Crude but fascinating? My new Trajan and Herakles tetradrachm

[Salomons Cat]

My new Trajan tetradrachm features a depiction of Herakles that looks as if the engraver was designing a face for the very first time.
I somehow perceive a special charm in this coin that earned it a place in my small collection.

Rarity is not a relevant factor for me. However, as a bonus, there are only 9 specimens of this type on acsearch and on Coryssa.

Trajan, Silver tetradrachm, 109 - 110 A.D.
Centered, double struck, areas of mild porosity, edge cracks, Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) mint, weight 14.051g, maximum diameter 25.8mm, die axis 180°. VF.
Obv: AVTOKP KAIC NEP TPAIANOC CEB ΓEPM ΔAK (Imperator Caesar Nerva Trajanus Augustus Germanicus Dacicus), laureate head right, club left below, eagle at point of bust standing right with wings closed
Rev: ΔHMAPX - EΞ IΔ YΠAT E (tribunicia potestate XIV, consul VI), laureate bust of Melqart-Herakles right, Nemean lion-skin around neck, tied at front; first specimen of this type handled by FORVM; rare. Bought from FORVM ANCIENT COINS.

Quote

Herakles is depicted wearing the Nemean lion skin around his neck. The first of Herakles' twelve labors, set by his cousin King Eurystheus, was to slay the Nemean lion and bring back its skin. Herakles discovered arrows and his club were useless against it because its golden fur was impervious to mortal weapons. Its claws were sharper than swords and could cut through any armor. Herakles stunned the beast with his club and, using his immense strength, strangled it to death. During the fight, the lion bit off one of his fingers. After slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife but failed. Wise Athena, noticing the hero's plight, told him to use one of the lion's own claws to skin the pelt.

Do you have coins that you find beautiful, even though they challenge the conventional definition of beauty with their crude style?

Edited July 22 by Salomons Cat

[shanxi]

 

Some authors give Tyre as mint, especially as Melquart was the city god of Tyre. I don't know what are the arguments for Antioch.

 

29 minutes ago, Salomons Cat said:

Do you have coins that you find beautiful, even though they challenge the conventional definition of beauty with their crude style?

Your coin is not of crude style, this is:

 

Kingdom of Elymais
Orodes IV
2nd half 2nd CentAD
Æ Drachm
Obv.: Facing Bust, small hair tuft on top, 2 hair tufts left & right
Rev.: Bust of Artemis left, in low Tiara with crest of dots; anchor with 1 cross bar
Æ, 3.22 gr. 12x14 mm.
Ref.: Van´t Haaff Type 17.2, Subtype 1-1b, THIS COIN
Ex Van't Haaff Collection

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22 by shanxi

[Al Kowsky]

28 minutes ago, Salomons Cat said:

My new Trajan tetradrachm features a depiction of Herakles that looks as if the engraver was designing a face for the very first time.
The result is so archaic that it fascinates me. I somehow perceive a special charm in this coin that earned it a place in my small collection.

Rarity is not a relevant factor for me. However, as a bonus, there are only 9 specimens of this type on acsearch and on Coryssa.

Trajan, Silver tetradrachm, 109 - 110 A.D.
Centered, double struck, areas of mild porosity, edge cracks, Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) mint, weight 14.051g, maximum diameter 25.8mm, die axis 180°. VF.
Obv: AVTOKP KAIC NEP TPAIANOC CEB ΓEPM ΔAK (Imperator Caesar Nerva Trajanus Augustus Germanicus Dacicus), laureate head right, club left below, eagle at point of bust standing right with wings closed
Rev: ΔHMAPX - EΞ IΔ YΠAT E (tribunicia potestate XIV, consul VI), laureate bust of Melqart-Herakles right, Nemean lion-skin around neck, tied at front; first specimen of this type handled by FORVM; rare. Bought from FORVM ANCIENT COINS.

Do you have coins that you find beautiful, even though they challenge the conventional definition of beauty with their crude style?

I don't understand why you're mocking the portrait of Melquart, the portrait looks excellent for the type 🤔.

[Salomons Cat]

25 minutes ago, shanxi said:

Some authors give Tyre as mint, especially as Melquart was the city god of Tyre. I don't know what are the arguments for Antioch.

Almost all sources that I found proposed the Antioch mint for this type. I think that @DonnaML gave a possible explanation on cointalk:

Quote

Of the 11 coins posted in this thread, 8 were issued under Trajan -- 8 of the 9 posted coins that were issued under the Empire. And I've certainly noticed that far more Roman Provincial Melqart coins for sale on VCoins were issued under Trajan than under any other Emperor; the same seems to be true of Roman Provincial coins with Melqart that are listed on acsearch. Coincidence? The "Ancient History Encyclopedia" article on Melqart that I cited in my first post in this thread suggests that it wasn't: without citing any specific source (there's just a bibliography at the end), the article attempts to draw a connection between Trajan's birth in Spain and the "particularly renowned" Phoenician temple of Melqart in Gades (now Cadiz), stating that it was "not coincidental[]" that Melqart's cult was supposedly given imperial status under Trajan and Hadrian (who was also born in Spain). And it's true that Trajan's (and Hadrian's) birthplace was the town of Italica, very near Seville -- which is only 120 km. (about 70 miles) north of Cadiz.

@Al Kowsky Thank you. I don't see a contradication between "archaic looking" and "excellent for this type", but I take it as a compliment for my coin. 
Or is "crude" an expression that is too strong? Sometimes I'm not good with such things, because English is not my mother tongue.

Edited July 22 by Salomons Cat

[MrMonkeySwag96]

“Crude but fascinating” applies to a lot of Republican denarii:

 

Edited July 22 by MrMonkeySwag96

[Salomons Cat]

13 minutes ago, MrMonkeySwag96 said:

“Crude but fascinating” applies to a lot of Republican denarii:

 

But I don‘t find these crude 😄

People look like people, pigs like pigs, the dog is a dog… 

But if you look at Melkart - have you ever seen a person who looks like this?

[Qcumbor]

Interesting Melqart portrait @Salomons Cat

Here's my example

 

And something I consider crude :

 

Q

[Salomons Cat]

Your Melkart is clearly not crude but of very fine style, @Qcumbor!

[MrMonkeySwag96]

6 hours ago, Salomons Cat said:

But I don‘t find these crude 😄

People look like people, pigs like pigs, the dog is a dog… 

But if you look at Melkart - have you ever seen a person who looks like this?

I wasn’t referring to the animal reverses as crude. The animals were well executed. However, the obverse portraits of the deities are quite crude imo. During the Republican period, the Romans haven’t yet perfected the art of realistic human portraits. 

Edited July 23 by MrMonkeySwag96