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There's no place like home Dorothy!
14 years 5 months ago - 14 years 5 months ago #1229
by Belayoff
C4OA Lifer!
There's no place like home Dorothy! was created by Belayoff
Howdy Y-all!
I just returned from a three week vacation in the middle east. We spent most of our time in Israel visiting Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and several incredible archaeological sites throughout the country. We also made our way over to Jordan, the neighboring country to the east in order to tour the famous World Heritage Site, Petra. Indiana Jones, was not there, sadly.
Virtually everywhere we went the reality exceeded our expectations. One cannot put a shovel in the ground in these countries without turning up something truly ancient. It had actually rained the previous month which had exposed loads of pot shards, odd objects which are easy to find if one knows where to look. As a closet archaeologist myself...I do. While hiking off the beaten tourist tracks around Petra, I found two interesting bronze coins and purchased three others from local Bedouins. The coins range from 1,700 yrs old (Roman -Constantine the Great) to over 3,000 years old (Nebutean) and are all heavily encrusted with baked-on dirt from centuries lying in the extreme heat of the desert. Believe it or not, they are not worth much though they were thrilling to find considering the last person who had them was likely a Roman soldier or perhaps one of Moses followers who were chronicled to have come through this region. In fact, the upper valley above Petra is called Moses (they spell it Mosas)Valley and the water source is Moses Spring.
Of the two coins I found, one is a 35mm round Alexander coin from the 3rd century BC. It's in excellent condition and does not have much wear. The second coin of the same size displays a bearded figure on the obverse and a four horse chariot driven by a Nike-like figure on the reverse, but I have not been able to identify the coin as of yet.
Notice that the horses and chariot are pointed to the left, which is quite unusual. All of the coins depicting chariots I've viewed while researching show the horses galloping to the right. I suspect this is due to the tradition in most cultures which finds anything "left" as generally unsavory or sinister. In fact, the Latin word for wrong or unfavorable is sinistre ... which also means left sided in Latin.
While shopping in the old quarters of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv I also found many old American coins with high price tags. There were Draped Bust Half dollars, CC minted Trade Dollars, and a host of other rare US issues...each and every one of which was counterfeit! My favorite was a 1903 Walking Liberty Silver dollar! Yes, that is what I said...a 1903 Walking Liberty Silver Dollar. I would have bought it for fun but the owner was convinced it was a rare and valuable coin since I was obviously interested in it. He would not sell it to me for the $20 I offered, holding out for $300.
Anyway, it is great to be back home in the greatest country on earth! I just opened my new issue of Curry's Chronicle which is the best welcome home gift anyone could ask. I cannot wait to read it and will certainly log on in a couple days with comments. Even before reading the first page I want to give kudos to Rusty, Marie and the team for the high quality of the publication and the near bullet proof wrapper.
Chow....Belay Off
I just returned from a three week vacation in the middle east. We spent most of our time in Israel visiting Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and several incredible archaeological sites throughout the country. We also made our way over to Jordan, the neighboring country to the east in order to tour the famous World Heritage Site, Petra. Indiana Jones, was not there, sadly.
Virtually everywhere we went the reality exceeded our expectations. One cannot put a shovel in the ground in these countries without turning up something truly ancient. It had actually rained the previous month which had exposed loads of pot shards, odd objects which are easy to find if one knows where to look. As a closet archaeologist myself...I do. While hiking off the beaten tourist tracks around Petra, I found two interesting bronze coins and purchased three others from local Bedouins. The coins range from 1,700 yrs old (Roman -Constantine the Great) to over 3,000 years old (Nebutean) and are all heavily encrusted with baked-on dirt from centuries lying in the extreme heat of the desert. Believe it or not, they are not worth much though they were thrilling to find considering the last person who had them was likely a Roman soldier or perhaps one of Moses followers who were chronicled to have come through this region. In fact, the upper valley above Petra is called Moses (they spell it Mosas)Valley and the water source is Moses Spring.
Of the two coins I found, one is a 35mm round Alexander coin from the 3rd century BC. It's in excellent condition and does not have much wear. The second coin of the same size displays a bearded figure on the obverse and a four horse chariot driven by a Nike-like figure on the reverse, but I have not been able to identify the coin as of yet.
Chariot Coin-obv
Chariot Coin-rev
Notice that the horses and chariot are pointed to the left, which is quite unusual. All of the coins depicting chariots I've viewed while researching show the horses galloping to the right. I suspect this is due to the tradition in most cultures which finds anything "left" as generally unsavory or sinister. In fact, the Latin word for wrong or unfavorable is sinistre ... which also means left sided in Latin.
Alexander the Great - obv.
Alexander the Great -rev
While shopping in the old quarters of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv I also found many old American coins with high price tags. There were Draped Bust Half dollars, CC minted Trade Dollars, and a host of other rare US issues...each and every one of which was counterfeit! My favorite was a 1903 Walking Liberty Silver dollar! Yes, that is what I said...a 1903 Walking Liberty Silver Dollar. I would have bought it for fun but the owner was convinced it was a rare and valuable coin since I was obviously interested in it. He would not sell it to me for the $20 I offered, holding out for $300.
Anyway, it is great to be back home in the greatest country on earth! I just opened my new issue of Curry's Chronicle which is the best welcome home gift anyone could ask. I cannot wait to read it and will certainly log on in a couple days with comments. Even before reading the first page I want to give kudos to Rusty, Marie and the team for the high quality of the publication and the near bullet proof wrapper.
Chow....Belay Off
C4OA Lifer!
Last edit: 14 years 5 months ago by Belayoff.
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