Last Coins/Artifacts. Purchased In 2021.post Yours!

Wow what a piece Bob?...What type of animals are depicted? Buffalo, cows, deer? Lovely example at 6 BC!....That's older than me!

Studying it a bit more, Paul, I do wonder if that might be a chimera bottom row, center. I also suspect that the upper left animal is the same as the lower right, and the upper right is the same as the lower left. I think there may have been four animals in a row, in a mold used repeatedly around each row.

I agree 100% travelcoin/Gerry. These large Byzantine bronzes don't seem to weather the ravages of time very well, and so far I haven't managed to get a coin with a legible legend and good portrait for a reasonable price. Big bucks indeed.

I do like your nicely detailed Maxentius follis, and it's great that Paul's specimen appears to have solved the mintmark problem. Jim

That is a very attractive Etruscan fragment, Bob. You do find some really nice pieces. I did wonder if the animals depicted were domestic animals, as I see a horse and a bull, and the elongated muzzle on the animal in the image that Gerry posted does look like a meerkat, but it also reminds me of the stylised stag (without horns) on some Ephesos coins, or the Segesta hound. However the appearance on the bottom row of what does indeed appear to be a chimera, nullifies the domestic animals theory.

Today the postman dropped off what will definitely be my last coin of 2021. I haven't seen many of this type of coin from Lampsakos for sale, and it's the first coin I have with the head of Priapos and the Phi character in the inscription.

Lampsakos, Mysia. (Priapos) 190-85 BC.
Obverse: Head of Priapos right, wreathed with ivy. Reverse: ΛAM-ΨA in two lines within wreath. Bronze. Diameter: 12 mm. Weight: 1,4 gr.
Reference: BMC 72; Lindgren I, 258; SNG Cop 223

My very last purchase of the 2021 (it hasn't even arrived yet) is this Golden Horde dang with the name of Muhammed Khan and Ordu mint on this, 775 or 777 AH. It was classified as a local mintage or possibly imitation. Slightly off-centered, but very clear strike!

Nice additions, all. Love that reverse, Chris.

Turns out I have one more package coming later today, 12/31. Watching out for the mail truck now...

Hmmm. A meerkat in ancient Etruria. Perhaps he took a wrong turn at Albuquerque?

Surprisingly, remarkably, unexpectedly, I got another package delivered today, the last day of 2021. I had thought this one would take longer.

As some of you know, I enjoy purchasing ancient potsherds every once in a while. Here's a newly acquired group of mostly blackware sherds, purchased from a Ukrainian seller who I trust and have purchased from in the past. These are from the ancient Greek colony of Olbia on the northern Black Sea coast in what is today the southern Ukraine. They may date to about the 5th century BC, but given that the colony, founded in the 7th century BC, endured for centuries, I could be off by a couple hundred years.

There's nothing particularly earth-shattering about these. (Perhaps I should say "earthenware shattering"? Get it? Pottery sherds? Earthenware shattering? Oh, never mind.) But it is nice to have the location pinned down so precisely - which is often simply impossible with generic sherds.

Novicius had a nice writeup about Olbia, along with a map, on page 14 of his "animal" thread:
http://goccf.com/t/363454&whichpage=14

I have, en route - but not expected until March (ugh!) - what looks to be a much more impressive fragment from Olbia. That one is a partially barnacle-encrusted upper portion of a large amphora, salvaged from off the coast of Koblevo/Kobleve in southern Ukraine - that's right off the coast of Olbia, just below and to the right of the red dot that represents Olbia on Jim's map. Really looking forward to that one's arrival.

But, for now, a group of potsherds from Olbia, c. 5th century BC:

I think you're right, Ron. These all came via two lots, and one of the lots contained some of the larger, deep black pieces. I suspect those were from the same find, and that several of the fragments belonged to the same vessel in antiquity.

I only realized, after packing these up after the photo shoot above, that the flipside of one of the blackglaze sherds, below, has these interesting converging lines. Wish I had had this side face up in the original group shot - but, too late. The above pic was already posted to my Forum gallery this evening before I realized.