IRAN ایران /Sasanian شاهنشاهی ساسانی ; A representative selection of drachms CE 459-590

Mints represented by the coins illustrated below. Map is adapted from SASANIAN NUMISMATICS by Robert Göbl (Sanford Durst, NY 1990).

Firuz I CE 459-484 پیروز 
AR Drachm 26 mm, 4.15 g, 3h. Rev Ardashir mint c. CE 462-467
Göbl 171
O: KADI FIRUCHI MAZ(DISN) "Fortunate Firuz the worshipper of Mazda"
R: mint mark RI on right and symbol in place of date on left.

Kurush I Anurshivan CE 531-579 انوشيروان
AR Drachm 30 mm, 4.1 g, 9 h. Ram Auhrmazd mint, Yr. 26/CE 556-557
Göbl 198 v

Kurush I Anurshivan CE 531-579 انوشيروان
AR Drachm 30 mm, 3.99 g, 3 h. Ram Auhrmazd mint, Yr. 42/CE 572-573
Göbl 198 v

Kurush I Anurshivan CE 531-579 انوشيروان
AR Drachm 32 mm, 3.93 g, 3 h. Nishapur mint, Yr. 45/CE 575-576
Göbl 198 v

Hormizd IV CE 579-590 هرمز چهارم
AR Drachm 30 mm, 3.81 g, 4 h. Ram Auhrmazd mint, Yr. 7/CE 585-586
Göbl 202

Hormizd IV CE 579-590 هرمز چهارم
AR Drachm 32 mm, 3.91 g, 2 h. Ram Auhrmazd mint, Yr. 10/CE 588-589
Göbl 200 v

Hormizd IV CE 579-590 هرمز چهارم
AR Drachm 29 mm, 3.84 g, 9 h. Ayran/Sush mint, Yr. 10/CE 588-589
Göbl 200

Hormizd IV CE 579-590 هرمز چهارم
AR Drachm 31 mm, 4.0 g, 3 h. Meshan mint, Yr. 10/CE 588-589
Göbl 201 v

Hormizd IV CE 579-590 هرمز چهارم
AR Drachm 31 mm, 4.0 g, 3 h. Bishapur mint, Yr. 12/CE 590
Göbl 202


All Ex: CNG 339:661 (19.11.14)

Byzantine/Anastasius CE 491-518

AE Follis, 30mm, 18.01g, 7h,  Constantinople mint off. B or more likely E

Sear 19

O: diad draped bust r, DNANASTA----SIVSPPAVC
R: large M with cross atop, B or E below, stars to right and left and CON in ex.


Anastasius is well known for his achievements in finance that kept the Byzantine Empire in the black for some time to come after his death. Though he should also be remembered for his long life at a time when most people were fortunate to reach 30. Anastasius was born around CE 430 and died approximately 88 years later in CE 518. There are records of others who lived well past their "sell by dates" in antiquity, but Anastasius lived nearly three average life spans.

Anastasius wasn't the only person in antiquity that lived to a ripe old age. While were on the subject of long lives in antiquity, there is a fragmentary tombstone of a veteran of Legio II Augusta from Caerleon, UK that reads: "To the spirits of the departed. Julius Valens, veteran of the Second Legion Augusta, lived 100 years. Julia Secundina, his wife and Julius Martinus, his son, had set this up." It's thought that this stone dates from the early third century CE. (reference: page 142 of Wacher, J The Coming of Rome, London, RKP, 1979 a volume in the "Britain Before the Conquest" series).

ISLAMIC/Abbasid; al-Muqtadir AH 295-320/CE 908-932 (المقتدر بالله‎)

AR Dirham, 25mm, 4.76 g, 7h, likely Madinat as-Salam (Baghdad) mint AH 317/CE 929-930

Album 246.2

O: heir "Abul-'Abbas bin Amir al-Mu'minin" named 
R: Caliph named as "al-Muqtadir billahi" in fourth line of central inscription. 

