CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz ….. There was something of Jekyll and Hyde in Pompey. One side, the bright side, shows him as a great man who was brilliant, patriotic and talented. The other, the dark side, shows him as a willful monster: cruel,arrogant and overbearing (Fields, 4). ROMAN ARISTOCRAT AND general Gnaeus […]
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By Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. By the middle of the third century CE, the Roman Empire was in bad shape. In 253, when Valerian became emperor, the Empire had had 10 rulers since the death of Severus Alexander in 235. Most of these men had killed the preceding emperor and then taken over; several […]
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By Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. By the middle of the third century CE, the Roman Empire was in bad shape. In 253, when Valerian became emperor, the Empire had had 10 rulers since the death of Severus Alexander in 235. Most of these men had killed the preceding emperor and then taken over; several […]
The post The Ancient Roman Coins of Carus and His Brief Dynasty appeared first on CoinWeek: Rare Coin, Currency, and Bullion News for Collectors.
By Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. By the middle of the third century CE, the Roman Empire was in bad shape. In 253, when Valerian became emperor, the Empire had had 10 rulers since the death of Severus Alexander in 235. Most of these men had killed the preceding emperor and then taken over; several […]
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By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek ….. As someone working in the field of “pre-modern numismatics” at NAC USA, I have the extremely rare opportunity to handle some of the best ancient coins in the world. Now, more than ever, I ask myself a deceptively complex question. What drives the value of a coin? Which factors […]
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By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek ….. Like many countries in the aftermath of World War One, Italy was riven by internal divisions. At the start of the Great War, Italy split from the Central Powers and joined the Entente. When combined with disastrously ineffective leadership, this decision–while placing Italy on the winning side–resulted in over […]
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By Nicholas Fritz – Numismatist, World and Ancient Coins, Stack’s Bowers Galleries …… The January 2022 New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC) will once again showcase Stack’s Bowers Galleries as official auctioneer of this prestigious event. This sale will feature countless highlights across many areas, including a vast array of valuable and important issues […]
The post Impressive Roman Gold Aureus Headlines New York International Numismatic Convention Auction appeared first on CoinWeek.
CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz ….. STRONG, INTELLIGENT AND long-lived – yet surprisingly gentle – elephants have long exerted a powerful hold over the human imagination. Prehistoric cave paintings depict elephants and their extinct cousins, the wooly mammoth and mastodon. Ivory from elephant tusks was a precious raw material in the ancient […]
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By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek ….. Septimius Severus ascended to the throne in absentia as he marched from the “sleepy” Danubian province of Pannonia Superior towards the heart of imperial power in Rome. This provincial governor who ended the bloody civil war of 193 would go on to reign until his death in 211 CE […]
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Seleucus I Nicator, the founder of the Seleucid Empire, never put his own portrait on the empire’s coinage. Why? By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek ….. Since coins were one of the most effective tools for mass propaganda in the pre-modern world, it quickly became standard practice for a ruler to put their likeness […]
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By Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. The coinage of the ancient Romans underwent considerable changes as the government transitioned from a republic to an empire. Some coins like the denarius would continue through the imperatorial period into the Empire only slightly reduced in weight. Some would disappear, like the victoriatus. And some, like the sestertius, […]
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By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek ….. What does it take for an ancient historian to claim that you died by having molten gold poured down your throat? Easy – you just need to be the richest Roman to have ever lived. It also helps if you earned your vast fortune through slavery, dubious business dealings, […]
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By Jeremy Bostwick – Senior Numismatist & Cataloger, Stack’s Bowers …… Even if you’re not a professor of art history or a dealer in the high-end art world, you’re likely familiar with names such as Picasso, van Gogh, and Rembrandt. Those appellations instantly evoke the artistic styles for which they are known and admired and […]
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By Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. This is the second article in a series on the Greek colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea (Euxine Sea). The first article was on Olbia, and this one covers the cities of Tyras and Chersonesus. Most of the colonies in the area, which is now southern […]
