Ex Michael Molnar (1945-2023) Collection. His published “Star of Bethlehem” coin. Antioch. Zeus/Ram

The publisher’s blurb for Michael Molnar’s (1999) Star of Bethlehem… book begins:

“Could the $50 purchase of a coin by a Rutgers University professor have unlocked the mystery of the Christmas Star?”​

I just bought that exact coin.

I collect published coins, but this is my first New York Times “plate coin.” And surely the coin whose likeness is most widely reproduced and seen – by far.

This coin, as it appeared in the New York Times almost 25 years ago (21 Dec 1999) and 1 week ago at CNG EA 543 (1 Aug 2023), Lot 340 (someone removed the artificial patina before the auction, which may have been a mistake in this case):


Until I saw his collection at CNG, I was unaware that Michael Molnar (1945-2023) died in February. Here is his Legacy.com obituary by his family w/ photo. I’ve found no other obituaries.



(Left image: holding a photo of the coin I just bought.)


Molnar was an astronomy professor at Rutgers University at one time and an ancient coin collector. He wrote articles about astronomical themes on ancient coins, many published in The Celator in the 1990s.

He is overwhelmingly known for his “Christmas Star” or “Star of Bethlehem” theory – first published in The Celator, December 1991, as far I can tell, and illustrated by the same coin:



He wrote The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi, which must be one of the better selling books featuring ancient coins in recent decades, due to its reception among Christian and popular readerships. (There are multiple printings, editions, and translations. Google “Molnar” and “Star” [~3 million results] or “Star of Bethlehem” or “Christmas Star” for the seemingly unlimited coverage – news media, popular, scientific, religious, and numismatic.)



The coin that inspired Molnar’s interest in this theme – and the one he always used to illustrate it – is the same coin from his collection that I just purchased. Molnar published the photos from his book on his website and allowed re-publication, so they appear all over the place – especially the photos of this coin.



I’d have expected more attention/bids than it received (despite not being a particularly great coin aside from its provenance), but I’m feeling rather ecstatic at having gotten such a piece of numismatic history for an $80 bid.

Were it not for the “object biography,” I can’t imagine anyone giving it a second look. It is an unassuming, not very attractive, scarce, or valuable coin.

For that reason, though, it illustrates well the fundamental premise of my “plate coins” collection: I am most interested in the modern social lives and intellectual histories of ancient coins. How are they received, understood, and used by modern audiences? What role do they play in our modern interpretation of the ancient world?

Syria, Seleucis and Pieria. Antiochia ad Orontem Æ Trichalkon (21.5mm, 8.29 g, 12h), temp. Augustus, naming Q. Caecilius Metellus Creticus Silanus, legatus Augusti pro praetore, struck 13/14 CE (Year 44 of Actian era).
Obv: Laureate head of Zeus right.
Rev: EΠI ΣIΛANOY ANTIOXEΩN / ΔM (date). Ram leaping right, head turned to look back at star above. (Aries and the Star of Bethlehem?)
Ref: McAlee 99; RPC 4269; Molnar p. 52, Fig 9 (this coin).
Prov: Dr. Michael Molnar (1945-2023) Collection, acq. for $50 at a NY coin show (before 1991). CNG e-Auction 543 (1 Aug 2023), Lot 319.​

For more background, there are previous CoinTalk threads on this topic. I’m sure there are more, but these ones are interesting (and show some specimens nicer than “the original”):

The Star of Bethlehem: Mythology or not? (23 Feb 2021, by @Jochen1 )
Numismatics and the Christmas Star (24 Dec 2019, by @kaparthy & @Sulla80 )
Star Of Bethlehem Roman Provincial (2 Oct 2016, by @TTerrier )​

(My own position toward his hypothesis is agnostic-skeptical: There are great commercial and spiritual pressures to interpret this coin as commemorating a celestial event recorded in the Bible.)


Selected Publication History (there are many other media appearances & secondary publications):

The Celator, vol. 5, n. 8 (December 8, 1991). “An explanation of the Christmas star determined from Roman coins of Antioch,” by Michael Molnar. Pp. 8-12 (half-page illustration on p. 8). https://social.vcoins.com/files/file/55-vol-05-no-12-december-1991/

Molnar, Michael. 1999 (and later editions). The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi. Rutgers University Press. (P. 52, fig. 9, this rev. illustrated.) Reprinted in multiple editions & translated into many languages. Cited 118 times in Google Scholar.

New York Times, December 21, 1999. “Coin May Link Star of Bethlehem to King of Planets,” by Henry Fountain. National Edition, Section F (Science), p. 5ff. (rev. of this coin illustrated in detail & as a book plate being held up by Molnar). https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/122199sci-archaeo-jupiter.html (may or may not show photos without subscription?)

