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 Replies: 8 / Views: 571 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
1168 Posts |
The tag that came with the coin is pretty old and said Macedon, Roman provincial 3rd century AD. Head of Alexander r. Reverse: Alexander on horseback. Seaby 596, BMC 106. The vendor had added the inscriptions obverse: AΛEΞANΔPOV and reverse: KOINON MAKEΔONΩN B NEΩ, and cf.S-4808 (Greek Imperial Coins). There is a star beneath Alexander's neck truncation and one under Bucephalus on the OP coin. I typed in Alexander star, into the RPC database and there were around 265 hits. After looking through them all, the nearest I got was https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/6/350. Each example had the star under Alexander's neck, and though all examples said for the reverse; "Alexander the Great riding Bucephalus galloping, right, his mantle floating behind him, hurling spear; below, star", there is no sign of a star on any of them.  Bronze. Diameter: 25 mm. Weight: 11.16 gr. Can anyone help to pin this one down? Thanks. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2219 Posts |
Nice coin, likely scarce to rare with the stars. It could be unpublished. Or it's in one of the old out of print publications like SNG Cop or AMNG. I have a couple without stars. There's a few with star under horse on CNGcoins.com and acsearch.info but I didn't see any that also had a star under Alexander. Lots of dies were used with ancient coins and it's common to have variations. Most old references call these Koinon of Macedonia without a mint mark. However some now say they were minted in the city of Beroea since their style and size look like the few rare coins that have the city name on them. Here is one of mine that I think has star under Alexander and the city name Beroea on reverse with Olympias and snake. St. Paul visited Beroea.  Edited by livingwater
06/23/2024 09:36 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2219 Posts |
Edited by livingwater
06/23/2024 10:18 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
1168 Posts |
Thanks for the replies and the links, @livingwater. I am beginning to think that it could indeed be an unpublished variety. Initially I thought it would be a fairly easy coin to attribute as there weren't many coins with Alexander looking upwards, but it has turned out to be the opposite.  Having used Google, ACSearch and the RPC database, I still haven't found another coin that matched the devices and legends on my coin. The https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/6/350 coin was the nearest I came to a match, however the reverse inscription is also slightly different. The RPC coin has the reverse inscription; ΚΟΙΝΟΝ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΩΝ ΝΕΩ. My coin has the reverse inscription; KOINON MAKEΔONΩN B NEΩ. Could the "B" refer to Beroea? Do you have any suggestions on how to attribute the coin for my own records? (RPC 6 350 var?) Cheers, Jim |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2219 Posts |
That's what I'd do, consider it a variation. However, I've sent pics of some of my rare coins to RPC for them to add to their database. On their site there's a page form to fill out and download pics of the coin. You could do that, see if they will list it with whatever number they may give it. It can take a while for them to add a coin to the online database, depending how busy they are. The below link is for new coin types if you think that's what you have. There's another place to add coins to those already listed. There's a comment section where you could say you don't know.... https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/feedback/createEdited by livingwater
06/23/2024 10:26 am
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1168 Posts |
Yes, that would be the best way to go, and upload the images to RPC to see what they make of them. I have a few coins on the RPC pages, the latest one is specimen 9; https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/2/1042 though I didn't know of the link for possible new types. Many thanks. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2219 Posts |
That's a cool coin. Thanks for the link. For about twenty years I had a goal of collecting coins from all the cities and people in the Bible that struck coins. Some mints are very rare. I lack just a few including Ashdod. I've seen a few Ashdod coins but more money than I want to pay. Lately I've been buying mostly modern coins bullion.
Edited by livingwater
06/23/2024 3:33 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1168 Posts |
The images of the coin have been uploaded to the RPC site. It will be interesting to hear what they come back with, if anything.  Quote:
Lately I've been buying mostly modern coins bullion. Unfortunately I had to sell my Kruger Rands in the '70s due to financial pressures. To see what they cost now is breathtaking. I did manage to hold on to a dozen sovereigns from the South Africa, Melbourne and Sydney mints though, and don't intend to get rid of them. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1168 Posts |
Quote:
Nice coin, likely scarce to rare with the stars. It could be unpublished. It appears that it is indeed a previously unpublished variety. "Issue Type B: Alexander with flowing hair (and star). Die-links 1: same obv. die as 199/1, 204/1-3, 205/1-2, 206/1-3. Addition Additional coin-type (post publication)" Thanks again for the help, @livingwater.  https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/7.2/199AP.S. Wow, those Ashdod coins really are expensive! |
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Replies: 8 / Views: 571 |
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Posted 06/23/2024 08:58 am
