DM 304 The Roman Colosseum

DM 303 The Roman Spear Set by Dunston Mint

Excavation of Tomb of Jesus by Byzantine Empress Henena in A.D.428 and discovery of holy relics including Roman spear that pierced side of Jesus

Roman Spear

 The Roman thrusting spear or hasta was carried in battle from the ninth century B.C. to the fall of the Western Empire in A.D. 476. This Roman spear was a 6 ½ foot ash pole topped with a 6 inch iron spearhead. For 1200 years the Roman army integrated the Roman spear throughout its formations.

Foundations of the Roman Army (800 B.C. – 315 B.C.) Early Roman warriors used thrusting spears in intra-tribal battles. By 315 B.C. an early Roman infantry overthrew the Etruscan occupation using Greek hoplite tactics carrying spears and shields.

Army of the Roman Republic 315 B.C. – 31 B.C.) With the territorial victories of the Second Punic War, Rome began developing a professional Roman Army. Roman citizens were organized into discliplined mobile units called legions. Each soldier carried a shield, short sword, and two throwing javelins, or pila. The pilum was a heavy offensive weapon featuring a long thin iron shank (neck) and heavy shaft. Around 200 B.C. Roman allied troops were organized to support the legions. The auxilia were comprised of non-Roman citizens used as light infantry, skirmishers, and light calvary support. Auxiliary units were lightly armed with shields and thrusting spears or hasta.

The Imperial Roman Army 31 B.C. – A.D. 284) While Roman legions were invading and capturing new territories, the non citizen auxilia or auxiliary troops were used to occupy conquered Roman provinces such as Judea. In A.D. 212, citizenship was granted to all free-born inhabitants of the Empire. Over time the distinction between the professional Army’s legionary and auxiliary forces declined and disappeared. The Roman Army became a defense force charged with maintaining the Empire’s vast borders in fixed garrisons. The army underwent changes in response to these new needs. In the Roman Empire the auxilariary forces grew to comprise more than 60% of all Roman formations.

Late Roman Army (A.D. 284 – A.D. 476) In the third and fourth centuries, Rome struggled to maintain its vast territories with its salaried and professional army. More allied and mercenary troops were recruited to meet military requirements. Mercenary troops grew to represent the major part of the Empire’s armed forces. Uniformity of structure found in Rome’s earlier military disappeared. Late Roman Empire troops were lightly armed mounted archers and infantry, in units of varying size and quality. The Roman spear or hasta was a primary weapon of light cavalry and infantry units.

The Spear of Longinus. According to New Testament accounts, a Roman soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a spear. Tradition names him Longinus. The spear was most likely a Roman hasta. In the early Church, this spear became a religious relic. By the fourth century, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine the Great gave his mother, Helena, unlimited funds to locate relics of the early Christian Church. From A.D. 426 to 428, Helena traveled to the holy places in Judea. In Jerusalem, Helena oversaw the excavation of a Roman temple built over the Tomb of Jesus. According to tradition, holy relics found included the true cross, the nails of Christ’s crucifixion, and the Spear of Longinus.

ON THE COVER: The resin reproduction of the Roman spearhead, is on a representation of the discovery of the Spear of Longinus.

Most complete collection of ancient Roman Republican coins ever offered for public sale

ZURICH.- On October 5th, Numismatica Ars Classica will offer the first part of perhaps the most complete collection of ancient Roman Republican coins ever offered for public sale. The Roman Republic spans the period from when Rome was a small central-Italian city state until the end of the Republic in 31 BC, when Octavian defeated Marc Antony at the battle of Actium, and the Roman Empire began. The first sale of the “RBW Collection” will cover the period from the beginning of Roman coinage in the 4th century BC up to the Social War in 91 BC, when several Italian states rose up against Rome, and almost toppled her. The coinage from the Social War until the end of the Republic will be offered by Numismatica Ars Classica in the spring of 2012.

The collection, formed over the past 50 years, includes coins struck in gold, silver, and bronze, as well as examples of the dramatic large cast coins which passed for currency in Rome’s earliest days. The first sale will include one example of nearly every coin type known for this period, plus 29 types which are not recorded in the standard references for the series. And, as a measure of the rarity of the coins offered, five are unique, and five others are known in only two examples.

The sale opens with 60 lots of the large cast bronze coinage, or Aes Grave, mostly in exceptional condition. The group includes many rarities, such as this massive dupondius, showing the head of the goddess Diana and a Roman wheel, estimated at chf 18’000.

The next section of the sale features the early silver and bronze coinage which Rome issued in imitation of the coinage of the Greek city-states who were her neighbors at that time. This beautiful example, featuring the head of the god Janus on the obverse, ex. Lockett collection, is estimated at chf 3’000.