ISLAMIC/Khwarezm Shahs; 'Ala ad-din Muhammad (علاءالدین محمد) CE 1200-1220; three Jitals

 A

B

A & B are the same issues of the Rajput Bull type minted in Peshawar. Note two different obs and rev dies were utilized in the striking of these two examples.

both are Tye 293 v

and Album 1741

A is 16 mm and 2.98 g

B is 14 mm and 3.3 g

AE Jital, 17mm, 2.22 g, Kurzuwan mint.

Tye 246
Album 1731.2

O: Kurz/uwan in center with As-Sultan al-'Azim Muhammad bin as-Sultan around
R; Shahada below Allah, and "an-Nasir" at bottom.

 cf. Kurzuwan Mongol seige issues of similar type

IRAN/Parthia; Mithradates II BCE 123-88 Ex: Sellwood Collection

AR Drachm; 18mm, 4.1g, 12h, Rhagai mint c. BCE 96/5-93/2

Sellwood 28.1
Shore 95
Sunrise 296

O: diad, draped bust l, wearing tiara with ear flap, long beard and torque ending in sea-horse
R: BAΣIΛEΩΣ BA ΣIΛE[ΩN] MEΓAΛOV APΣAKOV/EΠIΦANOV, archer (Arsakes I) seated right on throne, holding bow. 

Ex: David Sellwood (1925-2012) Collection
Ex: Baldwin's 90 Sellwood I; portion lot 1154 (24 Sept 2014)

ISLAMIC/Ottoman; Selim II (Selīm-i sānī) CE1566-1574

AV Sultani; 19mm, 3.45g, 9h, Misr (Cairo/القاهرة‎) mint dated AH 974

Album 1324

IRAN/Parthia; Artabanos III (اردوان سوم) CE 10-38

AR Drachm 21mm, 3.76g, 12h, Ecbatana (Hamadan) mint

Shore 345 (Artabanos II)
Sellwood 63 type

O: diad hd of king left.
R: Arsakes enthroned with bow r, monogram for Ecbatana mint, multilined inscription top, bottow and sides, 8 lines. Appears to be in agreement with Shore.

US Civil War Era Penny

"Indian Head Penny" 1863 CuNi mintage 49,840,000  VF20
KM#90

Besides Gettysburg and the other domestic US events that occurred in 1863 it was also the year that French Chemist H. M. Mourries developed margarine. How's that for an obscure and otherwise overlooked event from a momentous and horribly bloody year. 

IRAN/Parthia; Phraates IV ( فرهاد چهارم) BCE 38-2 ex Carathéodory Paşa collection

AR Tetradrachm; 14.69g, 26 x 27 mm, Seleucia mint, c. BCE 26-24

Sellwood 51.25-51.43 (date and month off flan) possible mule of 52.1 obs and 51.25 reverse

Shore 272 type

O: long bearded bust left wart on brow

R: King enthroned on left receiving palm from Tyche on rt holding cornucopiae. Year and month in ex off flan.

Top: BAΣΙΛΕ[ΩΣ]/BAΣΙΛΕΩ[N]

Right: APΣAK[OV]/EVEPΓET[OV]

Bottom (inverted): ΔIKAIOV[with month and year beneath].

Left: [E]ΠΙΦANOVΣ/ [ΦIΛ]EΛΛHN[OΣ]

Ex: Alexandre Carathéodory Paşa (1833-1906) Collection 

Great Britain; Hanover; George II CE 1727-1760

AR Shilling (26mm - 5.95 g). LIMA issue. 1745. 

ESC 1205
SCBC 3703

O: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed old bust left; LIMA below 
R: Crowned cruciform coats-of-arms of England and France, Scotland, Ireland, and Hanover around rayed central Garter star.

for interesting background information pertaining to the "LIMA" issues cf the following URL:
http://www.mernick.org.uk/lnc/talks/lima.htm.

