Massive projects, wins and a huge numismatic honour

[Helvius Pertinax]

It has been a couple weeks since I had the opportunity to meet a scholar I hugely admire. The name Ian Carradice should ring a bell to anyone who has tried identifying an Achaemenid Siglos or Dareikos. The types, chronology and dates established by him in the late 1980s to 1990s hold up to this day and his influence has been massive on the field of Persian numismatics.

 

My own current mission is writing a new reference work on Persian royal coinage, one that I am pursuing along with an American friend and fellow collector. We were able to have a very productive 2 hour talk, one that helped clarify some issues, inspire new lines of thought and motivate to continue this huge project.

 

A few days after, Professor Carradice generously offered some offprints of his later works, and sure enough...

 

 

Getting signed copies from Ian himself was something I wouldn't have dreamed of at the start of the year. Both works are great resources and of particular help when it comes to acquiring some technical data.

 

To make this post more coin-related, here's one of my silver trays relating to our current field of study, six more would be a well-paid mercenaries monthly wage:

 

 

It's also a good time to introduce some recent wins! Our new study subdivides the stylistic groups of Sigloi in a bit more detail than has been done so far. The below Siglos belongs to the second style group of type 4. It is struck quite clearly and the kings face has lots of character.

 

 

And another one, this one belongs to a very small style group but is quite interesting. Typically good examples from these dies hammer/sell for a lot, which is why I am really happy to have one without going bankrupt. CNG theorised a connection of the group to the (so-called) Ionian Map Tetradrachmae:

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=241689

 

Please feel free to share any Sigloi or other coinage minted in the Persian realm, or talk about your own projects!

[kirispupis]

Nice pickup, collection, and project!

One question I've had for some time about these sigloi is I've read about a type where the king is beardless that is tentatively attributed to Cyrus the Younger. Even though I doubt I could afford it, I've long been interested in the type, but I've yet to find even a photo of one. Would you have a photo you could share?

In terms of an example, this is my only siglos.

Achaemenid Kings of Persia
AR-Siglos 5.6 gm, 15mm
Sardis. c. 375-340 BCE
Obv: King r., dagger and bow. Rev: Incuse rectangle
Carradice Type IV C (pl.14, 49); BMC Arabia pl. 27, 19
Ex Akropolis Coins (PeteB)

 

In terms of projects, mine are more on the history/collection end. I'm in the process of adding timelines throughout my website. Here's one I completed yesterday. It's taking quite a bit of time, but I hope to be finished by the end of the year.

After that, I want to tag my coins so I can find coins that share elements quickly.

[Helvius Pertinax]

3 minutes ago, kirispupis said:

Nice pickup, collection, and project!

One question I've had for some time about these sigloi is I've read about a type where the king is beardless that is tentatively attributed to Cyrus the Younger. Even though I doubt I could afford it, I've long been interested in the type, but I've yet to find even a photo of one. Would you have a photo you could share?

In terms of an example, this is my only siglos.

Achaemenid Kings of Persia
AR-Siglos 5.6 gm, 15mm
Sardis. c. 375-340 BCE
Obv: King r., dagger and bow. Rev: Incuse rectangle
Carradice Type IV C (pl.14, 49); BMC Arabia pl. 27, 19
Ex Akropolis Coins (PeteB)

 

In terms of projects, mine are more on the history/collection end. I'm in the process of adding timelines throughout my website. Here's one I completed yesterday. It's taking quite a bit of time, but I hope to be finished by the end of the year.

After that, I want to tag my coins so I can find coins that share elements quickly.

Very nice Siglos! Admittedly I used to be (and still am) a bit jealous of it 😅 Lovely combination of a well centered strike and cool malachite deposits!

 

The Kyros-Daric is actually one of the topics we talked about with Carradice. He doesn't quite buy into it, there's two known examples both in the British Museum. He said it may be tooled, or a fake entirely, but could also be genuine. Someone has got to examine it in hand (perhaps even us?) because pictures will only go so far, and the best ones we've got are from the last millennium (1923 I think).

 

The coin is plated in about two or three publications with images in various qualities, I've got a decent one on my laptop included in the publication which I can send over later.

 

Also, hugely admire the work you're putting into the Website! It's beautiful and very informative, I am looking forward to seeing the additions you'll make to it 👏🏾

[porphyrogenita]

I like the sigloi you have, very nice!

