Unique coins in your collection

[Troyden]

Let's share those coins we have, which can be said to be one of a kind. Or almost. Many are inexpensive, many are just variants of popular types. But each of them is unique in its own way and often tells an interesting story.

When I bought this coin, I didn't realize what a rarity I got my hands on. This is, of course, the Chersonesos hemidrachm. A very common and inexpensive coin, "bread and butter" for any collector of Greek coins. I too bought it in order to make another checkmark on my list. However, I had a big problem with cataloging this coin. It wasn't in McClean, SNG Cop, or any of the other standard reference. The problem was the reverse - nowhere to find mention of this strange figure that could intuitively be described as Athena Promachos, a common theme in Greek art.

Finally, after a long search, I found this type described in the Weber collection catalog under number 2418. So interesting that this type is absent from standard references, and to be found in a relatively obscure source from the 1920s.

 

Weber plate.

 

[AncientNumis]

That's really interesting! Most of my coins are very common, but I guess I have one that is quite unusual. This is probably one of the most underweight sigloi ever, and it's not a fourree. It weighs only 3.04 grams (when it's supposed to weigh quite a bit more, of course - around 5 grams?). Sure it doesn't make it rare or desirable, rather the opposite, but I like it for how unusual it is 🙂 

[Lhevae]

I have a few coins that are unlisted in major references but only one that is unique as far as I know. All the antoninianii of Gallienus with that reverse legend (VIC GALL AVG III) are rare and part of the first emission of Rome (for the sole reign of Gallienus). With that bust and obverse legend, it's an unpublished combination. I showed it to academics working on this emission and it appears to be the only reported specimen so far.

It's a bit rough but everything is there and that was a great find for a few euros.

Gallienus, antoninianus, Rome, 261 AD.

GALLIENVS AVG ; Radiate and cuirassed bust seen from front, type 1 ribbons

VIC GALL AVG III // -|- ; Victory advancing left, holding a laurel wreath in right hand

Göbl - (cf. 360r) 

[Qcumbor]

I have two gold coins from the dombes principality (yes, it's me again 😄 ) that are unlisted so far. I published one of them a couple of years ago

 

Louis II de Montpensier (1560-1582), Pistole - 1579

 

Louis II de Montpensier (1560-1582), Demi-pistole - 1576

 

Q

[AncientNumis]

Just now, Qcumbor said:

I have two gold coins from the dombes principality (yes, it's me again 😄 ) that are unlisted so far. I published one of them a couple of years ago

 

Louis II de Montpensier (1560-1582), Pistole - 1579

 

Louis II de Montpensier (1560-1582), Demi-pistole - 1576

 

Q

WOAH! Those look spectacular - and really great you were able to publish one 🎉

[maridvnvm]

Whilst being currently the only example known won't excite anyone but the die hard collector of Probus from Lugdunum.

Obv:– IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right; seen from rear
Rev:– MARS VICTOR, Mars walking right, holding spear and trophy.
Minted in Lugdunum (III in exe) Emission 3, Officina 3. November – December A.D. 276
Reference:– Cohen -. Bastien -, Batien Suppl I -. Batien Suppl II -. RIC 37 Bust type C var (not listed with this bust type)
Obverse die match to Bastien 179 bust, which is FIDES MILITVM from the same emission

Weight 4.53g. 23.51mm. 180 degrees

So what is it about this particular coin? The draped and cuirassed issued are rare in the early issues of Probus at Lugdunum and can only be differentiated from their more common counterparts from the later issues by their style. Bastien only notes two coins from the 3rd Emission of Lugdunum with this bust type each of which is a FIDES MILITVM reverse. This coins shares an obverse die with them but is the first known with this bust type from this issue with a MARS VICTOR reverse. I have let Dr. S. Estiot know about it and hope that this example will take it's place in the next Bastien supplement.

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by maridvnvm

[maridvnvm]

As a point of contrast to the coin above I have a few other areas which I am passionate about. The Republican denarii of Luciis Papius - Juno - Gryphon type being another.

The type is common enough. The coins are minted with matched symbol pairs on either side. The dies used to create these coins seem to have been very heavily controlled so that you only get the matched pairs being used together and you do not get mixed symbols. One has to suppose that when a die was retired that it's mate was retired with it.

RRC illustrates 221 paired symbol varieties. Richard Schafer's Roman Republican Die Project has taken this count up to 232 known symbol pairs today. We can surmise that there were originally at least 246 die pairs created as one of the die pairs has the Roman Numerals CCXLVI on each side.

The following coin is the only example known to Rcihard Scaefer of the dies/symbols.

