thread this evening and discovered that the word for the plural of canopus had been automatically changed once more to the extremely annoying "canopies" -- even though I turned off spell-checking both on Chrome and on the settings for my desktop.  The mindless idiot known as AI must be destroyed! I couldn't think of anything else to try, so I seem to have gotten around the problem by changing that word wherever it appeared to "canopic jars." Which seems to be an approved formulation! 

[hotwheelsearl]

I have a canopic jar but can't find the picture! Here's another very Egyptian motif.

[DonnaML]

The lot description of my new coin with two facing canopus jars on the reverse stated that Dr. Wishnevsky acquired it in 1972 from Coin Galleries [the old Stack’s outlet for selling ancient and world coins], according to a “collector’s note.”  So I emailed Kölner Münzkabinett the other day to ask if they could send me a copy of that "collector's note" for my records. I received a response this morning. It seems that Dr. Wishnevsky documented his collection on individual index cards, and Kölner was kind enough to send me a copy of the one for this coin: 

No computerized inventory for Dr. Wishnevsky; he kept track of his collection the old-fashioned way!

The reference to "Coin Galleries 72" is on the reverse of the card. Is there anyone able to read German handwriting who can please make an attempt to decipher and translate the rest of what's written on the reverse following this notation? (The description of the coin on the front of the card is comparatively easy to read.) Many thanks.

[DonnaML]

23 hours ago, DonnaML said:

The lot description of my new coin with two facing canopus jars on the reverse stated that Dr. Wishnevsky acquired it in 1972 from Coin Galleries [the old Stack’s outlet for selling ancient and world coins], according to a “collector’s note.”  So I emailed Kölner Münzkabinett the other day to ask if they could send me a copy of that "collector's note" for my records. I received a response this morning. It seems that Dr. Wishnevsky documented his collection on individual index cards, and Kölner was kind enough to send me a copy of the one for this coin: 

No computerized inventory for Dr. Wishnevsky; he kept track of his collection the old-fashioned way!

The reference to "Coin Galleries 72" is on the reverse of the card. Is there anyone able to read German handwriting who can please make an attempt to decipher and translate the rest of what's written on the reverse following this notation? (The description of the coin on the front of the card is comparatively easy to read.) Many thanks.

Nobody around the last couple of days who reads German? Any suggestions re whom I might tag? Thanks.

[DANTE]

 

Hi @DonnaML

 

The last lines after Coin Galleries 72 are in Russian, not German. That explains the confusion.☺️

Unfortunately, I'm bad at deciphering handwriting, so I'm missing the first word in each line. Nothing of note here, probably just arithmetic about the price and buyer's premium. 

 

Line 1: (can't read first word) '... twenty five plus 6.5%

                                                                for two'.

Line 2: (can't read first word) '...that's fifteen plus percent

                                                        (or a bit more)'.

Edited November 4, 2024 by DANTE

[Deinomenid]

@DonnaML Pic 1

HADRIAN

Reverse: Two Canopic jars

D-1329 (no idea what the scrawl above in small letters is)

Table/photo page XI

BMC-632, Plate XVIII

M - Type only appears on Hadrian bronze coinage

Only one number each!

RR  "very rare"

 

The second is a bit harder  but I think it means/is short for

(Unregelmäßiger Schrötlingsrand, sonst VF+

Uneven flan edge, otherwise VF+  25–26.

...can't tell the rest. Maybe ask Dwarf?

[DonnaML]

18 hours ago, DANTE said:

 

Hi @DonnaML

 

The last lines after Coin Galleries 72 are in Russian, not German. That explains the confusion.☺️

Unfortunately, I'm bad at deciphering handwriting, so I'm missing the first word in each line. Nothing of note here, probably just arithmetic about the price and buyer's premium. 

 

Line 1: (can't read first word) '... twenty five plus 6.5%

                                                                for two'.

Line 2: (can't read first word) '...that's fifteen plus percent

                                                        (or a bit more)'.

Russian? No wonder it looked impossible to decipher! But thank you. I now see some Russian words on the front of the card as well. He was born in 1928, and his birthplace must have been in a Russian-speaking locality. After all, Wishnevsky isn't a German name: my reference books on onomastics state that it's a usually-Jewish name from the Pale of Settlement, derived from Vishnev a/k/a Wiszniew, the name of a town in today's Belarus (near Oshmyany), belonging to Poland during the Interwar period and previously part of the Russian Empire. I couldn't find any biography mentioning his early life or how he ended up as a chemist in Munich. 

Edited November 5, 2024 by DonnaML

[Operator1997]

Speaking of canopic jars, my acquisition back in January

RPC III, 5375 Tetradrachm of Hadrian, Year 7 - Osiris Canopus Reverse (122/3 AD)

RPC Link: (https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/58906)

ex. Eric Ten Brink, ex. Giovanni Dattari (Plate Coin - Dattari-Savio Plate 64, 1323 (https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=5710&pid=149822#top_display_media)

Ex. Naville 43, 23 Sept. 2018, lot 276

Ex. Leu Numismatick 36, 13 July 2023, Lot 7016(https://leunumismatik.com/en/lot/42/7016)

Purchased from Aegean 16 January 2024