I have 3 sigloi at the moment; I used to have 10 I won from an auction lot but I sold most of them last year. My attributions are tentative at the moment—I feel like I rushed through figuring them out initially and thanks to this thread I want to go double check my conclusions, so apologies if they're inaccurate!

 

Achaemenid Empire; Darius I / Xerxes I (522-465 BC)
AR siglos, 5.5 g
obv: Persian king/hero in kneeling-running stance right, holding spear and bow, quiver over shoulder
rev: incuse punch & countermark

ref = Carradice type IIIa (countermark = #83 (Imperial Persian Coinage by Obol International))

 

 

Achaemenid Empire; Artaxerxes I / Darius II (465-404 BC)
AR siglos, 5.4 g
obv: Persian king/hero in kneeling-running stance right, dagger in right hand and bow in left, quiver with arrows over shoulder
rev: incuse punch & countermark

ref = Carradice type IVa (countermark = #50 (Imperial Persian Coinage by Obol International))

 

Achaemenid Empire; Artaxerxes I / Artaxerxes II (465-358 BC)
AR siglos, 5.6 g
obv: Persian king/hero right in kneeling position with quiver, holding a spear in his right hand and the bow with his left
rev: incuse punch

ref = Carradice type IIIb

[Helvius Pertinax]

13 hours ago, porphyrogenita said:

I like the sigloi you have, very nice!

I have 3 sigloi at the moment; I used to have 10 I won from an auction lot but I sold most of them last year. My attributions are tentative at the moment—I feel like I rushed through figuring them out initially and thanks to this thread I want to go double check my conclusions, so apologies if they're inaccurate!

 

Achaemenid Empire; Darius I / Xerxes I (522-465 BC)
AR siglos, 5.5 g
obv: Persian king/hero in kneeling-running stance right, holding spear and bow, quiver over shoulder
rev: incuse punch & countermark

ref = Carradice type IIIa (countermark = #83 (Imperial Persian Coinage by Obol International))

 

 

Achaemenid Empire; Artaxerxes I / Darius II (465-404 BC)
AR siglos, 5.4 g
obv: Persian king/hero in kneeling-running stance right, dagger in right hand and bow in left, quiver with arrows over shoulder
rev: incuse punch & countermark

ref = Carradice type IVa (countermark = #50 (Imperial Persian Coinage by Obol International))

 

Achaemenid Empire; Artaxerxes I / Artaxerxes II (465-358 BC)
AR siglos, 5.6 g
obv: Persian king/hero right in kneeling position with quiver, holding a spear in his right hand and the bow with his left
rev: incuse punch

ref = Carradice type IIIb

Thanks! I like the ones you got, good selection. The Carradice types are IIIb, IVb (?) and IIIb late. Especially the last one is really nicely struck 😁

[Shea19]

Congrats on some great new additions, I especially like the second coin…excellent details.

I can share my only Persian siglos:   

Persia, Achaemenid Empire, Time of Ataxerxes II to Ataxerxes III, circa 375-340 BC, AR Siglos, (15 mm, 5.47g), Lydio-Milesian standard, Sardes mint, Persian king or hero in kneeling/running stance to right, holding dagger in his right hand and bow in his left./ Rev. Rectangular incuse.

[CPK]

Great coins and an honor indeed @Helvius Pertinax! Best of luck with your project.

I have only one siglos, Type IIIa. I need to take new photos though. I would love to add an earlier type but they get expensive very quickly.

 

 

[Helvius Pertinax]

5 hours ago, Shea19 said:

Congrats on some great new additions, I especially like the second coin…excellent details.

I can share my only Persian siglos:   

Persia, Achaemenid Empire, Time of Ataxerxes II to Ataxerxes III, circa 375-340 BC, AR Siglos, (15 mm, 5.47g), Lydio-Milesian standard, Sardes mint, Persian king or hero in kneeling/running stance to right, holding dagger in his right hand and bow in his left./ Rev. Rectangular incuse.

Appreciate it! Not one to come across every day. Yours is a nice example too, and of one of my favourite style groups! Here's my double die match:

And my other one of this group, just a reverse die match:

[Ryro]

Best of luck in your writing endeavor. I look forward to reading your work on Persian royal coinage.

Some really fun coins herein. 

This one has toned a lot since this poorly taken picture:

[Helvius Pertinax]

@kirispupis Here is the image of the Kyros-Dareikon plated in SNG Arabia 1923