L Papius Denarius Serratus

Obv:– Head of Juno Sospita right, wearing goat skin tied under chin. Behind head, Dolphin wrapped around anchor.
Rev:– Gryphon running right; in ex., L. PAPI.; in field, Hippocamp
Minted in Rome from . B.C. 79.
Reference(s) – RSC Papia 1. RRC 384/1. RCTV 311.
Symbol variety – RRC -. Babelon -. BMCRR -.

You can combine the reverses of the two coins above to illustrate that some of my collecting is entirely ego centric.

Regards,

Martin Griffiths

Edited May 28, 2022 by maridvnvm

[David Atherton]

A unique no mint mark Titus Caesar denarius struck at Ephesus.

 

Titus as Caesar [Vespasian]

AR Denarius, 2.78g
Ephesus mint, 71 AD
Obv: IMPERATOR T CAESAR AVGVSTI F; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev: PACI ORB TERR AVG; Turreted and draped female bust, r., no mint mark
RIC 1426(5A)4. BMC -. RSC -. RPC -. BNC -.
Ex Harry N. Sneh Collection.

This coin should have the EPHE mint mark on the lower left of the reverse, however it is clearly not there. This is the second coin from the series I have seen which has no mint mark. It has been added to the Flavian RIC II Addenda with the rarity raring of R3 (unique).

[Roman Collector]

Fantastic find, @Troyden! It's a nicely-preserved specimen, too!

This one may not look like much but it's the only known example. I sent it to the editors of RPC Online, and it's now the "plate coin" at RPC:


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman provincial Æ 5.84 g, 22.0 mm, 7 h.
Bithynia-Pontus, Apamea.
Obv: FAUST[INAC AUG], draped bust of Faustina II, right.
Rev: UЄNU[S ... C]ICA dd, Venus seated right, head left, on dolphin swimming left, resting right arm on dolphin, uncertain object in left hand.
Refs: RPC IV.1, 11815 (temporary); Waddington RG --; BMC --; Sear --; Mionnet Suppl 5 --; Lindgren --; Wiczay --.
Notes: Previously unpublished. Obverse die match to Waddington RG, pl. XXXIX.1, which has a Neptune reverse type.

[Riley]

I don't think it would constitute 'unique' or anything like that, but I got this Caracalla coin recently. When I looked for the identification tag of 'Bellinger A271' I was only able to find one Vcoins listing. So while definitely not rare, it's still one of my 'scarcer' coins. I'm sure there's more examples online to be found, but in my few hours of searching I mostly came up empty handed haha. Nothing on coinarchives, but I don't have the pro-version.

 

[ambr0zie]

My quest to find a Volusian coin (not a major target) was more complicated than expected.

In the end I picked one, modest condition, but first thing I noticed was the odd flan. Won it easily and identifying it was a surprise.

Volusian AD 251-253. Antioch
Antoninianus AR
22 mm, 2,97 g
IMP CV AF GAL VEND VOLVSIANO AVG Bust radiate, draped, cuirassed r., Rv. ROMAE AETERNAE AVG, Roma seated left with Victory and spear, shield at side. In exergue, 3 pellets
Cf RIC 234a

I couldn't find any similar example with 3 pellets.

[ambr0zie]

32 minutes ago, Riley said:

I don't think it would constitute 'unique' or anything like that, but I got this Caracalla coin recently. When I looked for the identification tag of 'Bellinger A271' I was only able to find one Vcoins listing. So while definitely not rare, it's still one of my 'scarcer' coins. I'm sure there's more examples online to be found, but in my few hours of searching I mostly came up empty handed haha. Nothing on coinarchives, but I don't have the pro-version.

 

Good coin. There are 3 results on acsearch

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=Bellinger+A271&category=1-2&lot=&thesaurus=1&images=1&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&currency=usd&order=0

[Leo]

Not exactly UNIQUE, but this Antioch mint, Double-Antoninianus (notice the XI instead of XXI on the exergue) of Emperor Tacitus I have, has been registered in a new catalogue soon to be published as the 3rd instance of its type in history 🙂

[Riley]

3 minutes ago, ambr0zie said:

Good coin. There are 3 results on acsearch

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=Bellinger+A271&category=1-2&lot=&thesaurus=1&images=1&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&currency=usd&order=0

Seems mine is the worst condition of all 5 I can find haha. Thank you very much for posting that link

[Roman Collector]

1 hour ago, Riley said:

I don't think it would constitute 'unique' or anything like that, but I got this Caracalla coin recently. When I looked for the identification tag of 'Bellinger A271' I was only able to find one Vcoins listing. So while definitely not rare, it's still one of my 'scarcer' coins. I'm sure there's more examples online to be found, but in my few hours of searching I mostly came up empty handed haha. Nothing on coinarchives, but I don't have the pro-version.

 

Another site I find extremely helpful is acsearchinfo. Click here.

