Created: 4 July 2022
Updated: 12 July 2022Jump to “Exhibits”:
(1) Nero “Plate Coin” ex BCD & Burrer ex Lanz;
(2) Maleatas Collection & Renauldin 1851;
(3) Samaria Hoard Obol & Signed M-Q;
(4) ERIC II Cover Coin, Signed Copy & XRF Report & Quartered OthoSee also: Intro to BCD Collection ; Catalog Collection Favorites ;
Jackson-Jacobs Catalog Library (complete contents).
Sammlungmünzen – Monnaies de Provenance – Research Coins
One rewarding way to appreciate ancient coin literature (including sale catalogs) is to collect the coins published within. Ancient coins and their literature are two sides of one phenomenon; neither means much without the other. “Plate coins” and “collection coins” are not only artifacts of the ancient world; they are also artifacts of our history of knowledge about the ancient world.
Each “exhibit” below consists of at least one published coin alongside copies of literature with notable “object biographies” (e.g., duplicates from numismatic libraries, author’s inscriptions, bookplates).
“An Old Book Brings Old and New Collectors Together,” Daehn wrote (The Asylum XIX [4], Numismatic Bibliomania Society), an assertion that applies equally well to books and coins. Social networks across continents and generations influence which objects we encounter (or don’t) and what we make of them. Provenance research encourages us to address consequential topics:
Which networks disproportionately fed into scholarship and major museum collections and catalogs? How often did coins and books travel internationally, when, and which ones? What differences were there – sources, objects, ideas – across different networks, and what were the material and intellectual consequences for collectors, scholars, and institutions? And so on…
THE “EXHIBITS“
Presently I have about 20 numislit-coin groupings I’d like to post, but it’ll take a while. I’m starting with my favorites, one or two at a time. (But my favorite isn’t necessarily listed first; I’m sorting by the traditional “Eckhelsche Ordnung,” with its familiar geographic-temporal sequence, starting with Greek, moving clockwise from W. Europe around to N. Africa.)
| Thessalian League Nero, ex BCD & Merani, plate coin in Burrer (1993), my copy ex Library Lanz |
 Nero “Plate Coin.” Background: Burrer’s description & photos of Obv (A1) & Rev (R1) 1. Coins: Nero Bronze from the Koinon of Thessaly, ex Merani Collection (part II, 65) and CNG EA 325, “Coinage of the Thessalian League from the BCD Collection” (Lot 39), illustrated in Burrer (1993: 1.1, pl. 9, A1/R1), referenced in RPC Supplement 1, 1439 & RPC Online (as Burrer 146: 1.1);  2. Book: Burrer, Friedrich. 1993. Münzprägung und Geschichte des Thessalischen Bundes in der Römischen Kaiserzeit bis auf Hadrian (31 v. Chr.-138 n. Chr.). Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker Verlag. Hardcover copy Ex Library of Hermann Lanz (1910-1998) & Hubert Lanz (of Numismatik Lanz, the firm that cataloged the first two BCD sales of Corinth [Lanz 105, 2001] & Euboia [Lanz 111, 2002]). 3. Catalog: CNG. 2021. Nvmmis Historiam Discens: The Peter J. Merani Collection. Lancaster, PA: Classical Numismatic Group. [ANS – DONUM record.] One of a reported 50 hardcover copies, including Parts I – III of the Merani collection (sold 2021).  As illustrated in CNG volume, Nvmmis Historiam Discens: The Peter J Merani Collection 4. Comparanda: Two more from the same sale of “Coinage of the Thessalian League from the BCD Collection”; Plus a Claudius Legionary AE As from Patrae, also from both BCD and Merani Collections, accompanied by my catalog of CNG 81.2 (20 May 2009), where the coin was published as BCD Peloponnesos II 2782. |
Maleatas Collection of Epidauros, ex BCD & Renauldin (1851), ex-ANS & Bullowa |
 1. Coins: Six bronze coins of Epidauros, 3rd cent. BCE, Nomos 24 (22 May 2022) Lot 137, alongside square Maleatas Coll. tags (6), round BCD tags (4), unknown round tag (1), and temp. draft tag by CKJJ (1); 
