An Owl for Anka

On Mar 12, 3:03*pm, wrote:
As long as we're showing of...

http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/sayles...iewitem.asp?id...

Dum dee dum dum.....

~Anka

That's a nice portrait of Otacilia Severa (or O-Sev, as she was
referred to in the tabloid press.) About all I can remember of her is
that she has an antoninianus with reverse type of a hippopotamus, the
only appearance (I think) of that animal on Roman coinage. I wonder
why the crescent under the bust? On smaller silver coins of the time,
the crescent under bust was apparently used on female-portrait coins
to distinguish the antoninianus or double denarius from the single
denarius coins (male-portrait coins used a radiate crown), but why
would it be needed on a tetradrachm?

To continue the showing off theme, here's one of my recent
acquisitions:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23911267@N06/3338789200/

Most of Phraates IV's coinage is fairly common, this is one of the
scarcer drachm types, from the Susa mint in southwest Iran. Even
though Susa was the winter capital of the Parthians, they issued few
coins from that mint. I think this portrait is good at capturing the
cruelty that history records in Phraates IV. (Also I should note that
the photo was taken by Chris Hopkins of the parthia.com website. This
explains why it is so much better than most of my coin photography.)

I don't have much to add about Athenian owls, except that I am an
outlier. Even though I've been collecting ancients for 15 years, have
a fairly extensive collection, etc., I have never owned an Owl and
have no plans to do so. They're interesting, sure, but everyone has
to specialize at some point. I will leave the Owls for others to
explore, while if anyone can direct me to a heap of unattributed
Parthian bronzes...

-Robert A. DeRose, Jr.

On Mar 15, 3:45*pm, wrote:

I don't have much to add about Athenian owls, except that I am an
outlier. *Even though I've been collecting ancients for 15 years, have
a fairly extensive collection, etc., I have never owned an Owl and
have no plans to do so.

That doesn't sound like a very wise decision.

They're interesting, sure, but everyone has to specialize at some point.

Agreed. Much pleasure can be had from specializing. I've recently
divested part of my collection in areas I no longer focus on to delve
more deeply in areas I do.

From your neck of the woods, sort of, let me know if you ever come
across a Bakrian Owl that's reasonable.

--

Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

On Mar 16, 9:22�am, Reid Goldsborough
wrote:
On Mar 15, 3:45�pm, wrote:

I don't have much to add about Athenian owls, except that I am an
outlier. �Even though I've been collecting ancients for 15 years, have
a fairly extensive collection, etc., I have never owned an Owl and
have no plans to do so.

That doesn't sound like a very wise decision.

They're interesting, sure, but everyone has to specialize at some point..

Agreed. Much pleasure can be had from specializing. I've recently
divested part of my collection in areas I no longer focus on to delve
more deeply in areas I do.

From your neck of the woods, sort of, let me know if you ever come
across a Bakrian Owl that's reasonable.

--

Consumer:http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur:http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit:http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

Boy, are you dumb. It's a Bactrian CAMEL. ;-)

~Anka

On Mar 16, 2:10*pm, wrote:

Boy, are you dumb. *It's a Bactrian CAMEL. *;-)

I know I'm dumb. But it's not because I have a Bakrian Owl on my want
list. By the way, it's cooler to spell it "Baktrian" -- you should
know this. Also, if you think of it, you should link to one of these
Baktrian Camels, if you have one and aren't just faking it. The reason
I'm dumb is for not buying an Owl sooner that I'm going to show off
later. Not now. So be patient please.

--

Consumer:http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur:http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit:http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

Here's yet another Owl for Anka (I'm feeling generous, I guess):

http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl4.jpg

As with the previous Owls I've pointed to, this is also a recent Owl
acquisition. I've been on an Owl binge. Can't get enough of the tasty
critters.

As with the previous Owl, I'll reveal its weight later. Anybody care
to hazard a guess as to its identification and why it's interesting
(or not)?

--

Consumer:http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur:http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit:http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

On Mar 17, 1:32�pm, Reid Goldsborough
wrote:
Here's yet another Owl for Anka (I'm feeling generous, I guess):

http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl4.jpg

As with the previous Owls I've pointed to, this is also a recent Owl
acquisition. I've been on an Owl binge. Can't get enough of the tasty
critters.

As with the previous Owl, I'll reveal its weight later. Anybody care
to hazard a guess as to its identification and why it's interesting
(or not)?

--

Consumer:http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur:http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit:http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

A very early owl. Archaic. ~500 BC. Gorgeous.

That's funny... I'm on a Zeugitana, Carthage kick.

~Anka

Reid Goldsborough wrote:
Here's yet another Owl for Anka (I'm feeling generous, I guess):

http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl4.jpg

As with the previous Owls I've pointed to, this is also a recent Owl
acquisition. I've been on an Owl binge. Can't get enough of the tasty
critters.

As with the previous Owl, I'll reveal its weight later. Anybody care
to hazard a guess as to its identification and why it's interesting
(or not)?

--

Consumer:http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur:http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit:http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

pre battle of Salamis?

Ian wrote:
Reid Goldsborough wrote:
Here's yet another Owl for Anka (I'm feeling generous, I guess):

http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl4.jpg

As with the previous Owls I've pointed to, this is also a recent Owl
acquisition. I've been on an Owl binge. Can't get enough of the tasty
critters.

As with the previous Owl, I'll reveal its weight later. Anybody care
to hazard a guess as to its identification and why it's interesting
(or not)?

--

Consumer:http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur:http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit:http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

pre battle of Salamis?

........but also equally possibly post 1980. love to see what the edge
looks like

On Mar 16, 10:22*am, Reid Goldsborough
wrote:
On Mar 15, 3:45*pm, wrote:
I have never owned an Owl and
have no plans to do so.

That doesn't sound like a very wise decision.

Well, I do have several Roman coins depicting Minerva. Does that
count as wise (or at least as acquiring wisdom)?

From your neck of the woods, sort of, let me know if you ever come
across a Bakrian Owl that's reasonable.

I will keep my eyes open, but if by "reasonable" you mean "costs less
than a semi-decent used car" I doubt I will find one.

-Robert A. DeRose, Jr.

On Mar 16, 2:10*pm, wrote:
On Mar 16, 9:22 am, Reid Goldsborough
wrote:
From your neck of the woods, sort of, let me know if you ever come
across a Bakrian Owl that's reasonable.

Boy, are you dumb. *It's a Bactrian CAMEL. *;-)

~Anka

Which made me realize: All the camel images I can think of on Greek
or Roman coins (mainly through personifications of Arabia) are of the
dromedary or one-hump camel. I don't think I've seen any
representations of Bactrian (two-hump) camels on any ancient Western
art at all, for that matter. I guess the Bactrian camel wasn't nearly
as familiar to ancient (Western) artists as the dromedary?

But those wanting to see a Bactrian camel on ancient coinage are in
luck. The Kushans come through with this coin:

http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/kush...ush_2887_r.jpg

-Robert A. DeRose, Jr.
"Will muse about ancient art for food (or coins)"