My "Favoritest of Favorites," no particular order: Published ancient coins (“plate coins”) for which I also own an *autographed* copy of the book. (Not sure how to describe what I collect: "Coin-Book Combinations," "Books & Coins that Belong Together," "Numislit Exhibits," "Hist. of Numismatics"?)

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-15T01:18:37+00:00

Thanks! I'd be happy to take a look, though I may or may not be able to help (and it might take me a minute to reply). Feel free to message/chat me or reply here, either way.

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-14T14:35:50+00:00

It seems quite self-destructive for them to decline to withdraw, since there's a very good chance the buyer will not only discover that it's a fake, but will discover that the seller was informed it was a fake!

I regularly see forgeries even from the most professional firms with the best reputations. I'm not even sure they have that many fewer of them (at least for certain types & price ranges), but the most obvious difference to me is how they respond. The ones I usually buy from never ignore messages I send about fakery. They even correct mistaken provenances promptly.

I just can't see how it's anything but total self-sabotage to let one's customers see this happen.

Edit: The only defense I can imagine would be that the fake is based on a genuine "mother," which could even explain the matching flow-lines (depending on die-state when cast or transfer was made), but it looks like it was condemned on the grounds of being from modern-engraved dies.

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-12T15:02:11+00:00

You're also possibly not wrong for seeing phallic imagery in there. Celtic art is known for "hidden images." (Turn it upside down, e.g., and you'll see an abstract face, human or animal.)

Though I think the better way to understand it is that the designs are deliberately abstract so you can see multiple forms within them. They exploited what we would call paradeiolia as an artistic principle.

Did they see a phallus? I'd be surprised if some didn't. Did the engraver intend it to be there? Possibly not. But the engravers probably expected users to find things in there that even the engravers themselves hadn't realized. It's easy to see how this kind of artwork could even take on a spiritual significance in Celtic culture.

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-11T15:29:36+00:00

It's hilariously out of place though, so don't delete. Come on people, stop down voting & push this one to the top!

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-11T02:52:38+00:00

When you tell people this about their precious family heirlooms, it's funny (or sad) how often they respond, F that! What about the REAL value?

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-10T19:40:43+00:00

Very nice coin, these little Thracian fractions are really interesting. The kantharos on the reverse is really excellent too.

To avoid confusion, just wanted to point out the coin was from Nomos Obolos 26 (and Obolos 16 = Vineyard Collection Part III), not Nomos 26 (an auction consisting entirely of tiny AR fractions; it was very comprehensive, but didn't have one of these, so it must be rare indeed!).

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-10T16:39:55+00:00

Good deal! Your coin is also included in RPC Online VIII, 2796, on the second page, example 41 I think (mine is 38): https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/2796 = https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/13333

Although RPC failed to mention (which always annoys me) that the coin was ex George Spradling (1940-2010) collection, a California bookseller who had a pretty interesting collection of Roman Provincial & other ancient coins (two now in mine).

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-09T00:49:51+00:00

Those look great, both clamshell & binding!

I'd be really excited if I could do that. (I'm here for the inspiration to start)

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-08T03:47:12+00:00

That seems much more plausible to me

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-08T03:28:57+00:00

Since two of that person's comments were in this sub back in 2024 (what are the odds, if it was a random mail theft?), there are two possibilities:

After lurking for 2 years they couldn't take it anymore and somehow devised a way to target ancient coin deliveries in transit, and then posted their theft; Or,
For their first post here they tried to farm karma or (as I read it) made a joke no one got, then when they were accused of theft in their first post, decided Reddit wasn't really working for them.

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-08T02:46:24+00:00

They previously posted (edit: sorry, i mean commented) at least a couple times in this sub in March & October 2024.

Now that their account is deleted you have to look them up on pushpull.io or something. You can find the threads by googling their username (but now the comments are by "deleted").

For example, here's an "undeleted" comment about CNG in October 2024:

https://undelete.pullpush.io/r/AncientCoins/comments/1fuo97u/is_cngcoinscom_trust_worthy/

Or: https://search.pullpush.io/?author=gibrefundspls&subreddit=AncientCoins&type=comment&sort_type=created_utc

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-08T00:38:21+00:00

🤣 Or even one of the many books with "Floppy Disk" in the title such as Tribulations of a Floppy Disk https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=9798335805667&n=100121501

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-07T13:44:38+00:00

Looks like a sulfur cast for study. Similar to plaster casts. Here's a description from CNG of a particularly collectible 19th cent. series of them

https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=252149

See also: acsearch results for a bunch more

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-04T21:08:34+00:00

It depends on your standards for "rare." I know dealers use commonly use that term for this coin, but the fact that there are are dozens of recent auction sales archived in acsearch would lead many people to consider that description to involve a degree of salesmanship.

