Plate Coins

[shanxi]

Lately we have seen some interesting PLATE COINS.

I think the topic is interesting enough for its own thread, and maybe we will also learn something about interesting reference books

So show your coins that are shown in a reference book, but also the "Digital" Plate Coins that are connected to a reference book, like RPC online.

 

Here are four to start:

 

RPC online 

The still growing Database for Roman Provincial Coins, Basis for the next printed versions .

Lydia. Hierocaesaraea
Commodus
Bronze, Æ 31
Obv: AVT KAI Λ AVPH KOMMOΔOC, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: ЄΠ AI APTЄMIΔOPOV APX IЄPOKAICAPЄΩN, Tetrastyle temple, with pellet in pediment and containing Artemis standing right, drawing bow; behind, stag standing right
RPC IV.2, 11398 [this coin]; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC -
Ex Numismatik Naumann, auction 52, Lot 1030
Ex Plankenhorn Collection

 

 

Van't Haaff - Catalogue of Elymaean Coinage

Published in 2007. The best reference book for coins from Elymais.

Kingdom of Elymais
Phraates
Early-Mid 2nd Cent AD
Æ Drachm
Obv.: Facing Bust in Tiara with left & right Pellets in Crescent; 1 Crossbar
Rev.: Eagle with spread wings ;Talons foreward
Æ, 3.41 g, 15 mm
Ref.: Van't Haaff Type 14.2, Subtype 1-3a THIS COIN
Ex Van't Haaff Collection

 

Temeryazev & Makarenko: The Coinage of the Roman Empresses Vol. I

One of the must-haves for Empress Collectors, published 2017

Faustina II
AR-Denar, Rome
Obv.: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right
Rev.: AVGVSTI PII FIL, Concordia standing left, holding patera and cornucopia
Ag, 3.51g, 17mm
Ref.: RIC 496, RSC 21, CRE-162 [S] this coin
Ex H.D. Rauch, auction 103, lot 375

SNG Stancomb

The William Stancomb Collection of Coins of the Black Sea Region. Oxford University Press (2000).

TAURIC CHERSONESOS. Chersonesos.
Circa 300-290 BC.
Syriskos, magistrate

Obv: Artemis Parthenos running to left, holding bow in his left hand and spearing fallen stag; to right, countermark: dolphin to right within round incuse
Rev. ΣΥRΙΣ[ΚΟΥ] Bull butting left.
AE, 21 mm, 7.32 g, 6 h
Ref.: SNG BM Black Sea 772. SNG Stancomb 480 (this coin).

 

 

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by shanxi

[FrizzyAntoine]

Here's a coin I picked up without knowing it was a plate - I just liked the style and that it's an uncommon cilician type depicting Ba'al and Herakles. Turns out it's also the plate for this type in SNG Levante. 



Issuing Authority: Achaemenid Empire, Satrapy of Cilicia
Date of Issue: 400-385 BCE
Mint: Issos
Obverse: Ba'al standing facing left, holding eagle in outstretched right hand and sceptre in left; aramaic letters ך ז in lower left field.
Reverse: Herakles standing facing right, resting club by his side in right hand, pelt of Nemean lion draped over left arm, grasping bow in left hand.
Weight: 10.46 g
Diameter: 21mm
Axis: 12h
Denomination: Stater (Cilician)
Provenance: Ex CNG eAuction 472, Lot 116 (2020); CNG eAuction 452, Lot 382 (2019); CNG Mail Bid Sale 64, Lot 307 (2003); Plate Coin 174 in 'Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Switzerland I. Levante-Cilicia' by Edoardo Levante (1986)

[Spaniard]

Picked up this neat little Chalkous a while back...

Parthia, Vologases VI 208-228 AD, AE Chalkous, 10mm-1.25gm. Ecbatana Mint.
Obverse Bearded, diademed bust of king left, wearing torque and tiara decorated with hooks, a line with pellets and an ear flap, dotted border around
Reverse Eagle standing left with wings open
Reference Sellwood 88.29, Shore 640
Purchased from Coin India- vcoins November 2021.
Ex-Tom Mallon collection. Published on his website, The Coins and History of Asia. This coin is also published on the Parthia.com website:
http://parthia.com/vologases6.htm .

(Last example).

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Spaniard

[Roman Collector]

These two are in Lindgren I:

Annia Faustina, 3rd wife of Elagabalus, Augusta, 221 CE.
Roman provincial Æ 25.0 mm, 8.56 g, 6 h.
Pisidia, Isinda.
Obv: ANNIAN FAVCTEINAN, bare-headed and draped bust of Annia Faustina, right.
Rev: Confronted heads of Serapis and Isis, Ι(CI)Ν-ΔΕΩΝ.
Refs: Ex Lindgren I A1322A (Plate coin); von Aulock, Pisidia I 833.
Notes: Busso Peus, Auction 366, lot 888, 29 Oct 2000; ex- Marcel Burstein (Nevada) collection; ex- Lindgren collection.

