Tag Archive for: Antiquity

Human Faces Part 1: The Father of the Gods, Zeus, in Olympia

Why is it that for centuries – or rather thousands of years – the head has served as the motif for the side of a coin? And why has this changed in the last 200 years? Ursula Kampmann poses these questions in her book ‘MenschenGesichter,’” from which the texts for our new series are taken.

Agrippa’s Meeting of Kings at Tiberias

Josephus tells us of a most interesting meeting in Tiberias, apparently convened by Agrippa I (37-44 CE), grandson of Herod the Great, probably around 42 CE…

The courtesan Laïs in Corinth

Sex sells. That is common knowledge to the yellow press and tour guides alike, as early as ancient times. Already the Corinthians cashed in on that and promoted a tourist attraction of a particular kind: the tomb of the famous courtesan Laïs…

Manual to identify Roman coins

England’s Portable Antiquities Scheme is the most successful program on coin finds world-wide. No other country has won so many supporters to …

How to detect forgeries

Part 3: Electrotypes
The last two parts on news from the forgery front have dealt with fakes that have been produced by newly cut dies and with cast fakes. This part is dedicated to a third kind of fakes: the electrotypes.
You will surely recognize …

The unlucky emperor Clodius Albinus – a portrait study

What a huge surprise when the company Gorny & Mosch – Giessener Münzhandlung auctioned off a Roman portrait head from the late 2nd cent. A. D. at auction sale 184 on December 18th, 2009. It was a high quality marble portrait in a remarkable state of preservation which some …

Taxes for Rome

Hands up anyone who hasn’t come to be annoyed by the tangled mass of regulations accompanying our tax collection. Perhaps at different times, the situation had been better… Perhaps in Rome?

Unique gold coin of Bodvoc found

On 16 April 2012 a 2000-year-old gold quarter stater of the ancient British ruler Bodvoc was discovered near Bristol. It was found by Dennis who has been metal detecting for 33 of his 53 years and it can rightly be described as ‘the find of a lifetime’ because of its numismatic importance.

Has Tom found Togodumnus?

Chris Rudd tells us how a newly discovered gold coin helps to reveal the possible identity of a long-forgotten British prince who died fighting during the Claudian invasion of AD 43. This coin was sold on January 13 for a record price of 10,200 Pounds.

Globalisation in Roman times: Trade with India

In the upcoming auction of Künker on 13 March 2017, several interesting aurei are going to be put to auction. They are Indian imitations of Roman gold coins, which bespeak the close trade relations between Rome and the Indian subcontinent.