Small Lot of Seleucid Countermarks

                       A                                                       B                                                       C



A-Possibly Antiochus III?
AE 13 mm, 2.88 g
O: diad. hd rt.
R: Apollo on omphalos
c/m Anchor in circle approx. 5 x 7 mm

B- Demetrius I Soter BCE 162-150
AE 15 mm serratus, 3.12 g
O: Horse hd l.
R: elephant and slightly visible inscription.
SC 1646
SNG Spaer 1300 with anchor in rectangular c/m
this c/m is rectangular but is 5 x 3 mm and appears to be a trident (unlisted in SC for this type)

C- poss. Antiochus I SC 351.1 var. c/m 39?
AE 12 mm, 3.14 g
O: hd of king r
R: Apollo on omphalos
c/m anchor in circle 5mm dia. 

Greece/ Seleucid; Antiochus III BCE 223-187

AR Tetradrachm 16.8g/ 32mm/1h, Uncertain Mint 68, in N. Mesopotamia, from BCE 197

SC 1132.4 (this coin), WSM 857,  CH X , 292; 707 (this coin on plate 36)

O: diad. Hd of Antiochus III with mature features tousled hair, hairline beginning to recede at temple, diad ends falling straight behind, dotted border.

R: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ  on right ANTIOXOY on left, controls outer left placed sideways and reading downward.

Ex: "Pamphylia or Cilicia" Hoard, 2000  (Uncertain Findspot CH X; 292, Lot C)

Deposition c. 187/186 BCE

Known or published examples (4):

WSM 857, Newell 16.69 g

Hamburger Sale, June 1930, #422, pl. 13, 16.93 g

 (much thanks to Prof. Ted Buttrey for supplying a scan of this photo)

Naville Sale X, June 1925, #971, pl. 35 (cf NC 1912, pp. 245-6 #10, pl. ix, 12) 16.73 g.

 SC 1132.4 ex Pamphylia or perhaps Cilicia Hoard, 2000 (this coin) 16.8 g

Note: it appears that in the photographed examples shown here, there was one obverse die and at least three reverse dies. The Hamburger sale example is the only one that appears to be a different obs and rev die together (reverse appears somewhat barbaric by comparison as well).

This is an example found on MA Shops with the same obv. die but different reverse and apparently unlisted and unpublished control combo reversed from the aforementioned positions. 30mm, 16.85g, 13h. still available at a reasonable price (as of 1 May 2011) http://www.ma-shops.com/cgb/item.php5?id=30799&lang=en for € 350,00 (USD 517)

McClean Collection of Greek Coins

The three volumes plus plates of the McClean Collection are now available in our links on the left side column of this page or click on the catalogue link below.

The volumes are:

• Catalogue of the McClean collection of Greek coins. Vol. I: Western Europe, Magna Graecia, Sicily / by S.W. Grose
• Catalogue of the McClean collection of Greek coins. Vol. II: The Greek mainland, the Aegaean islands, Crete / by S.W. Grose
• Catalogue of the McClean collection of Greek coins. Vol. III: Asia Minor, Farther Asia, Egypt, Africa / by S.W. Grose

Greece/Seleucid; Antiochus III BCE 223-187

AE 15 mm, 1.65 g., Tyre mint, after BCE 198.

SC 1081, HSC 563 (S)

O: diad. hd of Antiochus r, with mature to elderly features and baldness at temple. dotted border.

R:  ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOY around, palm tree, dotted border. no controls.

found in Israel.

Greece; Seleucid; Alexander Balas BCE 152-145

AE 18 mm, 4.7 g., Apamea on Orontes mint

SC 1805.2d, SNG Spaer 1450

O: Hd of Alexander rt in lion skin, dotted border

R: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, on r., AΛEΞANΔPOY on l., Apollo stg l., testing arrow and resting hand on grounded bow.

Symbol: Palm Branch outer left.

Control in ex.

Greece/Seleucid; Antiochus IV Epiphanes BCE 175-164

AE 16 mm, 3.09 g., 12h,  Ptolemaïs Ake mint c. BCE 175-173/2

SC 1478.2b, SNG Spaer 1043, HSC 725 (R2)

O: hd of Apollo r., control behind head

R: Apollo std on omphalos l. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ  on r., ANTIOXOY on left, Aphlaston on far left, Δ in ex.

Time Lapse Video of Excavation of the Frome Hoard (click on link below)

Great timelapse video of the excavation

According to a note at Flickr, this was compiled from three days worth of photos.