[Alegandron]

5 hours ago, AncientNumis said:

That's really interesting! Most of my coins are very common, but I guess I have one that is quite unusual. This is probably one of the most underweight sigloi ever, and it's not a fourree. It weighs only 3.04 grams (when it's supposed to weigh quite a bit more, of course - around 5 grams?). Sure it doesn't make it rare or desirable, rather the opposite, but I like it for how unusual it is 🙂 

I wonder if this would be considered a Half-Siglos.  I understand that Sigloi Fractionals are harder to get.

Here is my Quarter Sigloi:

Persia Achaemenid Type IV dagger quiver running Darius I to Xerxes II 455-420 BCE AR QUARTER-Siglos 1.35g 8mm Incuse rev

 

1/32nd Sigloi

Persia Achaemenid Empire Darius I 510-486 BC AR 0.11g 5mm 1/32nd Siglos Persian hero-king in running incuse Klein 758 Rare

[Alegandron]

At this point in time, there are only two:  One in the British Museum and one now in my collection via the Collection of EE Clain-Stefanelli.

RASENNA, Fufluna (Etruria, Populonia )

ETRURIA Rasenna, Fufluna, (Etruria, Populonia)
2 ½ asses
3rd century BCE,
AR 0.85 g. 11mm
Radiate female head r.; behind, CII.
Rev. Blank.
EC 104 (misdescribed, Female head with an Attic helmet). Historia Numorum Italy 179.
Of the highest rarity, apparently only the second specimen known.
Dark patina and about very fine
From the collection of E.E. Clain-Stefanelli.
Ex: Numismatica Ars Classica NAC

NS Executive Director Ute Wartenburg reported that Elvira Eliza Clain-Stefanelli died Oct. 1, 2001. Mrs. Stefanelli retired in 2000 as the Senior Curator of the National Numismatic Collection in the Numismatics Division of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. She was at the Smithsonian for forty years, and was responsible with her husband Vladimir for organizing and building up the National Numismatic Collection (from 60,000 to over 1,000,000 pieces.) She survived a Nazi concentration camp in WWII Europe, moved to Rome, and learned numismatics there. In New York she and her husband worked for Stack's and started the Coin Galleries division there. Her most recent publication was "Life In Republican Rome On its Coinage", a lavishly illustrated discussion of the themes which appear on the coinage of the Roman Republic, published in 1999. Her major contribution to the science of numismatic literature was her classic "Numismatic Bibliography", published in 1985.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Alegandron

[TheTrachyEnjoyer]

 

Unique and unpublished tornese of Michael IX. Im writing an article for publication currently and so won’t repeat what I have written there in detail but basically this is the first independently issued coin from Michael IX. Andronikos II and Michael IX were father and son. Andronikos II ruled alone, elevated Michael IX as coruler, and then ruled alone again after his son’s premature death (itself at the shock that one of Michael’s children accidentally killed the other). Michael IX and Andronikos II issued a number of coins in joint association but this is the first known coin where Michael IX is alone. What makes that so interesting is that Michael IX never ruled alone, only jointly with Andronikos II. That considered, previous assumptions about period attributions no longer can (with confidence) say that any independent coin of Andronikos II was issued during his dole reign. Until now it was assumed that any sole depicted coinage came from the sole reign of emperors. This tornese goes to show that Byzantine rulers did indeed issue coins separately during a joint reign. This in turn affects our understanding of when the silver trachy stopped being minting and the tornese/Basilikon were introduced! Considering that this is unique and the only independent coin known for Michael IX, this seemingly wasn’t common yet did occur! My paper will re-evaluate late Byzantine mint chronology and have some surprising findings! 

[AncientNumis]

1 hour ago, Alegandron said:

I wonder if this would be considered a Half-Siglos.  I understand that Sigloi Fractionals are harder to get.

Here is my Quarter Sigloi:

Persia Achaemenid Type IV dagger quiver running Darius I to Xerxes II 455-420 BCE AR QUARTER-Siglos 1.35g 8mm Incuse rev

 

1/32nd Sigloi

Persia Achaemenid Empire Darius I 510-486 BC AR 0.11g 5mm 1/32nd Siglos Persian hero-king in running incuse Klein 758 Rare

Super fun coins! Love your fractional sigloi.
I think mine is the same diameter and shape as a regular siglos, just that it's super porous. I'm still not completely sure how it happens to that extent, but I've been told it's probably just something to do with a lower silver purity and the production of them?

[Alegandron]

4 minutes ago, AncientNumis said:

Super fun coins! Love your fractional sigloi.
I think mine is the same diameter and shape as a regular siglos, just that it's super porous. I'm still not completely sure how it happens to that extent, but I've been told it's probably just something to do with a lower silver purity and the production of them?

I have heard that same thought... low silver content, porosity, etc. to make a low weight denom.

