Jami Rodriguez jewelry demonstrates bad numismatics (click to see larger)
It seems as though jewelry designers like using ancient coinage as inspiration for their pieces, but aren’t as concerned about the accuracy of the description on the websites that sell them. In Bad Jewelry Latin (well, History), I discussed a ring that was described as depicting Caesar, but was clearly actually a coin depicting Alexander the Great. In this instance, the sample sale website Billion Dollar Babes calls this item “Goddess Bangles” and describes them as “14k Gold Filled Bangles with Gold Goddess Coin.”
Unfortunately, though the coin is purported to depict a “goddess,” it is immediately recognizable to those who study numismatics as the obverse of the coinage of Rhodes, which was unique among the major producers of coinage for using a 3/4 face instead of the more common full profile for much of their coinage. This face is of course no “goddess,” but the god Helios, a god so important to Rhodes that they commissioned a monumental statue of him, the Colossus of Rhodes, to overlook the city. Here is a nice image of the coin that is being recreated on the bracelet. Note the reverse image, the distinctive Rhodian rose.
Those familiar with ancient iconography can probably tell that the image depicts a youthful god, even without knowing the Rhodian coin. The CAMPVS’s own Dennis, who doesn’t have the same training in numismatics as I, guessed that the coin might depict Apollo, but hadn’t even considered a goddess. If only the people that write these descriptions of coins had some sort of classical training, or consulted someone who does, when their pieces draw on ancient iconographical traditions, then perhaps this sort of error wouldn’t keep occuring.
I have this button in my sewing box: http://www.joggles.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=21057&osCsid=83ecd289aa79fee2a013c7fc7e307972 It was described as Caesar on the card; it isn’t just this seller.
Lydia, thank you for that excellent example of bad classics! It is shocking that the Athenian stater is being passed off as a coin depicting Julius Caesar! The Athenian stater is often described as the [American] dollar of the Classical period, in that it was accepted in city-states all around the Mediterranean, despite that most had their own coinage. It is even funnier to think of this being described as a coin of Caesar considering that glaring “archaic eye,” which dates it to several centuries before the Roman was born!
I do like to picture him envying the flowing hair on the stater as well.