Yahoo coverage of Frome Hoard   (with a few more pix but mostly covered in write up below)

or for even better coverage click on the link below to the PAS website for great coverage of this interesting and important find:

Portable Antiquities Scheme Article about the Frome Hoard with photos of the coins and excavation

UK treasure hunter finds 52,000 Roman coins

By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press Writer Robert Barr, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 8, 6:39 am ET

LONDON – A treasure hunter has found about 52,500 Roman coins, one of the largest such finds ever in Britain, officials said Thursday.
The hoard, which was valued at 3.3 million pounds ($5 million), includes hundreds of coins bearing the image of Marcus Aurelius Carausius, who seized power in Britain and northern France in the late third century and proclaimed himself emperor.
Dave Crisp, a treasure hunter using a metal detector, located the coins in April in a field in southwestern England, according to the Somerset County Council and the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
The coins were buried in a large jar about a foot (30 centimeters) deep and weighed about 160 kilograms (350 pounds) in all.
Crisp said a "funny signal" from his metal detector prompted him to start digging.
"I put my hand in, pulled out a bit of clay and there was a little radial, a little bronze Roman coin — very, very small, about the size of my fingernail," Crisp said in an interview with the BBC.
He recovered about 20 coins before discovering that they were in a pot, and realized he needed expert help.
"Because Mr. Crisp resisted the temptation to dig up the coins it has allowed archaeologists from Somerset County Council to carefully excavate the pot and its contents, ensuring important evidence about the circumstances of its burial was preserved," said Anna Booth, of Somerset Council.
Somerset Coroner Tony Williams scheduled an inquest Thursday to formally determine whether the find is subject to the Treasure Act, a formal step toward determining a price to be paid by any institution which wishes to acquire the hoard.
The hoard is one of the largest ever found in Britain, and will reveal more about the nation's history in the third century, said Roger Bland, of the British Museum. The find includes more than 760 coins from the reign of Carausius, the Roman naval officer who seized power in 286 and ruled until he was assassinated in 293.
"The late third century A.D. was a time when Britain suffered barbarian invasions, economic crises and civil wars," Bland said.
"Roman rule was finally stabilized when the Emperor Diocletian formed a coalition with the Emperor Maximian, which lasted 20 years. This defeated the separatist regime which had been established in Britain by Carausius.
"This find presents us with an opportunity to put Carausius on the map. School children across the country have been studying Roman Britain for decades, but are never taught about Carausius our lost British emperor."
The discovery of the Roman coins follows last year's discovery of a hoard of Anglo-Saxon coins in central England. The so-called Staffordshire Hoard included more than 1,500 objects, mostly made from gold.
The Portable Antiquities Scheme is a department of the British Museum which deals with treasure finds.

Link to Weber Plates

Here is the link to the plates for the Hermann Weber Collection texts that we linked to a while back. This link should now make the 3v online Weber complete. Just cut and paste.

http://people.virginia.edu/~jdk3t/WeberPlates/

Greece/Seleucid; Demetrius II Nikator BCE 129-125 (Second Reign)

AE 18 mm, 5.17 g, 12h, Beirut mint.

SC 2185, CSE 710 v, HSC 1135 (R2)

O: diad., hd r. beardless, diad ends falling straight behind (though obv is o/c), dotted border.

R: ΒΑ[ΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ] curving on r., in Phoenician script curving to left “Of Laodicea, mother (i.e. metropolis) in Canaan”. Ba’al Berit (Poseidon) stg facing holding phiale and trident, dotted border. Rev. mintmark ΛA to l., and Phi with O above to right. With control in r. field above.

Greece/Seleucid; Demetrius II Nikator, Second Reign BCE 129-125

AE 18 mm, 2.97g., 12h, Tyre mint, SE 184=BCE 129/8

SC 2199.1, Newell Tyre 183, HSC 1142 (R2)

O: diad., draped bust r, beardless, dotted border.

R: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ  ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ in two lines above, Phoenician "L'Tsur" in ex., ship's ram l., dotted border, Date in ex on l., ΔΠΡ,  Mint mark monogram of TYP above ram and IEP AΣ, Symbol behind ram Palm Branch.

Ex: Amphora (David Hendin) via Forum. Likely found in Israel.

Greece/Seleucid; Antiochus VI Epiphanes Dionysos BCE 144-142/1

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AE 18 mm, 7.59 g, 11h, perhaps Chalcis by Belus mint BCE 144

SC 2017b, HSC 1049 (R2)

O: rad and diad., hd r. diad ends waving up behind behind, dotted border.

R: BAΣIΛΕΩΣ/ ANTIOXOY in two lines on the r.,  EΠΙΦANOYΣ/ ΔIONYΣOY in two lines on the l., cantharus.

Symbol (inner r.) Palm branch

Control in ex: AP

(coin is much nicer in hand than depicted in photo. The actual patina is greenish black)

Greece/Seleucid; Antiochus IX Cyzicenus BCE 114/3-95

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AE 22 mm, 9.06 g., Tarsus mint First Reign BCE 114/3-c. 112

SC 2352c, HSC 1246 (S-R1)

O: diad. Hd of king with short, curly beard, diad ends falling straight behind, dotted border.

R: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOY in two lines on r., ΦΙΛΟΠATPOPOΣ on l., Dionysus stg l., holding cantharus and thyrsus.

Primary control: (outer left above) E

Secondary control: (outer left below)  Pi with serif and semi-circle over it.

Greece/Seleucid; Antiochus VII Sidetes BCE 138-129

AE 10 mm, 1.36 g, Antioch mint

SC 2069, HSC 1106 (R1)

O: Ships ram left.