Domitia, Augusta AD 82-96.
Roman Æ 17.3 mm, 3.15 gm, 7 h.
Ionia, Smyrna.
Obv: ΔΟΜΙΤΙΑ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΑ, bare-headed and draped bust right.
Rev: ΣΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ, Nemesis standing left, plucking at chiton on her neck, bridle in left hand.
Refs: BMC 309; ex-Lindgren I, 80-404 (plate coin).

 

This one is ex-Houghton:


Laodike IV, wife and sister of both Seleucus IV and Antiochus IV.
Selucia in Pieria, 175-164 BC.
AE 3.33 gm; 15 mm.
Obv: Veiled bust of Laodike IV, r.
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, elephant head l.; prow.
Refs: Houghton, CSE 113 (plate coin); Forrer 183.

An online reference collection:

Plotina, c. AD 105-122.
Roman provincial Æ 20.0 mm, 5.43 g, 6 h.
Caria, Tabae, AD 105-122.
Obv: ΠΛΩΤЄΙΝ CЄΒΑCΤΗ, diademed and draped bust, right, hair in plait behind
Rev: ΤΑΒΗ-ΝΩΝ, stag standing right.
Refs: RPC III 2292; BMC 18. 170, 79; SNG von Aulock 2720; SNG München 455-6; Robert 143.
Notes: Reverse die match to SNG von Aulock 2720. "Plate" coin at Austin College's Virtual Catalog of Roman Coins.

This one is in ERIC II:

Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman AR denarius, 3.58 g, 16.1 mm, 7 h.
Rome, AD 140.
Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: IVNONI REGINAE, the pulvinar of Juno, upon which rests a cushion(?); in foreground, peacock standing left, with tail in splendor.
Refs: RIC –; BMCRE 139n (citing Strack); RSC 221b (citing Strack); Strack 406; RCV –; CRE 134.
Notes: Ex- Tom Mullally, illustrated at http://dirtyoldbooks.com/roman/id/faustina/fa088.jpg (www.dirtyoldcoins.com). @Suarez ERIC II plate coin, type 107, p. 224.

This one is in Tachev's Bizija and reproduced at RPC:

Otacilia Severa, AD 244-249.
Thrace, Bizya Æ 23.5 mm, 6.89 gm, 7 h.
Obv: M WTAKEIΛIA CEBHPA CEB, diademed and draped bust, right.
Rev: ΒΙΖVΗΝΩΝ, Artemis standing right, holding arrow and torch; stag at her feet.
Refs: Tachev, Bizija 5 (plate coin); Moushmov 3514; Sear GIC 3991; Varbanov 1592; Lindgren II 759; Jurukova 147; Mionnet Suppl 2, 193; RPC VIII, (unassigned; ID 48718); CN 9242; Milano IV/3 --; BMC Thrace --; SNG Tubingen --; SNG Copenhagen --;Wiczay --.
Notes: Double die-match to RPC specimen and to Lindgren II 759.
 

[akeady]

I posted this before on CT, but why not again, I suppose!

 

I've had this since 2013 and only realised in 2021 that it's illustrated in Oliver Hoover's Handbook of Greek Coins.

Ruler: Lysimachos
State, City: Thrace, Lysimacheia
Coin: Silver Tetradrachm
Obv.: Diademed head of the deified Alexander with horn of Ammon right
Rev.: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ - Athena enthroned left, holding Nike, resting left elbow on shield, spear behind; lion's head before, two monograms in exergue
Mint: (After 280 BC)
Wt./Size/Axis: 16.95g / 30mm / 10h
References:

• cf ANSMN 13, 21
• HGC Vol. 3, part 2, 1493 (this coin)

Provenances:

• Tannenbaum Collection

Acquisition: Roma Numismatics Online auction E-Sale 1 #153 31-Aug-2013

The HGC entry:

ATB,

Aidan.

[Kamnaskires]

Sold off my Mitchiner ACW 473 (an ex-Sellwood Collection obol of Mithradates I), as well as my Parthian fractions that I had published in KOINON, vol. I. But I still own the following plates coins.

 

From David Sellwood's An Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia:

Vologases III

tetradrachm, 105 – 147 AD

Sellwood 79.5 (This coin illustrates the variety in the book's catalog.)

Ex-David Sellwood Collection

 

From Pieter Anne van't Haaff's Catalogue of Elymaean Coinage:

Kamnaskires IV

AR obol, c. 63/2 – 54/3 BC

Van't Haaff 8.2.3-1a (this coin)

PDC 10496 (this coin)

 

Kamnaskires IV

AR obol, c. 63/2 – 54/3 BC

Van't Haaff 8.2.3-1b (this coin)

Ex-Asher D. Atchick Collection

 

Kamnaskires IV

AR hemidrachm, c. 63/2 – 54/3 BC

Van’t Haaff 8.3.3-1.a (this coin)

 

Kamnaskires-Orodes

AE drachm, early to mid 2nd century AD

Van't Haaff 12.3.1-1B.e (this coin)

Ex-van't Haaff Collection

 

Phraates

AE tetradrachm, early to mid 2nd century AD

Van't Haaff 14.7.1-1B.a (this coin)

Ex-van't Haaff Collection

 

Orodes IV

AE drachm, c. 2nd half of 2nd century AD

Van’t Haaff 17.1.1-2a (this coin)

Ex-van't Haaff Collection

 

 

And, although not plates coins, per se, I'll give Honorable Mentions to the following.

