Stater of Kyrene

An ancient gold stater from the City of Kyrene, North Africa. Minted under one of Alexander the Great's closest friends and allies, Ophellas while acting as governor under Ptolemy I. Struck 322 - 313 BC. $ 8,000

Zoë and Theodora (1042) - Byzantine rarity

Coins of the joint female reign are among the greatest rarities of Byzantine coins. $223,250

Two elderly daughters of Constantine VIII ruled the Empire jointly for seven and a half weeks. The two women could not have been more different: Often-married Zoë was an power-hungry voluptuary who took innumerable lovers, while Theodora was an austere, scholarly spinster who detested court life. They could not stand one another.

Photos capture Egypt's ancient underworld

Photographer Sandro Vannini is the man who, for the past two decades, has captured the fine details. Vannini began photographing Egypt's ancient underworld in the late 90s.

Cool Coins at Heritage

Seleucid Kingdom. Antiochus XI (94-93 BC), with Philip I Philadelphus. AR tetradrachm. NGC AU 5/5 - 4/5. Uncertain mint 127 in Cilicia, likely Tarsus, ca. late 94 - early 93 BC. Est $12,000 to $ 16,000

Augustus (27 BC-AD 14). AV aureus. NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 4/5. Spain, Colonia Patricia. Very rare and among the finest surviving specimens. $ 25,000 to $ 35,000

Galba (AD 68-69). AV aureus. NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 2/5, brushed. Gaul, Narbo. November AD 68 - January, AD 69. Estimate: $20,000 - $25,000.

North West Company brass Unholed Token 1820 MS61 NGC, Br-925, FT-9A. Brass, unholed and plain edge. Est $50,000 - $60,000 Charles I gold Triple Unite 1642 XF Details (Repaired) NGC, Oxford mint. Est $30,000 - $50,000.

Trafalgar Square lion doubles on sale with rare family of mammoths

A pair of giant bronze lions in the style of those which guard Trafalgar Square could sell for up to £100,000 at auction. The statues, modelled on the originals designed by artist Sir Edwin Landseer which surround Nelson's Column, are due to go under the hammer in Billingshurst, West Sussex. They are almost identical in size to their counterparts but were made in the late 20th century. The four bronze lions at Trafalgar Square were made in 1858.

Also up for sale is a complete family of prehistoric mammoth skeletons. The collection of four Ice Age skeletons includes a one-year-old infant, only the second known complete baby mammoth skeleton in the world. It's unknown how the family died but their remnants were found together during building works near Tomsk, Siberia, in 2002. They probably died at the end of the Pleistocene period, around 12,000 to 16,000 years ago. £250,000

Child sacrifices by the ancient Chimú civilization unearthed in Peru

Archaeologists in Peru have unearthed the remains of at least 12 children believed to have been sacrificed by the ancient Chimú. The team also uncovered a hoard of more than 100 artifacts in the Trujillo region, where 47 tombs have been found. The sacrifice of humans was relatively common in pre-Columbian societies. These new discoveries clarify ancient Chimú practices.

Originating around 900 C.E., the Chimú civilization came to rule much of the coast of Peru before it was eventually defeated by the Incas in the 15th century. The Chimú are known for their exquisite textiles, ceramics and metalwork. The capital city Chan Chan was once home to sophisticated agricultural and water management systems.

Ancient jewellery - Christies

A pair of Etruscan gold ear studs. C. 530-500 BC. $30,000.

Standout pieces from the Antiquities sale at Christie’s New York in 2016.

A Greek gold olive wreath. Late classical period to early hellenistic. $295,000

A Celtic gold torque. C. late 4th century BC. $125,000.

Eight Sarmatian Gold Phalerae circa 1st century B.C. $ 12,000. A phalera was a gold, silver, or bronze sculpted disk worn on the breastplate during parades by Roman soldiers who had been awarded it as a kind of medal. 3 Celtic gold finger rings. Late 4th century. $75,000

Viking gilt silver pendant. 10th century. $14,000

SS Central America: 'Ship of Gold' coins shine

Record-setting attendance, long line-ups and palpable excitement marked the Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamp & Sports Collectible Show as one of the most successful ever. California Gold Marketing Group headlined the Long Beach Expo with their “Ship of Gold” exhibit. The centerpiece of the exhibit was 'Goldhenge,' a stack of $12 million in gold bars. Attendance in 2018 was 43% higher than it was for the same show in 2017.

PCGS, the Official Grading Service of the “Ship of Gold” recovery, prepared 15 PCGS-graded gold coins for display, including a few examples which PCGS has now confirmed are the finest examples known to exist.

See ----->http://psjfactoids.blogspot.ca/2018/01/the-ss-central-america-ship-of-gold.html

Ancient Afghan Treasures on display in China

Cultural relics from Afghanistan, including ancient gold jewelery, have gone on display in Chengdu City, in China’s southwest Sichuan province. The exhibition – The Echo of Civilization – is being held at the Chengdu Museum. a total of 231 precious artefacts from the National Museum of Afghanistan are on display. The exhibited pieces were unearthed at four different sites around the country and reveals the historic course of ancient Afghanistan from Neolithic Age, Greek civilization, grassland civilization through to Kushan civilization.

Tooth belonging to ancient shark stolen in Australia

A tooth that belonged to an ancient giant shark has been stolen from a world heritage site. The three-inch tooth went missing from an undisclosed location in a remote national park in Western Australia. The fossil came from megalodon, a giant predator that died out 2.6m years ago.

Authorities suspect it was deliberately targeted by thieves.

Mistaken Point named Canada’s latest World Heritage Site

580 million years after their seafloor habitat was buried in volcanic ash, some of our earliest ancestors are exposed. Mistaken Point is a 17km stretch of Newfoundland coastline that bears some of the oldest recognizable traces of life on Earth.

It has been chosen as Canada’s latest World Heritage Site.

The most common fossils at Mistaken Point are the "spindles"

Mistaken Point is known as a rich fossil site that spans the early Ediacaran Period, a time when multicellular life was transitioning from microscopic to macroscopic forms. Locals long knew about the “flowers” that are imprinted in the jagged rocks of the point but the site’s scientific value was not recognized until 1967. By 2006 it was widely recognized that Mistaken Point is one of a handful of sites worldwide that reveal what was happening during the Ediacaran, a time when Earth’s oceans were blossoming with biological activity, but long before there were fish, mollusks and crustaceans.

Reconstructed rangeomorph