Countermarked Coins From Around The World

1. Countermarked Coins From Around The World

2. Introduction • The marking of coins after minting: • Common practice for as long as coinage has existed • Define Countermark • Reasons for adding marks and stamps • Look at the design, form and meaning

3. Definition • Counterstamp/Countermark: • A mark added to a coin • Subsequent to minting • With a purpose • Usually incuse into the design • Bears some kind of recognizable design, text, initials, or picture.

4. Reasons to add a Counterstamp • Assayer’s mark-Validate weight, metal content and purity • Satisfy a shortage- use someone else’s coins • Political or Economic Takeover • Establish Independent State • Status- Indicate ownership

5. PART 1- Ancient Greece and Roman Empire

6. Archaic Greek - 6th BC to 479 BC- Aegina Aegina- Island Nation south of Athens, Greece http://www.ancient-greece.org/images/maps/ancient-greece101.swf

7. Archaic Greek - 6th BC to 479 BC- Aegina Aegina- “Greek Turtle” Silver- 550 BC

8. Archaic Greek - 6th BC to 479 BC Aegina- Greek Turtle circa 500 BC

9. Archaic Greek - 6th BC to 479 BC

10. Archaic Greek - 6th BC to 479 BC

11. Archaic Greek - 6th BC to 479 BC Aegina- Greek Turtle with counterstamp

12. Archaic Greek - 6th BC to 479 BC .. Aegina- Greek Turtle with arrow counterstamp

13. Archaic- Coin from Lydia - Darius III 450 -330 BC Kneeling King with bow- No countermark http://worldcoincatalog.com/AC/C4/Lydia/Lydia.htm

14. Archaic- Kingdom of Lydia 450 BC http://worldcoincatalog.com/AC/C4/Lydia/Lydia.htm

15. Archaic- Siglos of Lydia 450 BC http://worldcoincatalog.com/AC/C4/Lydia/Lydia.htm

16. Archaic- Siglos of Lydia- 450 BC http://worldcoincatalog.com/AC/C4/Lydia/Lydia.htm

17. Archaic- Siglos of Lydia 450 BC

18. Archaic Period Siglos- Lydia- 450 BC

19. Classical Greek- -Pamphylia Pamphylia

20. Classical Period- Pamphylia (Turkey)- City of Perge http://www.mapofturkey.info/d/3_1.asp

21. Greek Classical Period Gold Stater- Side . Side c.400-380 BC, Stater Athena/ standing left, rev Pamphylian legend, naked Apollo standing left- 2 counterstamps- four legged animal

22. Classical Period Silver Tetradrachm-Pamphylia- no counterstamp 300-200 BC Athena/Nike

23. Classical Period Silver Tetradrachm- Pamphylia 333BC Obv-Athena facing right, Nike Advancing- Rev Seleukid Counterstamp (anchor)

24. Classical Period Silver Tetradrachm- Pamphylia – Anchor C/M

25. Classical Period Silver Tetradrachm- Pamphylia (Side) Anchor C/M

26. Classical Period Silver Tetradrachm- Pamphylia Counterstamp- Bow in Bowcase

27. Classical Period Silver Tetradrachm- C/M- Bow in Bowcase

28. Classical Period Silver Tetradrachm- Pamphylia (Side) C/M- Lyre

29. Classical Period Silver Tetradrachm- Pamphylia Countermark-Bee & Bowcase

30. Classical Period . PAMPHYLIA Side. 3rd - 2nd century B.C.: AR drachm (3.76 g). Bee countermark.

31. Classical Period KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III ‘the Great’. 336-323 BC. Tetradrachm . (195/4 BC). Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin/ Zeus enthroned left. TRAL and bowcase in circular incuse

32. Classical Period- Alexander the Great- Tetradrachm (190 BC) • The TRAL countermark was applied in Tralles, Lydia. • Other bow and bowcase countermarks on to Pergamon, Ephesos, Sardes, Tralles, Laodikeia, and Apameia. • Linked to the introduction of the cistophoric coinage circa 180 BC. • Permitted the circulation of Attic weight coins in the years following political reform.