 

This coin serves as the illustration at the Wikipedia page for "Vologases III of Parthia" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vologases_III_of_Parthia):

 

This coin appears in the "Catalog of New Varieties" in KOINON: The International Journal of Classical Numismatic Studies, Vol. 1 *:

Phraates

BI tetradrachm, early to mid 2nd century AD

Van't Haaff 14.8.1-1 variant (unique; two dots below crossbars; long beard)

 

* Please remember, everyone: If you have a coin that is unique and unpublished - either an unpublished type or an unpublished variety of a known type - you can submit info about it for publication in the "Catalog of New Varieties" that appears in each volume of KOINON. You would need to contact general editor Nicholas Molinari.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Kamnaskires

[jdmKY]

These 4 were published in Fernandez and Calico’s Catalogo Monografico de los Denarios de la Republica Romano (2002), all are ex Alba Longa Collection, Roma XVII 

Vibius Pansa, 48 BC

Sicinius and Coponius, 49 BC

L Aemilius Buca, 44BC

Marc Antony, 32-31 BC

 

[jdmKY]

This Caesar denarius (46-45 BC) was published by David Sear in The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators 49-27 BC (CRI 58) and in Roman Coins and Their Values, Vol. 1

This Caesar denarius (44 BC) was published in Alfoldi’s Schweizer Munzblatter, February 1969 and in Corpus Nummorum Romanoram, Volume 1

 

[Curtis JJ]

My favorite collecting themes are "object biography" and "history of numismatic knowledge," so "Plate coins" are pretty well represented.

I haven't updated my provenance/publication table (270 pages long right now), but at last count there were > 60 are that "full plate" coins (i.e., illustrated in at least one print volume, not just a sale catalog, unless the catalog was reprinted to serve as a ref. vol, like Pozzi or Ratto Byz; whether to count BCD Peloponessos, Thessaly, etc. is a tossup, but most of mine are published elsewhere anyway).

After you collect and classify "plate coins" for a while it becomes clear there are many varieties and gradations and similar types. These are a few favorite "full plate" coins.

Here's my favorite and first (also was the first coin I posted here), I show it all the time, bought it when I was about 12 years old (c. 1990/1) with no provenance (those are my favorite, the "in the wild" finds). Pozzi 1688 = Boutin 3756 = this coin:

This one I love because it's also a "cover coin" (and illustrated twice inside) and came with a signed copy (my second copy of the book) of ERIC II by the author (Ras Suarez). I was excited to get it because I'd been using the book regularly and admiring the cover coin for a decade at that point:

 

I have a couple that were also shown in line-drawn plates (including another from Richard Plant's Greek Coins Types...). The following coin was sold as "reportedly Goodacre Collection." Turns out he illustrated it in his book(s) and two Numismatic Chronicle articles in 1931, 1933, and 1938. I'll only show one, but the funny thing is that he made different casts for it every single time!!

From his 1938 article “The Flat Bronze Coinage of Nicaea.”

I think there's a strong case that it was the model engraved for de Saulcy's 1842 RN essay (from the collection of M. Curt de Bose (Curt von Bose, 1808-1884, Leipzig), which was then one of the two coins that served as the models for the great Leon Dardel's engravings for Sabatier in 1862 (the other one, I'm certain, is the extensively pedigreed DOC IV, XXXIV 56.1, but my edge formation from 10h to 2h was preserved in this engraving!). For engravings it can be tough to determine when there's not an unbroken chain of custody (or when an author like Goodacre describes it using unclear language), also because sometimes they wanted to represent "that coin" as well as possible, but below they were going more for "that type." Notice that Dardel borrowed the reverse entirely from the previous engraving (I don't think he did the first one, so he may not have seen the actual coin at all):

1842 (de Saulcy RN):

1862 (Sabatier, Dardel):

My favorites, of course, are the ones that appear in multiple volumes. I think this one is my most prolific. Here are only 8 of its appearances (including auction catalogs) over the past 100 years. (The two final photos are CNG and Noble Numismatics, there's also a Glendining's photo and a Naville Ars Classica auction photo.) I've found it published in additional volumes as well, usually using one of these photos:

Or...

 

I also like having multiple coins from the same volume. I think I have a half dozen or so Lindgren plate coins, including one that was illustrated in two of Lindgren's volumes!

Edited August 13, 2022 by Curtis JJ

[Spaniard]

Bought this tet of Antoninus Pius back a while, from the Hermanubis Collection.

