Today's post begins with the hope of making some sense of the weight standards for a set of staters in my collection. A number of questions started this deep dive: What weight standards did the ancient Greeks use for ancient Greek coins? Why are these standards named the way they are today? What sources are the most useful to understand these standards? When did each standard come into use and who initiated the standard? What are the the various denominations used for ancie

This map (a detail from The Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1923 ) illustrates the western edge of Asia Minor, also known as...

Richard Witschonke’s 2012 article, published in the Revue Belge de Numismatique , tackles a long-standing puzzle in Roman Republican...

Portraits from a variety of Roman republican and Roman Imperial coins. Aristotle Physiognomy is the historical practice of judging a...

Pompey had already earned a reputation for cleaning up messes when the Roman Senate passed Lex Gabinia (67 BCE) and Lex Manilia (66 BCE), which handed Pompey near‑unlimited imperium over the eastern Mediterranean. Gabinius’ law handed him 500 ships, fifteen legates and fiscal carte blanche; Manilius then united that navy with Lucullus’ veteran army. Pompey had cleaned up the rebels in Spain who were led by Q. Sertorius (The Sertorian War) and commemorated his victory in 74 BC

Auctions are the main place to buy rare collectibles such as coins and fine art, and auction design and behavioral factors can impact final prices. A number of questions captured my attention today...

Detail from the Altıkulaç Sarcophagus (5th–4th c. BCE) discovered in Çingenetepe Tumulus (Çanakkale), today in the Troy Museum , features...

This week's coin of interest is a large 32mm coin (an AE Dirham of the Danishmendids). It was a steal at 20 EUR - yes it is ugly, yes it seems to be some sort of hot mess with a flan crack and maybe over-struck on some earlier coin? An unusual an interesting coin nonetheless...

British Trade Deficit and Opium Smuggling In the 18th century, British demand for Chinese tea, silk, and porcelain soared, but China...

Kings of Macedon, Alexander III 'the Great' (336-323 BC), lifetime issue from 325 or 324/3 BCE, AR (17.24g, 27mm) Tetradrachm, minted in...

Tipu's Tiger, an 18th-century automata with its keyboard visible. Victoria and Albert Museum, London . Public Domain image via Wikimedia...

Pigeon on a Peach Branch by Emperor Huizong Chinese coins are not an area where I have many coins to offer. Today's coin is from an...

Today's coins are 2 denarii from 116-117 BC from the Roman republic. They are beautifully toned and well executed examples with more than 60 years of provenance going back to 1964 and held for all of that time in the personal collection of Robert W. Hoge, a distinguished American numismatist who purchased the coins in his late teens. These two coins come from the personal collection of Robert W. Hoge, acquired during his teenage years, and highlight two distinct and importa

In AD 100/101, during the reign of Emperor Trajan (regnal year 3 of Trajan’s rule), the city of Caesarea in Cappadocia (central Anatolia)...

In the late 15th century, the Timurid Empire was fragmenting, and Qunduz (modern Kunduz in northern Afghanistan) became the seat of an...

Kings of Mauretania, Bocchus II (or early Juba II) ŠMŠ mint Shemesh, circa 49-33 BC, Æ 16.00mm, 3.53 g Obv: Bearded head left,...

This coin struck me as curious - copying 4th century Roman style portraits in the 12th century. Al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ, was the Zengid emir...

Head of Pompey the Great, 1st century AD, Marble, 41 cm tall, from the Tomb of the Licinii, Via Salaria, currently at the Ny Carlsberg...

In 133 BCE, King Attalos III of Pergamum died without an heir and bequeathed his entire kingdom to Rome. Aristonikos, who claimed to be an illegitimate son of Attalos’ father King Eumenes II, rose to challenge Rome’s takeover. Aristonikos took the dynastic name Eumenes III, presenting himself as the rightful king and rallying support for his cause.

The Queen of Sheba: according to the biblical narrative (2 Chronicles 9:1-12; 1 Kings 10:1-13), the Queen of Sheba learns of King Solomon...