33. Classical Period MACEDONIAN KINGS Alexander the Great. 336-323 B.C.:AR tetradrachm (28 mm, 16.82 g). Aspendus mint. Head of Heracles/ Zeus enthroned left, holding eagle and sceptre. Countermark: head of Helios facing front

34. Hellenistic Period . Tetradrachm- 320 BC Basileos

35. Hellenistic Period (336 BC-30 BC) . 305 BC Paphos Mint-Basileos Ptolemy I and II AR Tetradrachm Multiple Bankers Marks Date: 305-284 BCObverse: Diademed bust righteverse: Eagle standing left 26.97 mm

36. Hellenistic Period After 250 BC. AR Didrachm (8.16g). Turreted head of Nymph Sinope left; countermark: radiate head of Helios facing, ΣΙΝΟΠΕΩΝ Rev Poseidon sitting on throne left, holding dolphin and trident; countermark: laureate head of horned Poseidon left.

37. Hellenistic Period Bythinia-228BC Three Countermarks: Altar, Lyre, Goddess

38. Hellenistic Period Lycia Termessus Minor AE22 / Bee CounterstampDate: 1st century BCObverse: Laureate head of Zeus right, sceptre behindReverse: Legend above and beneath winged thunderbolt, Bee countermark Size: 22.8 mm weight: 3.9 grams

39. Roman Tiberius-(Twelve Caesars) Countermarks

40. Roman Counterstamped Coins • Counterstamped Roman Coins are of great historical value. • Help trace the movement of Roman Legions across Europe • Shed Light on political uprisings and successions • Edwin Howgego- British • Museum of Countermarks on Roman Coins

41. Roman Æ Sestertius (24.75 gm). Struck 8-10 AD..XLI for countermark. Æ As (10.63gm). Struck 12-14 AD. TIB in incuse oval.

42. Roman AUGUSTUS. A Pair of Augustan denarii, both with Vespasian counterstamps. Countermarked at Ephesos, circa 74-79 AD. both with bold counterstamps. Both Howgego 839

43. Roman CILICIA, Tarsus. Hadrian. 117-138 AD. AR Tetradrachm Countermarked under Caracalla, 215-217 AD. laureate head of Caracalla right, AMK:Prwth Megisth Kallisth (First, Greatest, Most Beautiful), epithets granted to the city of Tarsus upon Caracalla's arrival there in 215 AD.

44. Roman Coin Expert- Christopher Howgego Project director, Roman Provincial Coinage in the Antonine Period University Lecturer in Numismatics, Reader in Greek and Roman Numismatics., Faculty of ClassicsSenior Assistant Keeper, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK. 1994: ''Coin circulation and the integration of the Roman economy'', 1995: ''The circulation of silver coins, models of the Roman economy” 1995: Ancient History from Coins, Routledge, London, 176.

45. Chris Howgego Book

46. Roman- X Legion "X" for LEGIO X GEMINA on Nero Dupondius, Pannonia Superior, possible applied later during Vespasianus

47. Roman- XII Legion Two well-worn coins with XII Legion Fulminata Countermark (Turkey) For List of Roman Legions: http://www.romancoins.info/Legions.html

48. Roman- 42 NummiDenominational Counterstamp "XLII" on Galba As, such countermarks are known to have been used by the Ostrogoths and Vandals to mark Dupondi as 42 Nummi (XLII). They prove coins being in circulation some 400 years or more after their initial issue.

49. Roman- Thrace THRACE Imbros. Augustus 27 B.C. - A.D. 14.: AE 14. Bare head right. COUNTERMARK (Howgego 431)

50. Museum of Countermarks on Roman Coins (online museum) http://www.romancoins.info/Countermarks-start.html