@Kamnaskires..Then informed me, (thanks Bob), that it was a reference coin on RPC..Coin no. 25 of RPC IV.4, 13634 (temporary)

https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/13634
 

[Curtis JJ]

26 minutes ago, Spaniard said:

that it was a reference coin on RPC

It always pays to check RPC when you're thinking of buying a Provincial. There's often great provenance info there. Two of my coins below actually had two entries each on RPC (until I informed them that the second entries were also the Dattari coins, having lost their original provenance).

Speaking of which, I noticed there's no Giovanni Dattari (1858-1923) thread here yet. If someone doesn't do it first, I may start one eventually.

This is one for which I'm sure many people here have one or many "plate coins." (Including many, I'm sure, that are as yet undiscovered.) I've got at least six illustrated in Dattari-Savio 2007 (two in the 2007 supplement, four that were also from the 1999 edition). The interesting thing about Dattari plates is that they were made some time around 1901 or earlier from pencil rubbings over plaster casts! More than 13,000 of them! Learning to match coins to those rubbings can be a bit of an acquired skill (as with matching photo plates from plaster casts or old line-drawn engraved plates).

 

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Curtis JJ

[DonnaML]

Just this morning, @Curtis JJ, I downloaded the plates volume of the 1901 Dattari collection -- consisting of actual photographs! -- from the link you so kindly provided in your wonderful blog. Which I had no idea existed until you mentioned it in your recent post in another thread.

It seems to me that it's awfully hard to recognize a coin from those pencil rubbings unless you already know that your coin is depicted. For example, my Antoninus Pius Year 6 Phoenix, purchased from Naville Numismatics Auction 72 (27 Mar 2022), as Lot 341 (described as being from the Dattari Collection, as were many other coins in that auction).

Here's the rubbing from the 2007(?) edition, Plate 117, No. 2429 (although it should properly be no. 2431, according to p. 153 of the 1901 edition). Perhaps you're the person who sent it to me, over at CT. In any event, even though I can see that it's the same coin, I would never in a million years have noticed that if I didn't already know.

Edited August 13, 2022 by DonnaML

[Curtis JJ]

5 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

It seems to me that it's awfully hard to recognize a coin from those pencil rubbings unless you already know that your coin is depicted.

It's definitely much harder if you don't already have to reason to think it's that coin. I've found a number of coins misidentified to the rubbings in RPC or auctions (usually only because I had also found the actual one). Looking across enough coins, there is often at least one other with nearly identical centering and wear pattern (which also complicates IDing cast forgeries).

The Hadrian Drachm below was not recognized as ex-Dattari by Heritage or Nomos (nor RPC who cited it twice, since corrected). It was even harder because Jean-Pierre Righetti (the Swiss numismatist) had very enthusiastically cleaned it. It also didn't help that Heritage only photographed it in a slab. (I guess it helped me, if those things kept others from realizing it was ex-Dattari. JPR's cleaning also seemed to suppress prices.)

[DonnaML]

5 minutes ago, Curtis JJ said:

It's definitely much harder if you don't already have to reason to think it's that coin. I've found a number of coins misidentified to the rubbings in RPC or auctions (usually only because I had also found the actual one). Looking across enough coins, there is often at least one other with nearly identical centering and wear pattern (which also complicates IDing cast forgeries).

The Hadrian Drachm below was not recognized as ex-Dattari by Heritage or Nomos (nor RPC who cited it twice, since corrected). It was even harder because Jean-Pierre Righetti (the Swiss numismatist) had very enthusiastically cleaned it. It also didn't help that Heritage only photographed it in a slab. (I guess it helped me, if those things kept others from realizing it was ex-Dattari. JPR's cleaning also seemed to suppress prices.)

Honestly, that rubbing seems much more indistinct than even the one I posted above. How can you be sure it's the same as your coin?

[John Conduitt]

Like others, the few plate coins I have come from the collections of the people that compiled the books - Jeffrey P Mass, Ivan Buck, and after he sold his entire collection, Tony Abramson. I imagine it's easier and cheaper to use your own collection in the reference, and they're worth more when you sell them!

Series O Type 40 Secondary Phase Anglo Saxon Sceat, 710-760

Silver, 1.05g. Figure in long tunic with long cross pommées. Monster in flight left, looking back (Spink 807B plate coin; Sceatta List 55-10 plate coin; Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles 69, 598 this coin). Ex Tony Abramson. Found Wetwang, East Yorkshire, late 2006; EMC 2008.0064.

After I bought the coin, it was re-published in Spink's Coins of England and the United Kingdom 2022: Pre-decimal Issues: 

[Curtis JJ]

1 hour ago, DonnaML said:

Honestly, that rubbing seems much more indistinct than even the one I posted above. How can you be sure it's the same as your coin?

You're right, some of the 2007 "supplement" rubbings especially can be very indistinct & frustrating. Sometimes it's an insurmountable challenge (but not in this case). It is always a matter of degrees of confidence and what you can do to increase or decrease confidence in a match.