R: [ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ] ANTIOXOY, Pilei surmounted by stars.

Greece/Seleucid; Antiochus III BCE 223-187

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AE 23 mm, 11.37 g, 12h, Ecbatana mint, c. BCE 205

SC 1265, SNG Spaer 799v,  ESM 619, HSC 484 (R2)

O: diad., hd r. often of crude style with incipient baldness at temple, dotted border.  North to south die shift.

R: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ above  ANTIOXOY below, horse grazing l., controls on left and right.

Greece/Seleucid; Antiochus IV Epiphanes BCE 175-164

AE 21 mm, 4.84 g, 12h, Beirut mint, c. BCE 168-164

SC 1449.4, SNG Spaer 1077, HSC 664 (R2)

O: rad., diad., hd r. one diad end flying up behind and the other falling forward over shoulder, dotted border. Obv. Control behind hd CI

R: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOY curving on r., in Phoenician script curving to left “Of Laodicea, mother (i.e. metropolis) in Canaan”. Ba’al Berit (Poseidon) stg facing holding phiale and trident, dotted border. Rev. mintmark ΛA to l., and Phi with O above to right.

NDE methods for evaluating ancient coins could be worth their weight in gold

Demonstrating that chemistry sometimes can inform history, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Colorado College and Mount Saint Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Md., have shown that sensitive nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques can be used to determine the elemental composition of ancient coins, even coins that generally have been considered too corroded for such methods*. Along the way, the researchers' analysis of coins minted in ancient Judea has raised new questions about who ruled the area while giving insight into trading patterns and industry in the region.

Elemental and isotope analysis of the metals in ancient artifacts sometimes can pinpoint the places where the metal was mined, because ores in a given region often have a unique composition. This can be combined with historical records of when mines in the area were operating to determine when the coin was likely struck. The results not only help date the coin, but also offer insight into trade and power relationships in the region.
To compare the effectiveness of various nondestructive analytical methods with destructive methods often used to determine the age and origin of ancient coins, the group studied coins minted by Kings Herod Agrippa I and Agrippa II in what is modern day Palestine and Israel, a biblically and historically significant period.
The vast numbers of a particular coin, a prutah, found in the archaeological record has led scholars to disagree about when they were struck and by whom. The provenance of the coin is important because it is used to establish dates for places and events in the early years of Christianity and the onset of the Jewish War (66-70 CE) against the Romans and the Diaspora that followed.

To better establish whether the coins were minted by Agrippa I (41-45 CE) or Agrippa II (after 61 CE), the team performed X-ray fluorescence and lead isotope analysis to fingerprint the ores used in the production of the coins. These NDE methods are not commonly used on corroded coins because the corrosion can affect the results—in some cases making it difficult to get a result at all. The team showed that these problems could be overcome using polarizing optics and powerful new software for X-ray fluorescence analysis, combined with careful calibration of the mass spectrometer using Standard Reference Materials from NIST**.
The lead isotope analysis, performed at NIST, showed that the coins that had been attributed to Agrippa I were indeed from that era. More interestingly, however, the group found that the copper from which the coins were made most likely came from mines that scholars thought hadn't been opened until a century later.
"All the archaeological evidence has thus far suggested that the Romans had moved into Arabia in the 2nd century CE," says Nathan Bower of Colorado College. "What this analysis shows is that the Romans may have reached the region earlier or found that these mines had already been opened. Either way, our findings suggest that the Romans had a much closer relationship with this particular region than scholars had previously thought."

To follow up on their research, the group is planning to perform more tests to determine if the mines in question may have been operating even earlier than their recent findings suggest.

###

* M. Epstein, D. Hendin, L. Yu, and N. Bower. Chemical attribution of corroded coins using X-ray fluorescence and lead isotope ratios: A case study from first century Judaea. Applied Spectroscopy, Vol. 64, Issue 4, pp. 384-390 (2010).

** NIST's Common Lead Standard Reference Material, SRM 981, and Neodymium Standard Solution, SRM 3135a were used in the study.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/nios-nmf052710.php

Roman (Britain) / Constantine II, as Caesar CE 317-337

AE 3/ Reduced Follis (20 mm, 3.26 g) London mint, c. CE 317
RIC VII 117 London (R3)
O : FL CL CONSTANTINVS IVN N C, laur., draped bust r.
R: SOLI INVIC-TO COMITI/S-P in field/ PLN in ex.

 
Ex: J.S. Vogelaar (1949-2010) Collection

Ex: CNG EA 204, portion lot 384 (11 Feb 2009)

not my normal interest or purchase despite the fact that I have acquired a modest collection of London mint items over the years. The big motivation for this acquisition was Lee Toone's article about Vogelaar in the May 2010 issue of the The Celator.  

According to Lee Toone the following additional information was provided about this piece:   


"Vogelaar only had one example of this coin. It was bought from a British dealer called Cherry (I forget his first name) on 16th October 1990 for £11 ($21.35 US at time-JG) - Vogelaar #198. One of his earlier purchases."