Christianity Today: 22 Dec 2014.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 1 Jan 2016.

Countless others.

See also:

Molnar’s website, now archived, which includes his own photos (c. 1990s) of his published coins: https://web.archive.org/web/20160113112816/http://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/pix.html

Molnar’s hypothesis was the subject of an international colloquium at Groningen University 2014: “Molnar's theory was debated by scientists, theologians, and historians during a colloquium on the Star of Bethlehem at the Netherlands' University of Groningen in October 2014” (Wikipedia: Star of Bethlehem).
Conference proceedings published (2015), The Star of Bethlehem and the Magi: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Experts on the Ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman World, and Modern Astronomy. (Colloquium Page still live: https://www.astro.rug.nl/~khan/bethlehem/index.php.)

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What a fantastic addition to your collection. Well done!

 

@Curtis - I just can't get over that example slipping through the eyes of so many! I typically scan CNG auctions, but I surely missed that one. (And I'm beating myself up for missing it!) I would have driven up the hammer price quite a bit for you, so... you're welcome! But seriously: Great catch, and congrats!!!

Agreed! And in a similar way the "Azes II" silver types with a king on horseback are interpreted as representative of the Magi.

I posted my example of the leaping ram in one of the threads you linked, but here it is again:

 

@Curtis, fabulous capture & write up! Stories like this are what keep the juices flowing in most collectors, thank you for that!

 

Small AE coin minted under Nero, year 105 = 56/7 AD
Obv.: ANTIOXEΩN, Turreted and veiled bust of Tyche right.
Rev.: EΠI KOYAΔPATOY, Ram leaping right, head left; star and crescent above, ET EP (date) below.
BMC 74; RPC I 4290.

 

Very cool, I actually like this design and the style better. This reverse design actually adds one element missing from my OP type: The crescent (plus star).

I've got an example of this type as well, same date & type as yours (RPC 4287; EP for Year 105, Nero, 56/7 CE).



I've got another with the date somewhat obscured, but suspect ET ZOP for Year 177, Antoninus Pius, 128/9 CE (RPC III 3729-3732).

Interestingly, struck over 70 years after the previous dated issue of this type (RPC I 4291; Year 106, Nero, 57/8 CE)!



I don't necessarily agree, but Molnar's theory was that this type (Tyche/Crescent + star) was actually commemorating a new celestial event that occurred on the day of 27 April 51 CE: the conjunction/"lunar occultation"/eclipse of the moon and Venus. (The Celator Dec 1991, p. 9.)

However, in the previous year (dated ΔΡ, 55/6 CE under Nero), the mint produced coins showing Tyche and both the original star-only reverse (RPC 4286, for the last time) and the new crescent-plus-star reverse (RPC 4287). (After this year, it would always be crescent-plus-star.)

No-Crescent-Variety (same year as first crescent variety, RPC I 4287).
NOT MY COIN (RPC I 4286):


By Molnar's theory: Were they showing two different events in that particular year, and thereafter continued commemorating only the new one, and then did so again over 70 years later under Antoninus Pius? (See: RPC I 3729-3732 and various others in RPC III & IV.3.)

I've ordered Molnar's book, so maybe I'll learn the answer to that. I'm not sure yet if he deals with the later issues temp. Antoninus Pius at all. (But let's say that Venus/Lunar eclipse occurred again then, then I would believe it.)

But, if celestial events are being commemorated, I'm not yet convinced they commemorate more than one. It seems to me the original star types and the crescent-and-star types may be all of the same type.

 

Wonderful coin @Curtis ! I also enjoy owning plate coins, mostly because the publication chose them for some aspect that the coin illustrated well.

That’s a really great story to go along with this coin. May Prof. Molnar rest in peace.

 

Congratulations on the very interesting coin (and provenance) @Curtis - and thank you for gathering all those links together for the "Star of Bethlehem" articles. It truly is an interesting theory, if perhaps a bit too good to be true.

I think I have a very worn version of the OP:



Autonomous / Augustus Æ 17
Actian Year 44 (13-14 A.D.)
Antioch, Syria
Creticus Silanus as Governor
Laureate head of Zeus right / [EΠIΣIΛANOY ANTIO]XEΩN Ram leaping right, looking back at large star, ΔM below.
BMC 65-67; RPC 4269; McAlee 99.
(7.97 grams / 18 mm)
eBay Feb. 2020 Lot @ $5.81

 

Mi star

 

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Interesting post, @Curtis —

I purchased this a while back.