Top Coin Types (Greek Edition)

I will leave a few of my favourites for the others (turtles, tetradrachms, owls etc) and just take the first really obvious one - the Corinthian Pegasus. The Pegasus
is really a classic symbol of ancient myth and legend and was actually the result of archaic people discovering dinosaur bones for crested varieties of dinosaurs. They could tell the skeletons made a quadruped and assumed the extra bones of the crest must be wings so assumed it was the remains of a winged horse.




My second choice is this coins from Thrace, Messembria with the Corinthian helmet. I am not sure why it appeals to me so much but from the second I saw the design I knew I had to have one of them.




Last is my Hekte with a cows head. It is always nice when you buy a coin and a week later you see one for sale at nearly 3 times what you paid... but that's what happened with this one. Its quite a small coin but combines some of the features I like most about the early coins... the image inside the incuse square and that the image is a part of wildlife (in this case the head of a calve) something that has changed little in the many years since it was stuck.

Ron beat me to the punch...I was starting to give this some thought and gather up some images...and a big, fat Ptolemaic tet was definitely my starting point, and an Alexander III issue was number two...I'm totally on board for those two, Ron!

well, this bring up a good question. what is a greek coin? if it has a greek legend and wasn't minted under roman rule? does it have to be from the mediterranean area?

beats me.

i pulled out my copy of collecting greek coins by john anthony, he has a section called "the east under hellenistic influence". he would consider these coins at least tangentially greek, and so do i.... I think.



indo-greek





antialcidas nikephorus
130-90 bc
o: zeus, thunderbolt, greek legend
r: caps of the dioscuri, palm branches, monogram, kharosthi legend.
19 mm
8.1g

parthian





orodes i
80-77 bc
O: bust of orodes
r: archer enthroned, greek legend
20 mm
4.0 g


back to tradional "greek coins....how about archaic greeks.



mysia, kyziko
diobol
5th century bc
o: boar and tuna
r:lion in incuse square
11 mm
1.2 g

Personally I would have put the Parthian and Indo-greeks into the Miscellaneous category (the fourth thread) along with things like Byzantine, Indian, etc

If we say that Greek coins are those minted under the city states of the Mediterranean area, independent of Rome (whether under their control or not) then that would give us a good idea what to aim at.

Otherwise that 4th thread is going to be pretty dull ^^

Nice coins everyone,

Dutch - feel free to add another if you like since we already have an Alexander III tetradrachm.

Really beautiful coins, Dutch...you have an outstanding collection of Greeks. I have to admit I did a bit of a double-take when looking at the Zeus Labraundos reverse of coin #2. I thought, "Is this guy holding a scepter, or is he just REALLY happy to be in Dutch's collection?"

I had totally forgotten that I do have one greek coin in my collection - this drachma of Alexander. I admired his exploits so much in my youth that I read the history of Alexander's life at least twice, and I honored that by getting this one coin.

If anybody can attribute it, specifically where it was minted, I would really appreciate it.

sorry about this very poor picture - it was taken with my old camera.

Yeah, Dutch, seems Zeus is standing at attention, alright. At the risk of taking this thread into the gutter...it reminds me of the statue of William Penn atop the city hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (where I was born and raised). Penn's right hand is outstretched in a gesture of peace:


But then there is the main view of Penn, as seen from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the huge avenue in downtown Philly that leads to City Hall...if you've seen the movie Rocky you know this perspective:


As you drive along the Parkway toward City Hall and look ahead, here's what you see (it's kind of hard to miss...pardon the pun):