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By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek ….. Perhaps one reason for the comparatively small interest in Greek coins in the country is the difficulty of understanding their inscriptions. This difficulty is not as great as might be supposed… (Pennington, 1) MODERN AMERICAN COINS are required by law to include quite a lot of text[1]. For example, […]
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By Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. The god Achelous was associated with the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece. This river still flows from the Pindar Mountains through western Greece and down into the Ionian Sea. It formed the border between Akarnania and Aetolia for part of its length. Like other river gods, Achelous […]
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By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek ….. High in the mountains of Pisidia in Anatolia, near the Mediterranean coast of what is now southwestern Turkey), lay the remarkably well-preserved ruins of Termessos Major. Unconquered by man, the city was felled by nature when an earthquake destroyed a local aqueduct in the fifth century CE (AD). Despite […]
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By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek ….. High in the mountains of Pisidia in Anatolia, near the Mediterranean coast of what is now southwestern Turkey), lay the remarkably well-preserved ruins of Termessos Major. Unconquered by man, the city was felled by nature when an earthquake destroyed a local aqueduct in the fifth century CE (AD). Despite […]
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The reason for the serrated edges on some silver Roman Republic denarii is not known By Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) …… The edges of most silver denarii of the Roman Republic have no particular features beyond those imparted by the flow of metal during the striking process. There is, however, a group of coins […]
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The reverse designs of late Roman coins typically feature military themes By Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) …… Coins of the Late Roman Empire have a remarkable variety of designs. In the previous column, we examined some of the principal types encountered on the obverse – typically the imperial portrait. In this installment (and the […]
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Attica, Athens AR Tetradrachm. New Style Coinage, circa 154-153 BC By Russell A. Augustin, AU Capital Management, LLC …… Athens was once immensely powerful and independent, but its invincibility was ultimately disproved. It was conquered first by Sparta, then by Macedonia, and eventually by Rome. Athens’ value was well understood, and it was allowed […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …. COINAGE IS CONSERVATIVE. IF a denizen of ancient Rome picked up a modern American dime, he would recognize familiar symbols: a torch, an olive branch, oak leaves. He could even understand the Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM (“Out of Many, One”). Similarly, if that ancient Roman picked […]
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By Russell A. Augustin, AU Capital Management, LLC …… The history of Kamarina, a port city on the southern coast of Sicily, is among the most tumultuous of Ancient Greece. It was founded in 599 BCE by settlers from Syracuse and its location allowed it to grow quickly and amass substantial wealth through trade. However, […]
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Silver tetradrachms of Sicily are highly sought after by ancient-coin collectors Collectors have long agreed that many of the most impressive ancient coins were produced in Sicily. With its advantageous location between Italy and North Africa, this island was a cultural crossroads of the Mediterranean. It also was the site of frequent warfare among those […]
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By Chris Chatigny, Numismatist & Cataloger – Stacks Bowers …… The inaugural preview for the Stack’s Bowers Galleries August ANA World’s Fair of Money Auction features a very exciting coin. The Decadrachms of Syracuse are widely considered to be among the finest pieces of numismatic art in antiquity, if not in the entire history of […]
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By Mike Markowitz for Coinweek …. Ancient Coin Series THE NIGHT SKY WAS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT to ancient people. This can be hard for us to understand, living as we do in a world where light pollution denies us a clear view of the stars. What people saw in the sky – or thought they saw […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …. STRONG, INTELLIGENT AND LONG-LIVED – yet surprisingly gentle – elephants have long exerted a powerful hold over the human imagination. Prehistoric cave paintings depict elephants and their extinct cousins, the wooly mammoth and mastodon. Ivory from elephant tusks was a precious raw material in the ancient world […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz…. THE JEBEL AKHDAR OR “GREEN MOUNTAINS” OF LIBYA stretches eastward from Benghazi for a hundred miles (160 km) along the coast. With an average annual rainfall of 15-20 inches (375-500 mm), these limestone hills are the most forested region in North Africa. In ancient times, before centuries of […]
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