Very Rare Didrachm Coin Of Oinoanda

Thank you , Bob . It are the 2 same dies as the CNG coin .In hand , you see the head a litte bit , it is more an impression that you have, so I think the coin is weakly strucked . I was comparing my coin with others in Ashton'work and on acsearch , and there are also other coins weekly strucked, but better than mine .On the other hand , I don t understand there are more coins as mine , so maybe there was something wrong with the reverse die .albert

Great coin, congratulations.

gorgeous coin!




Hmm, for collectors of US coins, there is a lot of talk about "greasers", where some of the lubricating grease fills in part of the design and therefore that detail doesn't strike up as it should. Any thoughts as to whether tallow or some other natural lubricant was used by ancient Greeks when they were striking their coins?

Till 2002 , only one coin was known in the British Museum collection struck in the name of the Oinoandans . In 2002 , about 100 didrachms of the same series , clearly from a hoard,started to appear on the European and American market .There are 4 obverse and 9 reverse dies known.The weight of the coins varies from 7,4 gr to 8,99 gr ,all struck with a die axis of 12 h.
This coin has die A4/P3, as the coin Bob referred to.With this combination of dies,three coins are know with a weight of 8,16 gr (1) and 8,26 gr (2) , this coin with 8,42 gr is the fourth known .
Obverse die A4 has been used from this coin on.Coin A1 to A3 have a small head of Zeus , A4 a larger head with the letter B behind.All the different die combinations are on this plate from Ashton's work ' The Coinage of Oinoanda4. albert

thank you, Bob. I was reading the threat of DL20K : Incuse area around the lettering and especially the Forum ancient article.In the second hypothesis : Punching , they show the example of the A in MAX. My question : is this also possible with the head of the eagle ? Argument pro : die partially filled , contra : you have the same problem with the hair of Zeus and I wonder the die was filled on the same place (1 and 11 h by die axis 12 h) on both sides . So I think it is due to weakly strucking . albert

Albert, I'm not seeing the corresponding area of Zeus' hair that is "clogged" like the eagle's head. It seems to me that the hair is worn but intact.

The fact that multiple coins that have been struck with that same die - and all have the same missing eagle's head (as in the image below) - seems to preclude the possibility that the missing head is from weak striking. I would think that the missing head has to be an issue with the die itself.



I can only think of three possibilities:

1. If there are earlier strikes from that same die that show the eagle's head in its entirety, then the die became clogged. Do 6a and 7a in the illustration show the same reverse die? If so, we must be looking at a clogged die situation, with 7a showing an earlier strike, prior to the clog.

2. The die was incomplete when it when into production (the die engraver did not finish it). Seems unlikely. However, the smooth transition from the neck to the missing head is intriguing. I would have expected an abrupt change in surface if the die was clogged. Does the smooth transition suggest that the die was in fact not clogged and that the engraving became shallower and unfinished at the head?

3. The eagle head was left off intentionally by the engraver for some (symbolic?) reason. Seems quite unlikely but who knows?

I am curious to hear other theories. It's an interesting mystery!

Yes! But that makes it even more interesting.

Here's a possible sequence...just a proposal, using pics I found online.

Here is an earlier coin (coin #4 in the illustration, second from right in top row). It has a different obverse die but the same reverse die as yours.


Now a later, die-linked coin. This is coin 7a in the illustration. Here we have a new obverse and - maybe - the same reverse. The lettering looks similar enough that I think it could be the same reverse...but I'm not certain. Note that there is no Greek letter beta yet on the obverse die:


At this point, after the previous coin was struck, the obverse die was reworked by the engraver and the Greek letter beta was added.

This new re-engraved obverse, with the same reverse as the coins above, was then struck. However - either through clogging or damage to both dies (I now think you may be right about the flattened hair of Zeus being something in the die) - we now get the result we see in the coins below - the second one below is, I believe, your very coin:




There is no doubt that the first coin above has an identical reverse to yours: