"Longing for Alexander" in Oxford

marcus · Post by **marcus** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 4:02 pm

Hi all,I took a trip to Oxford today, to have a look at the mini-exhibition of Alexandrian coinage at the Ashmolean museum.It really was "mini", as it comprised exactly four cases, each with no more than about 8 coins in it. However, it was quite interesting, largely as it included some coins from as late as Elagabalus, from mints in the former Hellenistic kingdoms, that still showed the face of Alexander. I had not realised that the practice went on so long!The Ashmolean Museum also has a cast of the Azara Herm, which was an extra bit of 'excitement'. Unfortunately, my three-year-old nephew was more interested in inspecting the plugholes in the toilets than he was in investigating Hellenistic coinage and Mesopotamian cylindar seals ... so thank goodness it was such a small expo.No postcards or any other literature, unfortunately, and the exhibition finishes on 20 March ... but if anyone's in Oxford between now and then it's worth a quick 10 minutes (and it really won't take longer than that).Still, Oxford's always a nice place to visit!ATBMarcus

beausefaless · Post by **beausefaless** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:21 am

Greetings Marcus,Were most if not all the coins of low quality? Tetradrachms, AR Tetradrachms, hemidrachms gold and silver staters, at least were not these types shown? I'm sorry to hear you were disappointed.Butt on the other hand, I would make a small wager your three-year-old nephew became an expert on the benefits of using large plugholes in toilets compared to the smaller models unless you don't mind doing a lot of plunging or try to remember to flush after every bombs-away.Would you mind describing your coin, (Alexander) preference, the reverse. (Zeus) Thanks for your time.All the best, Andrew

marcus · Post by **marcus** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:42 am

Hi Andrew,Actually, many of the coins appeared to be of very good quality. The 'worst' quality, in fact, were those of Ptolemy (with Ptolemy's features). There were one or two others that were a bit weathered, but on the whole I thought the quality was excellent.I should stress that I was disappointed only because there were so few coins on display, not with the quality of what was there. (And you're quite right about my nephew and the plughole symposium!).Andrew, I now have a digital camera, and if I remember I'm going to take some photos of my coins next weekend, when I'm at my flat. If it's OK with you I'll send them over to you then, to take a look.CheersMarcus

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