Greece/Seleucid; Antiochus II Theos BCE 261-246

AE 10mm, 0.77g, 12h, Sardes mint

SC 530.1 (as no controls are readily visible)

WSM 1384

HSC 288 (R2-3)

O: laur. Hd of Apollo three quarters r.

R: BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ on r. ANTIOXOY on l., tripod, standing on Seleucid symbol (anchor r.)

Most if not all of the inscription is not readily visible

ISLAMIC/Artuqid (Mardin), Najm ad-Din as-Sa'id Ghazi I AH 637-658/CE 1239-1260

AR Dirham, 22mm, 2.7 g, 7h. Mardin mint AH 643/CE 1245-1246

Album 1834.2 (S)

O: outer hexagram Shahada
inner hexagram al-Imam al-Mustasim/billahi Amir al-Mu'minin

R: outer hexagram duriba bi-Mardin sanah thalatha arba'in sittami'ah
inner hexagram al-Malik as-Salih Ayyub/ al-Malik as-Sa'id Ghazi

Recommended reading for the inquiring and acquiring mind

Why coins matter: Trafficking in undocumented and illegally exported ancient coins in the North American marketplace

GREECE/Lesbos; Mytilene; c. BCE 377-326

EL Hekte, 10 mm, 2.53g, 12h.

Bodenstedt 89

SNG Copenhagen - 

Weber 5624

O: Wreathed head of Dionysos right

R: Wreathed head of Persephone right within linear square.

Ex: Roma Numismatics Ltd, 15 lot 208 (31 Jan 2015)

(originally classified as B. 85 by auction house)

GREECE/Samaria 4th Century BCE

AR Half-Ma’ah/Hemiobol; 7mm, 0.26g, c. BCE 375-333

Meshorer & Qedar 189 (This coin illustrated on plate 26 of Meshorer & Qedar Samarian Coinage, INS, Jerusalem, 1999)

O: Head of Persian satrap right wearing a tiara

R: Young male head right

Ex: CNG 353 portion lot 791 (17 June 2015)

Ex: CNG 117:76 (29 June 2005)

CNG photo of Lot 76 from EA 117 in 2005 that also appears in article referenced below.

This coin illustrated on plate 1 #6 as well as mentioned in text in INR 6:2011 for article “Tiarate Heads on Samarian Coins” by Jarosław Bodzek (pp. 3-19)

https://www.academia.edu/1269526/_Tiarate_Heads_on_Samarian_Coins_INR_6_2011_pp._3-19

Israel 1948/9 250 Prutah varieties illustrated

KM# 15 CuNi, 32.2 mm, mintage 1,496,000 with pearl

O: oat sprigs with ISRAEL in Hebrew above and Arabic below.
R: 250 Prutah (with frozen date) 5709 within wreath.

Two varieties exist in CuNi, one with the pearl and one without. The pearl appears under the bar connecting the wreath on the reverse. 

                                   

              variety with pearl enlarged                                                           variety without pearl enlarged

KM# 15 CuNi, 32.2 mm, mintage 524,000 without pearl

The variety with the pearl appears to be the more valuable example despite the lower mintage of the variety without the pearl. 

There is an example that was not placed in circulation that was 50% silver KM #15a with a mintage of 44,000, though still averaging a lower catalogue value than the CuNi pearl variety. 

Ναι η Oχι?

Ναι η Oχι?

ISLAMIC/Umayyad Dynasty; temp al-Walid b. 'Abdal-Malik CE 705-715

AE Fals (21 mm, 3.53 g, 5h) c. CE 705-709 Iliya mint (Jerusalem)

Album 179 (R)

O: Shahada in three lines surrounded by concentric circles

R: center "Muhammad/Rasul/Allah" in three lines around "Bismillah duriba hadhal-fals b'Iliya" ND

compare similar example found at CNG 265 lot 443