In 212 BC, Rome introduced its own monetary system, based on the silver denarius of 10 bronze asses (the denarius is the direct ancestor of today’s penny). The early denarius coinage also included rare gold pieces, such as this 60-as piece with pentagram symbol, which is one of only two examples known, and has a pedigree going back to the Borghesi collection in the 19th century; it is estimated at chf 15’000.

The collection is also very strong in the denarius coinage of the late 2nd and early 1st c. BC, including this extremely rare denarius of C. Numitorius, perhaps the finest specimen known, estimated at chf 10’000.

The RBW Collection includes coins from most of the major collections sold in the past half-century, including such famous collectors as Enrico Caruso, Clarence Bement, Virgil Brand, Sir Arthur Evans, and John Works Garrett; the specific provenance of nearly every piece is provided. Clearly, this sale will be a once in a generation opportunity for collectors of ancient coins. Catalogues are available from Numismatica Ars Classica, Zürich.

The Empire of Alexander the Great Set – A New Offering from The Dunston Mint

Alexander’s Legacy

Alexander the Great’s heritage is extensive. Alexander’s successors and their monarchies extended the influence of Greece, its language, culture, and government for more than 300 years. This is called the Hellenist Period. New cities enhanced trade, commerce, government, and education of the post-Alexander Greek world. Wikipedia notes, “[While] Athens retained the seat of higher education. Alexandria was arguably was the second most important center of learning. . . The island of Rhodes boasted a famous finishing school for politics and diplomacy. . . Pergamon became a major [literary] center. . . Antioch became a new metropolis and center of learning; Selucia replaced Babylon as a metropolis of the lower Tigris.”

Alexander’s Empire

Upon his death in June 323 B.C., Alexander the Great gave each of his four closest companions a portion of his empire. The following show the territories; recipients; and early coins issued by the new rulers.

Territorial Dominions – The Kingdom of Macedonia and Greece

Recipient – Kassander (319 to 297 B.C.); Alexander’s general received his leader’s kingdom.

Coin – Silver tetradrachm of Alexander the Great. During Alexander rule, he claimed patrimonial descent of Hercules. On his coins, Alexander portrayed himself as young Hercules. Kassander continue to issue the coins of his predecessor. Obverse: Alexander portrayed as young Hercules facing right clad in lions skin. Reverse: Zeus enthroned left holding eagle and scepter. Sear: 6712.

 

Territorial Dominions – The Kingdom of Trace and most of Asia Minor

Recipient – Lysmachos (323 to 281 B.C.); bodyguard and confident to Alexander

Early Coin – Silver tetradrachm of Lysmachos Obverse:the head of Alexander wearing the Egyptian horn of Ammon. Reverse: shows Athena enthroned left holding Nike and resting left with arm on shield with spear resting against her. Sear: 6813.

Territorial Dominions – The Ptolomeic Kingdom of Egypt, Palestine, Cilicia, Petra, and Cyprus

Recipient – Ptolomy I, Soter (302 to 283 B.C.) a former general of Alexander.

Early Coin – Silver tetradrachm of Ptolomy I. Obverse: Head of Alexander facing right with horn of Ammon clad in elephant skin with aegis. Reverse: shows Athena advancing right hold shield and spear. Sear: 7747.

 

Territorial Dominions – Seleucid Kingdom including rest of Asia, Syria, Babylon, Persia, and India

Recipient – Seleucus I Nicator (312 to 280 B.C.) a general to Alexander.

Early Coin – Silver Tetrachloride of Seleucus I. Obverse: Head of Alexander portrayed as a young Hercules wearing a lion skin. Reverse: shows Zeus enthroned left holding and eagle and scepter. Sear 6829.

 

 

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Iron Age Gold Hoard, The Wickham Market Hoard, Saved for Ipswich Museum

Iron Age Gold Hoard, The Wickham Market Hoard, Saved for Ipswich Museum.

Eide Mar Denarius of Marcus Brutus to Be Displayed before Auction

 

 

LONG BEACH, CA.- The most famous ancient coin in existence, the “Ides of March” silver denarius struck by Julius Caesar’s assassin Marcus Brutus, celebrating the infamous deed, will return to its longtime California home this summer for display, Sept. 2-3, before heading to the auction block.

It is being offered as part of Heritage Auctions‘ Sept. 7 Long Beach Signature® World & Ancient Coins Auction at the Long Beach Numismatic Expo, where it is expected to bring $500,000+.

