Elephant Coin => Bactrian Kings, Demetrius I ... *sweet*

Ah ok I see the elephant now (had to compare it with dougsmit's coin). Interesting coin steve

I might have to disagree here. 3/4 facing is more common than full front simply because it is really hard to make full front look right. The Byzantine portraits that are full front are really stiff and not all that attractive. Slightly earlier around the time of Constantius II through Theodosius II, we have late Roman solidi with 3/4 that look better than full front would. The best art on coins might be said to be some of the 3/4 facing heads like we saw on Helios from Rhodes. I can't think of a full front head on Greek except for when the intent was to shock you with ugliness like Medusa. Certainly 3/4 is harder to cut than profile but, IMHO, full front is impossible. I don't have one but there are some Licinius I and II coins with full front portraits and they really look weird. I always had to ask what they were thinking with that issue. It did not catch on.

Someone might say that the full front Christ portraits of later Byzantine don't look weird but by that time the portrait was so stylized that I'm not sure the old rules still applied. There is another problem I wonder if was considered and that is how coins wear. The 3/4 pose places the nose and one cheek at about the same height of relief so the nose does not wear off in the first weeks of use quite as bad as it does with full front. We consumers can accept a portrait missing an ear a lot better than one missing a nose. Coins worn to just an outline look OK when profile but really strange when fully front facing. I wonder how much thought was put into coin design realizing that the coins would wear with use and still be expected to represent the ruler in an honorable way?

NOTE => I added-in a photo/sketch of an actual Asian Elephant, directly below my coin photo (refer to my first post on page 1 of this thread) ... I think it certainly helps your eyes figure-out the elephant-head on my coin a little bit easier ...

Nice looking coins of a type I know little/nothing about, which is something I always enjoy...

Here is an example of the facing portrait of Licinius (NOT MINE) as an illustration of what Doug mentions. They look odd and the portrait type didn't catch on.



As Doug also mentions, some of the finest examples of 3/4 facing busts come from Rhodes with some of the Tetradrachms being particularly well executed. I would have to sell off all my limbs and organs to afford one of good style and even then my wife would then kill me...

Martin

Thanks bobbyhelmet .... yah, this coin and my Chimaera-Dove coin are certainly both pretty high on my list of favourites!!