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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The American Numismatic Society (ANS) and the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents at Oxford University are pleased to announce the launch of Bactrian Indo-Greek Rulers (BIGR), a new online typology and research tool for ancient Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek coinage. BIGR is a component of Hellenistic Royal Coinages and has been funded by the […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …… IN 2007, CANADA captured a world record by producing five examples of a 100-kilogram gold piece (220.5 pounds, or a bit over 3215 troy ounces). It was 53 centimeters in diameter (21 inches) and three centimeters thick, denominated at one million Canadian dollars. “Why did the Royal […]
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By Steve Benner for CoinWeek ….. In this article, I want to cover some of the ancient Greek helmets that can be found on ancient coins. This may be a rehash of previous articles, but the subject interested me and also pointed out my ignorance of what were the various types of helmets worn by […]
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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 ….. Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues, You can tell by the way she smiled… — Bob Dylan, “Visions of Johanna”, Blonde on Blonde (1966) ANCIENT GREEK COINS struck before 500 BCE are called “archaic” by numismatists. Actually, archaic features continue to appear on coins for […]
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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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The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is pleased to announce that the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded the Society a $150,000 USD grant for the two-year joint ANS-Oxford University OXUS-INDUS project. The award comes through the New Directions in Digital Scholarship in Cultural Institutions program that partners the NEH with the United Kingdom’s […]
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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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NGC’s David Vagi finishes his discussion of some of the most familiar designs of ancient Greek coins in the last of a multi-part series By David Vagi – Director, NGC Ancients …… 1. Celts. Some of the most fascinating coins of the ancient world were struck by Celts and contemporary Iron Age cultures in Spain, Britain […]
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By SAFE® Collecting Supplies …… Here at SAFE® Collecting Supplies we cover ample news and history about American coinage, but there’s a rich culture of currency extending beyond and before the good ol’ U.S.A. With that said, let’s delve into the world of international coin currency. Namely, we’ll tell three fascinating international historical coin stories. […]
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By SAFE® Collecting Supplies …… Here at SAFE® Collecting Supplies we cover ample news and history about American coinage, but there’s a rich culture of currency extending beyond and before the good ol’ U.S.A. With that said, let’s delve into the world of international coin currency. Namely, we’ll tell three fascinating international historical coin […]
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By NGC Ancients ….. The royal busts of the Indo-Greek kings are often adorned with unusual helmets and headdresses Among the most interesting and diverse portraits on ancient ‘Greek’ coinage are those of the Indo-Greek kings of Bactria, a region on the fringe of the Greek world. In addition to the portraits themselves, which […]
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The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is delighted to announce that the 2016 Harry W. Fowler Memorial Lecture will be presented by Aneurin Ellis-Evans, Junior Research Fellow in Classics at The Queen’s College, University of Oxford. The lecture will take place on Tuesday, 12 April, 2016 at the American Numismatic Society, 75 Varick Street, Floor 11, […]
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