The coin will be on view at Heritage’s Beverly Hills offices, 9478 West Olympic Blvd., Friday, Sept. 2, with a special Roman-themed reception held on Saturday, Sept. 3, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

“The ‘Ides of March’ denarius, struck in 42 B.C., is the only Roman coin to openly celebrate an act of murder,” said David S. Michaels, Director of Ancient Coins for Heritage, “the only Roman coin to mention a specific date and one of the very few ancient coins to enter the popular imagination.”

Should the coin reach its pre-auction estimate of $500,000+, it will establish a record price for a Roman silver coin.

“Not only is this one of the finest examples known of this historic rarity, this ‘Ides of March’ denarius once resided in the collections of well-known Hollywood producer Sy Weintraub and the actor Peter Weller,” said Michaels. “It was also in the world-famous Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection, sold in 1990, with an auction pedigree going back to the early 1900s. As an important historic coin with a distinguished pedigree, it is one of the most desirable collectible of any kind that one could ever imagine acquiring.”

The event celebrated on the coin, of course, is the assassination of Julius Caesar on the “Ides of March,” March 15, 44 BC. The dime-sized silver coin depicts the head of Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the ringleaders of the assassination plot, on its obverse. The reverse depicts a dome-shaped liberty cap, flanked by two drawn daggers, and the Latin inscription EID MAR.

Since the early part of the 2000s, the coin has been part of a private Arizona holding, all of which is being offered in Heritage’s Sept. 7 auction and dubbed The Rubicon Collection for the event.

“All the coins in the Rubicon Collection are of outstanding historical importance and quality,” Michaels said. “There are, for example, two rare portrait coins of Cleopatra, several of Julius Caesar, and an actual Roman die used to strike silver denarii. The Eid Mar, however, is definitely the star of the show.”

In the 21 centuries since the “Ides of March,” Brutus has been hailed as both a champion of liberty and damned as a vile traitor. Born about 85 BC, Brutus was from a long line of Romans famous for resisting tyranny and defending Republican liberty. He was a close friend and protégé of Julius Caesar, but when Caesar seized power as Dictator in 49 BC, Brutus joined the Republican forces opposed to him. After the defeat of the Republicans the following year, Caesar pardoned Brutus and gave him every preferment. As Caesar became more megalomaniacal, however, Brutus joined the conspiracy against him and is said to have delivered the fatal dagger thrust, prompting Caesar’s final words (spoken in Greek), “You too, my child?”

The line was made famous, and forever entered popular culture, when Shakespeare later changed it slightly in his masterpiece Julius Caesar, creating the immortal line, “Et tu, Brute?”

After the murder, the conspirators fled Rome in a rush, barely ahead of a lynch mob. Brutus assembled a pro-Republican power base in Greece where he could wage war against Caesar’s successors, Mark Antony and Octavian. Looting gold and silver from the local population, he began to strike coins to pay his growing army.

His early coinage follows traditional themes, but his final type, the EID MAR issue of mid-42 BC, breaks the old Republican taboo by placing his own portrait on the obverse, coupled with the pileus or “cap of liberty” (traditionally given to freed slaves) between the daggers that executed Caesar. The choice of types could be seen as a brazen act of defiance as the armies closed for an ultimate clash in northern Greece.

In a final twist of fate, Brutus used the same dagger he had plunged into Caesar to take his own life following his final defeat at the second battle of Philippi on October 23, 42 BC.

The great rarity of Eid Mar denarii today is doubtless because the type was deliberately recalled and melted down by the victors, Mark Antony and Octavian.

Editors & reporters: David Michaels, Heritage’s Director of Ancient Coins, is available for interview. Please write Noah Fleisher at NoahF@HA.com to set up a time, or call 214-409-1143.

 

Pennsylvania Family Fights United States Treasury Over Rare 1933 Gold Coins

Pennsylvania Family Fights United States Treasury Over Rare 1933 Gold Coins.

Iron Age Gold Hoard, The Wickham Market Hoard, Saved for Ipswich Museum

Iron Age Gold Hoard, The Wickham Market Hoard, Saved for Ipswich Museum.

The hoard consists of 840 gold coins dating from between 20 BC-AD 20. The hoard is rare for the time period and unique for this type of discovery as it contains only gold coinage. It is tangible evidence of the long history of the peoples of the British Isles and offers a direct connection to the Iceni tribe which remains strongly linked to the story of Boudica, one of Britain’s most famous folk heroines.

It is difficult to realize that all of the coins in this hoard of coins are gold staters of the early Celts who lived in England. By 50 A.D. These people were assimilated and influenced by the Roman occupation of England.

An Attempt to Smuggle Hundreds of Stolen Antiquities from Israel was Thwarted

An Attempt to Smuggle Hundreds of Stolen Antiquities from Israel was Thwarted.

Auction firms withdraw highlight coin | CoinWorld

Auction firms withdraw highlight coin | CoinWorld.