2. Book: Renauldin, Léopold Joseph. 1851. Études Historiques et Critiques sur Les Médecins Numismatistes, Contenant Leur Biographie et l’Analyse de Leurs Écrits. Ex-ANS Library & David Bullowa (1912-1953) Lib., w/ both of their bookplates and D. Bullowa’s embossed stamps. (David Bullowa died young, but also began his numismatic career young, his first donation to ANS in 1929 at age 17. As David Hill wrote, “Bullowa would remain in close contact with the ANS for the rest of his life, making steady donations to its cabinet and library” [ANS Magazine, 2018 (2): p.46 (pdf)]; likewise, his wife Catherine Bullowa [1919-2017] who survived to 97.) This copy of Renauldin was illustrated in The E-Sylum (19 Sep 2021) Vol 24 (38), Article 2, “ANS Offers Numismatic Literature” (possibly my only “plate book”!). The cover is detached, and the spine & binding fragile, so I use one of the online copies when I want to peruse the text;  I will confess that at the time, I didn’t know why I was buying Renauldin’s obscure 1851 tome on French physician collectors. But I discovered why the following year, upon acquiring a used copy of the Nomos 24 print catalog.… 3. Catalog: Nomos 24, including the “Maleatas Collection” introduction on p. 80 (authored, no doubt, by ASW, who also called the live auction). I was especially excited about the account of how the collection began, as I finally learned my reason for buying Renauldin (i.e., because one day it would fit into my Maleatas-Epidauros-BCD subcollection). The collector was:
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One final observation: The two rare Epidauros AEs with dog reverses depict the dog in two different poses. [UPDATE: For a somewhat expanded version of the following, see my later blog post: The “Play Bow” on Bronze Dog Coins of Epidauros]
On one type (HGC 736 = BCD Peloponnesos 1256), the dog is clearly lying down flat on a “ground line.” On the other (HGC 737 = BCD Pelo. 1257), there is no ground line, and the dog’s haunches appear raised and torso lowered in a so-called “play bow” (compare the right rev. below to the photo in a 2009 discussion of animal play from Language Log, U Penn Cognitive Sci.). The pair of poses is reminiscent of the coinage of Larissa, which shows horses in various poses — some with a playful spirit, such as the horse “preparing to roll over.”
(Incidentally, like my pair, the two Epidaurous dogs illustrated in HGC were also cataloged by ASW and [like one of mine] ex BCD Collection! See yet another pair from the BCD Collection in BCD Pelo. II: Lot 2502 [same dies as BCD Pelo. 1256] & 2503 [same dies as BCD Pelo. 1257]. Both of my rev. dies are different, but all six may have used the same obv. die. BCD Pelo. II contains a third, Lot 2504 –an interesting & unusual variant w/ dies I hadn’t seen before.)
| Samaria Hoard Obol (ex Galst) & Signed Copy of Meshorer-Qedar (ex-ANS) |
1. Coin & Collector Tags: Samaria AR Obol or or “Ma’eh,” description & full provenance (in my FORVM Gallery), w/ tag from coll. Dr. Jay M. Galst (1950-2020), indicating past publications & provenance to Stack’s (3 December 1996), lot 708 (part of), the provenance to Samaria Hoard & Athena Fund already lost; * Please note: CNG sold many Samarian coins ex-Galst in the past year-plus; I’ve found many of those to have lost provenances to Samaria Hoard &/or Athena Fund (some were preserved, yet others were unrelated to S.H. & A.F.); if you have any of those coins, I urge you to check the refs. or contact me with your lot numbers & I’ll check my volumes; 2. Book: Yakhov Meshorer & Shraga Qedar. 1991. The Coinage of Samaria in the Fourth Century BCE. Los Angeles: NFA Intl. Copy signed by author(s), Meshorer (is the second sig. Qedar’s, maybe Hebrew script?), ex-ANS Library Duplicates (no bookplate); the volume that first published the Samaria Hoard (CH 9·413 Samaria, before 1990, No. 165=this coin) & the primary ref. on Samarian coinage until the same authors published Samarian Coinage in 1999; 
3. Catalog: Athena Fund II = Sotheby’s. Greek and Roman Coins, Sold on the Instructions of the Agent: Numismatic Fine Arts, International. (Zürich, 27 October 1993.) 
