By Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. It would not be possible to cover the cult of Mithras in this not-quite 2,000-word article. But I can give enough of an overview of the religion for the reader to at least understand what its basic beliefs were and its importance in ancient worlds: not only to the […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz ….. ANCIENT ROME ISSUED coins for almost eight centuries. Among the bewildering variety of denominations that circulated during this long span of time, the quinarius stands out as one of the most obscure. Struck in both gold and silver, the type is so scarce that many experienced collectors […]
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NYINC’s Highest Grossing Auction and Highest Priced Individual Lot Following a record-breaking year in 2021, the World and Ancient Coin Department at Stack’s Bowers Galleries saw continued strong prices as over $20 million in numismatic items crossed the block in their annual official auction of the New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC). All prices […]
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By Russell A. Augustin, AU Capital Management, LLC …… The Secular Games at the Circus Maximus were some of the largest and most memorable celebrations in antiquity. They were held on two different cycles, first on the “saeculum”, thought to be the longest possible length of a human life (between 100 and 110 years) and […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz ….. Don’t buy damaged coins. They will be impossible to sell. This was some of the best advice I ever got from an experienced collector of ancients. But like most things in classical numismatics, there are exceptions. Ancient coins were sometimes pierced with a hole, to be worn […]
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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 […]
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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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By Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. This article deals with three men that, while seemingly destined to become the emperor of ancient Rome–indeed, they held the title of Caesar, or second-in-command–ultimately failed, for one reason or another, to ascend the throne. During the early Julio-Claudian dynasty, the emperor would designate his successor; the title […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz ….. Majestic, powerful, swift, and intelligent, the eagle has held a strong grip on human imagination since the earliest times. The bald eagle, native to North America, features prominently on the Great Seal of the United States, and on many classic and modern American coins. The U.S. $10 […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz ….. Temples were designed to house a statue of the deity and store votive offerings, and were not intended to provide accommodation for a congregation of worshippers (Adkins, 218). Two of the most common circulating American coins depict buildings modeled on Greco-Roman temples: the Lincoln Memorial on the […]
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By Austin Andrews for American Numismatic Society (ANS) …… With its range of hawk-headed and half-mummified deities, the Egyptian pantheon has inspired devotion and intrigue for millennia. Egyptians were drawing, painting, and carving images of their gods well before the first pharaohs, over five thousand years ago. While coined money was not a regular part […]
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By Austin Andrews for American Numismatic Society (ANS) …… With its range of hawk-headed and half-mummified deities, the Egyptian pantheon has inspired devotion and intrigue for millennia. Egyptians were drawing, painting, and carving images of their gods well before the first pharaohs, over five thousand years ago. While coined money was not a regular […]
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Coins of the Ludi Saeculares by Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. Saeculum, an Etruscan word, referred to the length of a human lifetime (100 or 110 years), or the time necessary to replace an entire generation. You may recognize it from the phrase “Novus Ordo Seclorum” (“A New Order of the Ages”), which appears on […]
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By Tyler Rossi for CoinWeek ….. How does a monarch solidify legitimacy? What tools can be drawn upon to project power? Since a centralized state monopolizes the use of force, the monarch has it within his prerogative to wage war. If successful, an “US” versus “THEM” conflict is a surefire unifier of people, as personified […]
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Bridges on Roman Coins By Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) …… A number of Roman coins depict bridges, although not always exact likenesses. As engineers and architects, the Romans had few peers in the ancient world. Many of their buildings and monuments survive to this day, though most have vanished due to catastrophes or the recycling […]
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By Chris Chatigny – Numismatist & Cataloger, Stacks Bowers …… This next ancient coin preview from our August ANA World’s Fair of Money auction is a magnificent Julia Domna Aureus, the wife of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus. Julia was the scion of a wealthy and powerful family from Emesa (modern-day Homs, Syria). History remembers […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …. And if any man will sue thee at law and take away thy coat [Greek: chiton; Latin: tunica], let him have thy cloak [Greek: himation; Latin: pallium] also. —Matthew, 5:40[1] LIVING IN A WORLD OF CHEAP, machine-made textiles, it is easy for us to forget that every […]
The post Does This Toga Make Me Look Fat? Clothing on Ancient Coins appeared first on CoinWeek.
By CoinWeek News Staff …. Neighbors complained that the yard next door was unkempt and a public nuisance, so the authorities in Mezdra, Bulgaria began to clear the overgrown lot. During the process of uprooting one particularly old plum tree, a cache of well-patinated Ancient Roman silver coins was discovered in the tangle of […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …. …[To] sport with the passions and prejudices of his subjects, and to subvert every law of nature and decency, were in the number of his most delicious amusements. A long train of concubines, and a rapid succession of wives, among whom was a vestal virgin, ravished […]
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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 […]
The post Ancient Coins – How Elephants were Depicted on Ancient Coinage appeared first on CoinWeek.
Heritage’s January NYINC auctions are now open for bidding! Going by the pre-sale estimate, this could very well be the highest-grossing World and Ancient Coin auction that Heritage has ever presented. In total, between the January 8-9 Signature Floor Auction and January 17-18 Internet Sessions, we have over 6,000 lots on offer. With so many […]
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Heritage’s January NYINC auctions are now open for bidding! Going by the pre-sale estimate, this could very well be the highest-grossing World and Ancient Coin auction that Heritage has ever presented. In total, between the January 8-9 Signature Floor Auction and January 17-18 Internet Sessions, we have over 6,000 lots on offer. With so many […]
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By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …. ROMANS WERE PROUD of their bridges, some of the most spectacular feats of ancient engineering. The high priest of the Roman state religion was called the Pontifex Maximus–literally the “supreme bridge-builder”–a title later adopted by the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church. A number of Roman coins depict […]
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From October 10-14, 2016 Gorny & Mosch will hold three auctions. Several collections will be on sale, for example, an exquisite collection of coins from Northern Greece, as well as extensive collections of Bavaria, Stolberg, Salzburg, and Russia From October 10-14, 2016 Gorny & Mosch will hold three fall auctions. As always, the first (Auction […]
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Warm sunny weather greeted attendees to the annual ANA convention last week as they brought spirited bidding to the Stack’s Bowers Galleries Official Auction of the ANA World’s Fair of Money. The World and Ancient coins sessions realized nearly US$4.9 million (including the standard buyer’s premium) as part of the overall Stack’s Bowers Galleries ANA […]
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Stack’s Bowers Galleries is pleased to announce details of their upcoming World Coin, Ancient Coin & World Paper Money Auction, to be held in conjunction with the 2016 ANA World’s Fair of Money between August 9 and 13. The sale will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, located at 800 West Katella Avenue in […]
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The Gorny & Mosch October sale has much to offer. The sessions will present a wide range of numismatic highlights, featuring rarities from the ancient world and showpieces from Germany alike. The Middle Ages are particularly well represented as well. Over the course of its auction week, Gorny & Mosch will conduct three auction sales. […]
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