My answer below would be a lot for just one coin (edited from the "Plate Checks: "How To" & "Best Practices"" section in my personal numismatic notes file). But, in my experience, your comment is relevant to all kinds of plate coins (as evidenced by the back-and-forth about your Valentinian AV Solidus & its comparatively high quality plaster cast photo on CT!). The same practices for verifying/falsifying apply to all types of images, to some degree (especially older European plates using plaster casts, not coins directly, adding "error" and "informational decay").

Once I have a candidate match, I always start by trying to falsify it, then move toward confirming. (Practical as much as methodological; I have many, many to check in limited time; I want to rule out the false matches as fast as possible and get on to the real ones.)

(One of the most important lessons I've found: Flaws are usually the biggest help!)

My usual strategy for these includes a standard checklist of 6-8 points (the * asterisked ones gave me the most confirming evidence in the Hadrian Drachm above):

(a) Die matches (obviously a precondition, but sometimes it's the fastest way to rule out a match).
(b) Flan shape (can be influenced by whether the rubbing or plaster cast caught small variations, and/or how closely/accurately the image was cropped when cut out; recently I've seen cropping become an important issue comparing recent [2018-2022] auction and VCoins photos).
(c) Centering.
*(d) Edge cracks/splits. Obv. 9h (above first "A" in "TPAIAN") -- very helpful. Visible in the rubbing. Rev. too faint to be sure on rubbing.
*(e) Flat strike. Where exactly does flatness begin/end. (Can be hard to tell: Flatness on coin or flatness in rubbing/plaster cast?)
Eagle: lower torso & legs, vanishes into flatness (evident in all images).
Rev. legend: In "ΑΚ·Δ," the "Δ" is a big help, visibly flat on the outside corner, but distinct on the inside ones on all three images.
Obv. legend consistent, but not unusual enough to be dispositive.
*(f) Borders. Huge help here. Reverse (linear) border is only partially present between about 12h & 3h (all three images).
(g) Deposits & encrustations. (Subject to various sources of error, so I use cautiously.) Where do little bumps match?
Rev. ~2 o'clock, spot on outside of border. (Shows up on all three.)
(h) Anything else (Heritage photo helps here): Two obv. bumps were still present in 2019 from the 1901 rubbings, but were gone in 2022, mechanically cleaned by JPR:
(1) 6h obv., under Hadrian's bust. The 2022 photo shows only scratches & bare metal in the right photo. (Someone may have already started, maybe by 1901, but JPR finished it.)
(2) 2h obv. field. Spot squarely between Hadrian's nose & "I" (in "ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ"). Bump was still there in 2019, but JPR scraped it away by 2022. (Again, looks like JPR wasn't the first to work on it.)

The lower the quality of images, the more points of confirmation and falsification needed.   Any one or two alone isn't convincing. With enough supporting details, and being unable to falsify, the scales start tipping.

Circumstantial evidence can also help. Did the last owner have lost of coins from a certain collection or book? How many known specimens are there of this particular type? (If only 2 or 3, say, how close are any of those ones to this one?) Or disconfirming: Was the coin from a hoard discovered after the publication? Or in a collection that wasn't sold until after the other collection was formed/book published? And so on.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Curtis JJ

[Di Nomos]

This is one of my favourite coins, a drachm from Amphipolis, c. 370 BC. It has a provenance back to SNG Berry Part 1 (the Burton Y. Berry collection) published in 1961. Don't have a photo, but it's plate 1, #13.

Also published in Catherine Lorber's book on the coinage of Amphipolis, though not a plate coin as it's not illustrated. 

[Qcumbor]

Very interesting topic and fabulous coins/provenances

I have two actual plate coins for ancient coins and two others for the Dombes principality

Constantius II, Light miliarense, Ferrando II plate coin - Arles mint (Arelate), 3d officina
DN CONSTAN TIVS PF AVG, Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Constantius right
VIRTVS EXERCITVS, Constantius (soldier) facing holding spear and shield. TCON at exergue
4,54 gr ; 22,6 mm
Ref : RIC VII # 252, Ferrando II # 1026 (this coin), Cohen #326, RC #3993v

 

Domitius Domitianus, usurpateur en Egypte (296 - 297), Octodrachme de l'atelier d'Alexandrie - AD 296-297

ΔOMITI-ANOC CEB, Buste radié de Domitius à droite

Serapis allant à droite, branche de palmier dans le champ à gauche, LB dans le champ à droite (2° année de règne)

12.79 gr

Ref : Emmett #4241/2 (cet exemplaire) (R1), Kampmann # 126.2, RCV # 12982 (2000),

 

Henri II de Montpensier (1592-1608), Douzain - 1594 - Atelier de Trevoux
+ HENRIC . P . DOMBAR . D . MONTISP . M, Ecu de Bourbon couronné, cantonné de deux H
+ DNS . ADIVT : ET . REDEM . MEVS . 1594, Croix echancrée cantonnée de couronnes
2.03 gr
Ref : Divo Dombes # 99 (c'est l'exemplaire qui illustre l'entrée dans le Divo), Boudeau # 1070, Mantellier # 40

 

Marie de Montpensier (1608-1627), Denier Tournois type 5, cuivre - 1624 - Atelier de Trévoux
+ MARIE . SOVVE . DE . DOMBES Buste à gauche avec large collerette et collier de perles
+ DENIER . TOVRNOIS . 1624 Deux lis et un M, une brisure au centre.
1.32 gr
Ref : Divo Dombes # 161 (cet exemplaire illustré), CGKL # 730 (b4), Boudeau # 1075, Mantellier # 56

 

I have also a couple of coins illustrating their type in Wildwinds and RPC, and one or two photographied on auction catalogs

Q

[akeady]

I suppose this counts - it's in "Life In Republican Rome On Its Coinage" by Elvira Clain-Stefanelli.