4. Comparanda: Another coin that had lost its provenance to the important Athena Fund II auction across intervening collections and sales: Tarsos Stater of Baaltars & Lion/Bull type (ex Athena Fund, Seventko, JB [Edmonton] Colls.). 
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ERIC II Cover Coin & XRF Metallurgy Analysis |
1. Coin: Constantine IV Pogonatus AV Solidus, Ex-Rasiel Suarez Collection (author of ERIC and ERIC II, among others), description & full provenance;  2. Book: ERIC II (The Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins, 2nd ed., 2010), numbered copy 1495, signed by the author, Rasiel Suarez; 
3. Certificate: XRF Report/COA by Suarez: Analysis of the (surface) alloy (98.52% gold). 
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4. Comparanda: Pair of denarii (Titus & Otho ex-Jyrki Muona) subjected to “destructive analysis” of interior composition, cross-sections illustrated in Butcher & Ponting. The Otho is “M16” (for Muona); the Titus, “M40.” Their respective “silver bullion” contents were measured at 98.52% and 78.76% (nearly a 15-fold increase in non-silver content within barely a decade!). A few years later, Domitian would (temporarily) restore the denarius to previous levels.
Of the 35 cataloged by Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. (prob. by Curtis Clay?), 23 had tiny holes drilled in the edge; another 12 were “quartered,” including my pair. The purpose of cutting the coins was to “look inside” at metallurgical “structures” at various depths (see microscopy images below). All the coins were given ID numbers for the dataset (results & photos/details of each can be examined online) and published texts.
By contrast, my Constantine IV Solidus above was tested harmlessly with an “XRF Gun” which measures metallurgy by zapping the surface, but with the consequence that the interior cannot measured. (Great tools, unfortunately expensive.) That’s fine if one believes surface and core are roughly similar, as I believe they are for gold Solidi — but not silver denarii. Even dropping that assumption, it can still be useful for other purposes — such as checking authenticity (modern alloys contain elements absent from ancient ones), as has been done with the Koson AR Drachms (my example) first discovered c. 2003/4 (Constantinescu et al. 2015 [.pdf on Academia]; see also RPC I 1701C [Online only], cf. RPC I 1701 [Online: 1701A, 1701B]).
Background: Jyrki Muona donated dozens of Roman denarii from his collection to Butcher & Ponting’s paradigm-shifting metallurgy research, 35 of them dispersed by Harlan J Berk, two now in the Jackson-Jacobs Coll. To move beyond previous scholarship (cf. Walker 1976-1978), it was necessary to compare core and surface, requiring so-called “destructive analysis.” It’s easy to see why museums were unwilling to submit any of their own Otho, Galba, Civil Wars, and other rare denarii. However, the sacrifice of those few coins ultimately led to important changes in what we know about Roman Imperial silver coins, thoroughly revising the 35-40 year old conclusions of David R Walker (1976-1978), based on surface testing, which had been highly influential and widely used to that point.
Above: Before & after; cross-sectional microscopy photos of Otho (B & P 2014: p. 136);
Below: results of SEM analysis (Archaeology Data Service [UK]).
Photo Credits: HJB, Ltd.: BBS 212, 511; CNG Triton XXV (Online), 6953 / A. Short; Butcher-Ponting-Muona / ADS.