[Alegandron]

ORDER of The DOT

I found this Bent Bar with TWO sets of two connected dots (one set on each side). Was told this was very rare when there was a discussion on FB about these coins. Kinda lucked into this one:



India Gandahara
AR Bent Bar
early long type
11.3g
650-600 BCE

Comment: RARE two dots - however, also have the two dots on BOTH sides and is considered VERY RARE

[Furryfrog02]

Here is my most "unique" coin in my collection. I picked it out of a $5 bin at the last Whitman Coin show. It's not the prettiest but I thought it looked cool. So far, I've only been able to find 3 other examples. All 3 sold for much more than $5. 🙂

Laconia, Gythium

Septimius Severus

193-211 AD, Struck AD 202-205

Assarion Æ

21mm, 6.50g

Obverse: CЄ-OYHPOC, laureate head of Severus to right

Reverse: ΓVΘ-Є-ATΩN, the Dioscouri standing to left and right of serpent entwined altar, each holding parazonium and spear

[zadie]

Unique and unpublished cistophor of Gaius Claudius Pulcher from Tralles.

Divergent from any of the bilingual cistophori issued in Asia, this coin boldly highlights who it was issued for, naming the governor by his full name: Gaius Claudius son of Appius Pulcher, proconsul. It also adds a previously unknown magistrate, Demostratos, to the corpus.

 

Promagisterial Cistophori. Gaius Claudius Pulcher as Proconsul of Asia. Demostratos, magistrate. AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm. Tralles mint, 55-53 BC. Serpent emerging from cista mystica; all within wreath / C · CLAVDIVS · AP · F · PVLCHER · PROCOS. Two serpents entwined by bow case; In the right field, Isis headdress resting on two grain ears and inverted crescent. TPA to outer left. ΔΗΜΟΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ in exergue. 25 mm, 12.29 g. Stumpf -; Metcalf -. Unpublished.

[Severus Alexander]

The first of my coins that comes to mind is this one:

I got it hiding in a group lot for super cheap, thinking it was a great score as one of the rare LON first issues folles.  But when I showed it to Hugh Cloke he choked on his coffee because it was the only example he'd seen with draped loins, a feature he'd made a special study of (and published).  It's now got its own unique catalogue number, 1.01.002A, in Cloke & Toone and I couldn't be prouder. 😊 (By contrast, my family's reaction was more like this: 😑)

It's pictured here until the revised catalogue comes out: http://www.hookmoor.com/home/?page_id=690

 

15 hours ago, Leo said:

Not exactly UNIQUE, but this Antioch mint, Double-Antoninianus (notice the XI instead of XXI on the exergue) of Emperor Tacitus I have, has been registered in a new catalogue soon to be published as the 3rd instance of its type in history 🙂

I think you might be surprised to learn how many of us have one of these doubles, since @Valentinian and @dougsmit brought them to our attention. 😁 But I guess officina H is a very scarce one... great coin in any case!  Here's my officina delta:

13 hours ago, TheTrachyEnjoyer said:

Unique and unpublished tornese of Michael IX. Im writing an article for publication currently and so won’t repeat what I have written there in detail but basically this is the first independently issued coin from Michael IX. Andronikos II and Michael IX were father and son. Andronikos II ruled alone, elevated Michael IX as coruler, and then ruled alone again after his son’s premature death (itself at the shock that one of Michael’s children accidentally killed the other). Michael IX and Andronikos II issued a number of coins in joint association but this is the first known coin where Michael IX is alone. What makes that so interesting is that Michael IX never ruled alone, only jointly with Andronikos II. That considered, previous assumptions about period attributions no longer can (with confidence) say that any independent coin of Andronikos II was issued during his dole reign. Until now it was assumed that any sole depicted coinage came from the sole reign of emperors. This tornese goes to show that Byzantine rulers did indeed issue coins separately during a joint reign. This in turn affects our understanding of when the silver trachy stopped being minting and the tornese/Basilikon were introduced! Considering that this is unique and the only independent coin known for Michael IX, this seemingly wasn’t common yet did occur! My paper will re-evaluate late Byzantine mint chronology and have some surprising findings! 

Awesomesauce, @TheTrachyEnjoyer!

[Roman Collector]

This hybrid is probably unique and proves that the coins of Deultum (Thrace) and Marcianopolis (Moesia Inf.) were struck at the same mint.

Julia Mamaea, AD 222-235.
Roman Provincial Æ tetrassarion, 22.4 mm, 8.92 g, 1 h.
Hybrid of dies of Deultum and Marcianopolis, AD 227-228/229.
Obv: IVLIA MA-MAEA AVG; draped bust, right, wearing stephane.
Rev: VΠ TIB IOVΛ ΦHCTȢ MAPKIANOΠOΛITΩN, eagle standing facing, head left, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak.
Refs: Unpublished; see Varbanov II, 2333 (Mamaea) and AMNG I-1, 1018-21 (Severus Alexander).