 

It's a coin of the Pompeians struck in Africa in 47-46BC during the civil war between Pompey and Caesar. A personification of Africa is on the obverse, while the reverse has Hercules with a large club.

A lot of Clain-Stefanelli coins have been sold by Naville in the last few years and I've ended up with quite a few of them, so I expected to find some in the book.   I only found this coin, which hadn't come with any provenance when I bought it (from Mike Vosper), though I found it had been sold a couple of years earlier by Naville with the Clain-Stefanelli provemamce.

 

ATB,
Aidan.

[Curtis JJ]

I also have one Elvira Clain-Stefanelli plate coin -- but it's from her 1987 article, "Fractional Silver Coinage of Sicily and Magna Graecia" (Revue Belge de Numismatique CXXXIII: p. 39-64, Pl. VIII-XIII).

For anyone curious: Elvira Clain-Stefanelli (1914-2001) and Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli (1914-1982) were important curators at the Smithsonian (Washington, DC), and basically re-built the U.S. National Numismatic Collection from the ground up. In another thread, I commented a little bit about the rest of the family and the "Demarete Collection," and their time in Buchenwald / WWII. 

The coin is a Rhegion, Bruttium AR Hemilitron (7mm, 0.31g, 12h), c. 440 BCE -- much rarer than the "larger" AR Litra (more like 12mm & 0.6-0.7g).  

Luckily Naville cataloged it as the larger, less rare one (otherwise someone else would've gotten it). Only a handful of examples are published, but, as far as I can tell, these controls are otherwise unpublished. (The literature usually references the Herzfelder-Waldeck-Newell specimen, now at ANS: Herzfelder Pl. IV, C = Münzhandlung Basel 4 (10 Jan 1935), 391 [Sammlung Prinz Waldeck] = ANS 654 (ex-E. Newell) = HN Italy 2486. There seem to be two examples in ACSearch [Bertolami (twice) & MM GmbH].)

I wish I'd also gotten the much tinier-yet 4mm, 0.07g AR Hexas shown below! That also sold at Naville but I missed it.

 

  

Just now, akeady said:

A lot of Clain-Stefanelli coins have been sold by Naville in the last few years and I've ended up with quite a few of them, so I expected to find some in the book.

Very cool! I don't have any of her Republican denarii yet, but as a fan of E.E. Clain-Stefanelli, I've got that book (and her amazing 1985 Numismatic Bibliography) and a bunch of her and/or her husband's collection coins. If she had the coin before Vladimir died, then it would've been part of their joint collection. (There are apparently also some unpublished manuscripts in her archive at the ANS Library, so maybe there could even be further provenance on yours, @akeady). 

[akeady]

The late RBW had a wonderful collection of Roman Republican coins and the best of them were sold in a Triton sale and a couple of NAC sales, now gathered into "The RBW Collection of Roman Republican Coins", which is a useful illustrated catalogue of RR coins.

https://numismatics.org/store/nacag/

I've got 32 coins which are claimed to be ex-RBW, but he had many coins which weren't sold in the larger sales, so only three of the coins I have made it into the major sales and book.

This semis - Cr. 192/2 & RBW 822:

A sextans  - Cr 188/5, RBW 805:

 

And this quadrans - Cr. 339/4b, RBW 1245:

 

Other than that, this triens is depicted on page 204 of "Essays in Honour of Robert Russo" - in article "The Anonymous Bronze Coinage of the Roman Republic", by Andrew McCabe,   Cr. 198/B3, McCabe K3.Tr1:

I believe I have more coins illustrated in that article, but need to check.

In a happy coincidence, I bought this coin and the semis above from Andrew on the same day I picked up the "Essays Russo" and the "RBW Collection" books from Baldwin's at the London Coin Fair, so he was able to thumb through the books and point out the coins!   I don't think I bought any coins at the actual fair as my budget was drained 😄

ATB,

Aidan.

 

 

[Curtis JJ]

Here's another interesting variant on the "plate coin" concept. It's hard to be 100% sure this coin was the model for the reverse, but it's awfully close, and it was from the author's collection. (The obverse is totally idealized in order to show the full legend, and wouldn't closely match any real example.)

From the Rev. Richard J. Plant Collection (1928-2020). Plant was known for his series of books on ancient coins, including Arabic Coins and How to Read Them (1973), Greek Coin Types and Their Identification 1979), and several others. He is known for his trademark line-drawings, which used instead of photographic plates.

