Ancient Greece: Seleucid Kingdom, bronze AE19 of Antiochus VIII, ca. 121-96 BC

lordmarcovan

Ancient Greece: Seleucid Kingdom, bronze AE19 of Antiochus VIII, ca. 121-96 BC

Obverse: radiate and diademed head of Antiochus VIII right.
Reverse: eagle standing left on thunderbolt, lotus-tipped scepter under right wing.

Struck ca. 121-120 BC, Antioch mint. 18.9 mm, 5.5-6.0 g approx. NGC VF (Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5, "sand patina"), cert.# 4094568-006. Ex-FORVM Ancient Coins, Lot# GB57125, July 2012. Purchased raw.

I love Seleucid coins for their combination of history, attractive designs, and relative affordability. The bronzes are often found with nice earthen or "desert" patina, and this coin in particular has very appealing patina with contrast to set off the design elements.





Original seller page
NGC cert verification page
Coins of Seleucia, Antiochus VIII (Wildwinds reference)

Wikipedia links:
Seleucid Empire
Antiochus VIII Grypus
Antioch on the Orontes

When posted here, this coin was part of my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.

nicholasz219

Ha! For once I am on the same page and picked up a Seleucid piece just a few weeks ago featuring an elephant! Bronze is very affordable especially if you are patient. Most people offer the bronze for $50 as a buy it now option, especially with popular elephant/eagle motifs but keeping an eye out can get you a much lower price.

lordmarcovan

I love affordable Seleucid bronze with the desert patina!

But I already said that, didn't I.

You know, I had my eye on one of those "elephant" pieces, too. I think it was on one of those freaky-cool serrated flans that looks like a bottle cap. Plus the nice patina. Not hard to see why they're popular. But somebody beat me to it, by mere hours.