Hi, I recently bought a lot of identified ancient coins at an auction, but this coin was the only coin that was unidentified. I've searched on the web, but couldn't find anything on it. Attached are the pictures of the coin. It weighs 8.34 grams, it has a bust of someone on the obverse, and a cornucopia on the reverse. Thanks in advance! Peter Z
Similar to mine, but different year. Apameia Year 303/9 BC AE 21 Obvs: Young head of Dionysos r. wreathed with ivy; border of dots. Revs: ΛπΛMEΩN THΣIEPΛΣ KΛIΛΣYΛOY, Cornucopia, ΓT in field. M A beneath. 21mm, 8.6g
A few dollars, probably $5-$10 (maybe?) - perhaps more - but the "price" of ancient coins bears no resemblance whatsoever to the artificial and charted-within-an-inch-of-its-artificially-slabbed-and-officially-graded-life pricing of modern coins that daily quotes of their "bid" and "sell" prices can be looked-up on a graysheet daily like stocks and bonds. There are many, many variables - who's selling? who's the potential buyer? under what circumstances is it being sold? is it a "popular" type or one which happens to be enjoying a short-term burst of publicity? does it have important provenance or "recent" history? Those are a few of the most salient factors affecting the pricing. I generally find that those who are unfamiliar with ancient coins in general tend to vastly overestimate the scarcity, demand for, and potential sales value of what are, within the field of "ancients", relatively speaking, very common coins. Many types exist in their thousands - or even millions - today. What is really rare is top quality condition and overall appearance. What sells and really drives pricing (a lot more than people merely putting enormous, unrealistically high prices on BIN's on ebay) is really far more dependent on things like fads, recent newsworthy results of archeological expeditions, and always dependent on that old je ne sais quoi of "eye-appeal".
I wont do all the work on this one, but using Severin Icard's "Dictionary of Greek Coin Inscriptions" I easily found the legend. Use the image below to narrow it down. As for value obviously it is always open to interpretation. Personally I would say about $30.