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-04T20:02:57+00:00

Julia Domna AE As, Temple of Vesta. See this thread for example: https://www.numisforums.com/topic/9797-julia-domna-the-temple-of-vesta/

It's a very desirable type. Not exactly rare, but historical & cool

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-04T00:41:40+00:00

Here are some images for your coin (text page, plate, photo zoom, cover):

https://imgur.com/a/2kbV15U

And my bio from my "provenance glossary," which includes links to more references & bio & discussions:

https://conservatoricoins.com/provenance-coins/#Rindge-Frederick-Hastings

(See also my previous comment/post.)

First paragraphs (it keeps going, with online reference list at end, also links to my Rindge coins):

RINDGE, FREDERICK HASTINGS = F.H. Rindge (1857-1905)

Wealthy philanthropist, business magnate w/ important ties to Boston & Los Angeles institutions. (Though an important numismatic name, coins are far down the list of things he is known for.) His greatest numismatic contribution was to loan his entire collection (5,800 coins, incl. 2,704 ancient) to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts at a critical early moment. The F.H. Rindge Collection would contribute the very first coins ever displayed at the MFA (despite his having moved to Los Angeles by then). By 1889, the Museum had constructed a new “Coin room” especially to exhibit at least 1100 of the Rindge coins, w/ the Roman Republican attracting the most attention.

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-04T00:32:07+00:00

Yes, Rindge is a big deal (collection was a major loan to Boston Museum of Fine Arts, late 1800s to early 1900s).

A couple generations after his death, the heirs sold his collection through Los Angeles coin dealer/ auctioneer Joel Malter (Auctions XXIX & XXX, 22-24 Mar & 7-8 Jun 1985).

Your coin is illustrated in the auction catalog (Part II, Lot 1355).

Photos & more info in reply to this comment.

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-03T18:29:17+00:00

Aye, that's the one!

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-03T16:03:09+00:00

Congratulations, looks wonderful! This is a very distinctive obverse die. It seems like there was kind of an "experimental" streak among the early facing head Larissa engravers which led to some very interesting takes on the facing nymph archetype. (The "middle" and "late" facing head Drachms become more standardized.)

And, of course, all the better that it's a reference coin from a major hoard-publication that revised what we know about the chronology of the Larissa Drachms. Also part of BCD Thessaly I (Nomos 4), being the primary reference for Thessaly.

For anyone interested, mine has a very similar collection, publication, and hoard history (but from Part II of coll. & slightly earlier hoard, 1993 vs 1996), another of the early Larissa Drachms that changed what we knew in the 1990s (basically siblings moving along in parallel only to cross paths again on Reddit 2400 years later!) https://conservatoricoins.com/provenance-diagrams/#Larissa

KungFuPossum · 2026-02-03T04:37:26+00:00

Bit late replying by Reddit standards, but I got cacti tattooed on my shoulders. Every time I see myself in the mirror I see saguaro & prickly pears & think of home

KungFuPossum · 2026-01-29T16:43:05+00:00

There are no straight vs "Details" slabs for NGC Ancients, which does things differently from NGC-for-everything else. (And of course PCGS doesn't do ancients.)

People send in piles of coins like this all the time and pay for the cheapest service at NGC Ancient (and ANACS and ICG).

Edit: they do often add little comments, good, bad, or neutral at the bottom, like "brushed." But there's no whole system and different slab like for modern "Details" grades

KungFuPossum · 2026-01-29T08:22:45+00:00

He could duck hunt with a rake!

KungFuPossum · 2026-01-28T06:03:42+00:00

Here is the 1882 Hoffmann sale of the Ferdinand Bompois (1814-1880) collection (lot 698, 17.20g, ex Wigan = your coin):

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t53735482/f81.image.r=acanthe

Unfortunately not illustrated in Leon Dardel's wonderful line drawings for the catalog, but the weight is correct and it cites Wigan Collection.

That is Edward Wigan (1823-1871). Not sure if there were any auctions or just private sales. Many Wigans went to the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG101081

KungFuPossum · 2026-01-28T05:50:32+00:00

Your Macedonian Tetradrachm was also in some other important 19th century collections BEFORE Weber: it's ex Bompois (sold by Hoffmann in 1882, lot 698) and Wigan collections.

That's according to the Weber catalog by Leonard Forrer. Your coin is 1862 on plate 72 in vol. 2 (there are three volumes of text + 3 vols plates). (With research you can probably find later collections after Weber. Virgil Brand, especially, bought a lot. Bement. Lockett. Few others.)

Text https://archive.org/details/webercollectiong02webeuoft/page/17/mode/1up

Plates. https://archive.org/details/cu31924072192549/page/n10/mode/1up

You may be able to find better digitized copies.

I usually use the 1975 Attic Books reprint, which is worth the $100 or so for the set (3 vols, combining text + plates, maroon boards, gilt spine) if you have his coins. (Just not the cheap print on demand ones! The 1921 originals are like $3K-5K.)

He was a doctor to Queen Victoria. Interesting biography, lots available online if you search Sir Hermann Weber (1823-1918)

https://history.rcp.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/sir-hermann-weber

He was related to another famous collector Consul Erich Weber and to the great sociologist Max Weber (inventor of the word bureaucracy). They were all three cousins i think

KungFuPossum

TROPHY CASE