When plant died, his coins were sold primarily at two London firms, Dix, Noonan, Webb and at Naville Numismatics. I bought about a dozen or so of his Roman coins (and a couple of Axumite AE).

The reverse is so close in several respects, I think it had to have been at least one of the models (the centering is virtually identical, with the exception of the upper left edges of the fronds, and even that weird distinctive doubling on the rim from 12h to 3h is illustrated). (As far as I can tell, this was the only coin of its type in his collection.)

 

[DonnaML]

I'm reviving this old thread because I have discovered that a coin I own was illustrated as a plate coin in Wendelin Kellner's book Die Münzstätte Alexandria in Ägypten: Von Kleopatra bis Arcadius (Money-Trend-Verlag, 2009). I don't have a hard copy, but recently downloaded pdf versions of the 33 chapters, as they were originally published in serial form in the Money Trend magazine (www.moneytrend.at) in 2004-2005.

Diocletian, Billon Tetradrachm, 292/293 AD (Year 9), Alexandria, Egypt mint. Obv. Laureate and cuirassed bust right, ΔΙΟΚΛHΤΙΑΝΟC CΕΒ / Rev. ENA/TOV / L [= Year 9 spelled out] within laurel wreath; in exergue, A [ = 1st Officina]. 19-20 mm., 7.39 g., 12 h. Dattari 5787; Geissen 3264/65; BMC 16 Alexandria 2541 at p. 327; K & G 119.84; Emmett 4084.9, Milne 5065; Kellner, Teil 22, pp. 5-6 & Abb. 23 [this coin] [Wendelin Kellner, Die Münzstätte Alexandria in Ägypten, Teil 22, “Diocletian Jahr 8 und 9” (pub. https://www.moneytrend.at/die-muenzstaette-alexandria-in-aegypten-teil-22/, July-Aug. 2005, ill. p. 148).* Purchased from Dr. Martina Dieterle, Schenkenzell, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Feb. 2022; ex. Münchner Münzhandlung Karl Kreß [Kress] Auction 139, 20 Jun 1967, Lot 717.

My coin, in the dealer's photo (I have been unable to find the 1967 Kreß catalog online) :

The photo in Kellner:

*The commentary about this coin on the cited page of Kellner states: “In den Lorbeerkranz einer Münze der selben Offizin (Abb. 23) ist die Jahreszahl ENA/TOV / L eingeschrieben. Das Portrait stammt vom „2. Graveur“, allerdings lässt der in ordentlichen Strichen gezeichnete Bart auf eine Überarbeitung durch den „1. Graveur“ schließen.” (Translation: “The laurel wreath of a coin from the same Offizin (fig. 23) is inscribed with the year ENA/TOV / L. The portrait is by the ‘2nd engraver’, although the beard, drawn in neat strokes, suggests a reworking by the ‘1st engraver’.")

If anyone has any doubt that mine is the same coin as the one illustrated in Kellner, please say so. But I don't believe there is.

Separately, I remain convinced that a new acquisition I recently posted in another thread is, in fact, the same coin as the one illustrated in Kampmann & Ganschow, another book about Roman Alexandrian coins:

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 99% 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 in the otherwise extensive "Bildnachweis" (photo credit) section at the end of the book. 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. Furthermore, besides these two coins -- or, as I believe, one single coin -- there is only one other known example, in the Athens Museum, of this type with the reverse date configuration "L-IZ" rather than the usual "LI-Z."  Any possible differences between the photo of my coin and the Kampmann & Ganschow photo may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that the K &  G photo looks more like an old-style photo of a plaster cast to me, than a photo of an actual coin.

***My coin is now illustrated at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/79367, albeit erroneously as Specimen 15 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 will have to submit a correction to RPC via the online form, explaining that the coin should properly be categorized under RPC III 5863, not RPC III 5862, because there is no ram's head in the reverse left field. 

**** I bought a copy of the Lanz Auction 92 catalogue from 1999 on ebay and have now received it. The illustration shows that Lot 609 was indeed my coin. However, the description makes no reference to the Staffieri Collection, so Staffieri must either have been the buyer in 1999 or acquired the coin subsequently.  

After the New Year, I will write to Astarte S.A. to ask if they're able to tell me the basis of their attribution of my coin to the Staffieri Collection, since it wasn't among those sold in the Triton XXI sale in 2018. Note that Astarte is located in Lugano, where Giovanni Staffieri still lives, and that there were more than 30 other coins in the recent auction attributed to the Staffieri Collection. So I doubt that they would have made all those attributions without a basis for them!

I hope that others post their plate coins obtained within the last 1  1/2 years, so that this thread may continue.

Edited December 27, 2023 by DonnaML

[DonnaML]

On 12/26/2023 at 9:10 PM, DonnaML said:

I bought a copy of the Lanz Auction 92 catalogue from 1999 on ebay and have now received it. The illustration shows that Lot 609 was indeed my coin. However, the description makes no reference to the Staffieri Collection, so Staffieri must either have been the buyer in 1999 or acquired the coin subsequently.  

