Tassie Coin Impression MyI No 721
Purchased May 6, 2022.
Purchased From: Online shop of Timothy Medhurst. Original listing no longer available online.
Description:
An Early 19th Century Grand Tour Wax Coin Impression Of An Ancient Greek AE Coin Of Akarnania, Federal Coinage (Akarnanian Confederacy). Leukas Mint, c.3rd Century B.C.
5.2cm wide overall.
Obverse: Helmeted head of Athena left. Reverse: Head of river-god Achelous with trident above.
The wax Impression laid to resin within its original card slip, numbered in ink “289”.
There is some minor wear to the card as expected with age, the wax in very nice condition with no damage or restoration. An attractive and very decorative piece. Medhurst original images shown below.
From Catalogue of Greek coins in the Hunterian collection
“Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection”, Vol II, University of Glasgow
by Hunterian Museum (University of Glasgow); MacDonald, George, 1862-1940
Publication date 1899
Topics Coins, Greek
Publisher Glasgow, J. Maclehose and Sons
Text p 28, pdf 44/734; Image Plate XXXII. 11. (shown below for comparison, not MyI No. 721)
v. 1. Italy, Sicily, Macedon, Trace, and Thessaly.–v. 2. North western Greece, Central Greece, Southern Greece, and Asia Minor.–v. 3. Further Asia, Northern Africa, Western Europe
[MyI: Tassie coin impressions were primarily taken from the collection of Dr. William Hunter, the originator of the Hunterian Collection. MyI No. 721 shown below on left; Image from Catalogue (PLATE XXXII. 11.) shown below on right is for comparison of the depiction of River God Achelous, which is similar. No. 7 in Catalogue above (red arrow) is correct description of MyI No. 721. “B.M.C. Pl. XXVII. 8.” could not be found— Note: From p2 in Vol 1 — In references for illustrations “B.M.C.” means in each case the appropriate volume of the British Museum Series of Coin Catalogues. MyI was not able to locate the referenced image.]
But, with a little persistence and the aid of the seemingly unlimited resources of the internet the answer was found –
The trick is to find the “appropriate volume” In the Series: “Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum” alone there are 28 volumes. All of the Series and Volumes are listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum_Catalogues_of_Coins
In this case the coin had been identified as being from Acarnania, which through some hit and miss was found to be geographically located on the west coast of Central Greece. This led to finding “Vol. 6: Thessaly to Aetolia – P. Gardner (1883)”
Searching “Vol.6: Thessaly to AEtollia forumancientcoins dannyjones” (this is the typical search phrase that brings result fastest – forumancientcoins and dannyjones being the site) brought me to Forum of Ancient Coins, “Catalogue of Greek Coins – Thessaly to Actolia”, which was the pdf of the entire Vol 6 catalog—
Sure enough Plate XXVII image 8 was very similar to ours—
The B.M.C. coin is quite similar to the impression, however, it can easily be seen that they are not identical.
Back to the drawing board. What about coin Acarnania No. 7 in the Hunterian catalog, which for some reason was not photographed, referring instead to the B.M.C. image.
Jesper Ericsson, the Curator of Numismatics at the Hunterian, quickly came up with the specific coin image, an identical match to the impression.
