This is the first coin that I have with full obverse bust of Vulcan. I admit, that "dancing chicken" was not the intent of the moneyer,...

The drachms of Cappadocia are the subject of today's post. I have three drachms of Ariarathes IX dated to regnal years A, B, and Δ. Their portraits could hardly be more different: a boy-king, a heavier head from a different hand, and two years later the unmistakable features of Mithridates VI. Read in isolation the coins seem inconsistent; read against Otto Mørkholm’s reconstruction of Cappadocia’s coinage they narrate a single political arc. Die-links, hoard evidence, and

Image of Ceres giving her chariot to Triptolemus published in Les Metamorphoses d'Ouide,1621 With this coin, I am getting back to Roman...

I've always had difficulty passing up a Salus reverse (Goddess of Health) , and even more so in this year of COVID-19. This coin is from...