After the New Year, I will write to Astarte S.A. to ask if they're able to tell me the basis of their attribution of my coin to the Staffieri Collection, since it wasn't among those sold in the Triton XXI sale in 2018. Note that Astarte is located in Lugano, where Giovanni Staffieri still lives, and that there were more than 30 other coins in the recent auction attributed to the Staffieri Collection. So I doubt that they would have made all those attributions without a basis for them!

I did write to Astarte -- after someone checked Staffieri's book Alexandria in Nummis for me and told me that my coin is not among the illustrations of his collection -- and received the following prompt response from Massimo Rossi, Astarte's Director, explaining that Staffieri himself was the buyer at the Lanz auction, and consigned my coin (among others) to Astarte for the recent auction:

"Giovanni Maria Staffieri bought the coin (lot 253 in our auction web 2) in Lanz Auction 92 of 1999.

Staffieri published only a part of his collection of Alexandrian coins in the book Alexandria in Nummis, the most significant coins of his collection. I sold by private treaty the Staffieri collection published in Alexandria in Nummis, and later these coins were included in the Triton Auction.

Giovanni Maria Staffieri owns other specimens of coins minted in Alexandria, coins that were not published by him, including the one you bought in our auction, and some of them he gives to me to offer for sale.

As well as being a dear friend, Staffieri was for many years administrator of Astarte SA, and is one of the promoters of the forthcoming symposium on the coins of Alexandria to be held here in Lugano on 22-24 September 2024.

Please find attached a list of the planned reports."

So that solves the mystery, and directly confirms that my coin was consigned to the Astarte auction by Giovanni Staffieri himself.

The Symposium program that Mr. Rossi sent me may be of interest to @Curtis JJ, @Broucheion, @Curtisimo, and other members here who collect and/or study Roman Alexandrian coinage. I hope that the proceedings and the papers presented will be published at some time in the future. 

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM - ALEXANDRIA’s ROMAN IMPERIAL COINAGE (30bC – 298 AD)

Date: Friday 20th & Saturday 21st September 2024

Venue: Lugano, ex Asilo Ciani, via Carlo Cattaneo 5, 6900 Lugano

Preliminary Program & Speakers’ List

1st SESSION : FRIDAY , 20 September 2024: 09:00 – 12:30h

Chairman : Adriano Savio

09.00 - Symposium opening: Welcome to Speakers & Participants
09.30 - Michel Amandry : Le monnayage alexandrin conservé dans les collections publiques
 françaises.
10.00 - Nicola Barbagli : Imperatori ad Alessandria. La rappresentazione del potere imperiale
 sui rovesci delle monete alessandrine.
10.30 - Break
10.50 - Christopher Howgego : The coin hoards of Roman Egypt in context .
11.20 - Angelo Geissen : Antoninus Pius in Alexandria , Einige Bemerkungen zu Prägungen des
 Kaisers aus der Münzstätte der Stadt .
11.40 - Bernd Klesper – Angelo Geissen : Untersuchungen über Kleinbronzennominale der
 Münzstätte Alexandria während der Hochphase der römischen Kaiserzeit .
12.00 - Discussion
12.30 - End of 1st session. Lunch (free time for participants).

2nd SESSION: FRIDAY , 20 September 2024: 14:30 – 18:00h

Chairman : Angelo Geissen

14.30 - Bernhard Woytek : The typology of Trajans coinage in Alexandria.
15.00 - Giovanni Maria Staffieri : la Sfinge di Gizah nella monetazione alessandrina.
15.30 - Sandra Matthies : Severische Frauen in der alexandrinischen Münzprägung.
16.00 - Break
16.30 - Andrew Burnett : What the alexandrian coinage of Elagabalus and Severus Alexander
 contribute to our understanding of the history of their reigns?
17.00 - Adriano Savio : La monetazione alessandrina di Pescennio Nigro.
17.30 - Discussion
18.00 - End of 2nd Session.
19.00 - Gala Dinner (program to be further communicated)

3rd SESSION : SATURDAY, 21ST September 2024: 09:30 – 12:00h

Chairman : Andrew Burnett

09.30 - Johann Chapoutot : Joseph Vogt and the Reception of Antiquity in Germany 1918 –
 1945.
10.00 - Gilles Bransbourg : Debasement and the search for silver in the later second century.
10.30 - Break
11.00 - Tomaso Maria Lucchelli : “Che accettino ogni moneta eccetto quelle false e adulterate”:
 sulla presenza di monete contraffatte nell’Egitto romano.
11.30 - Discussion
12.00 - Final remarks by François de Callatäy. End of Symposium. 

 

Edited January 3 by DonnaML

[panzerman]

Calico Plate coin

AV Aureus ND (255-57AD)

Roma Mint

3.45g.      21mm.      9h

Gallienus (Joint reign with Dad)

Laureate/ draped/ cuirassed bust R

IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS P F AVG

Apollo standing/ facing/ holding Branch and Lyre set on a Rock

APOLLINI COSERVAT