Odysseus and his faithful dog Argos

Republican denarius serratus minted in 82 BC by the moneyer Gaius Mamilius Limetanus. The silver coin has a depiction of passages in Homer's Odyssey; the reunion of Odysseus with his faithful dog Argos. The obverse shows the draped bust of Mercury, wearing a winged petasos hat and carrying the caduceus.

Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, returns home after twenty years away from Ithaca fighting the Trojan Wars, and is recognised by his aged but ever-faithful dog Argos. Summoning the last of his strength, Argos wags his tail at the sight of his master – the only one to recognise his true identity. The coin is an example of the Republican denarius "serratus" coins with a notched, sawtooth design around the edge of their flans. The "serrati" were intended as an anti-counterfeiting measure, showing the pure silver interior.

Gold of the 12 Caesars

Suetonius' De vita Caesarum, today known as The Twelve Caesars, was composed in the early second century A.D. by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, who focused on the first 12 rulers of Rome. Known as the “Julio-Claudian and Flavian” emperors, they ruled the empire from 49 BCE to 96 CE. Always the most sought after and among the most valuable of the Twelve Gold Caesars is that of Julius Caesar. Owning an example, in any condition, is an accomplishment.

Aureus struck at a military mint, c.43 B.C. bears the portraits of Julius Caesar and Octavian (Augustus). Julius Caesar AV Aureus. Rome, 45 BC. Draped bust of Victory to right. 7.98g, NGC graded AU★ 5/5 - 5/5 among the finest known examples. 36,000 GBP in 2022.

Aureus of Augustus struck at Lugdunum, c.15–12 B.C. Gold Aureus of Augustus struck around 27 to 18 BC. There are 22 surviving examples of heifer reverse aureus, of which 15 are in museums. The coin made 480,000 Euros in 2019 making it one of the world’s most expensive Roman coins.

Tiberius (A.D. 14–37) struck at Lugdunum. Caligula (A.D. 37–41) Aureus struck at Rome, A.D. 37–38. Caligula's portrait appears with his deceased mother, Agrippina Senior.

Claudius (A.D. 41–54) Aureus struck at Rome, A.D. 46–47. Nero (A.D. 54–68) Aureus struck at Rome, A.D. 62–63.

Galba (A.D. 68–69) Aureus struck at Rome. Otho (A.D. 69) Aureus struck at Rome.

Vitellius (A.D. 69) Aureus struck at Rome. Vespasian (A.D. 69–79) Aureus struck at Rome.

Titus (A.D. 79–81) Aureus struck at Rome, A.D. 75. This coin was struck while Titus was Caesar under his father. Domitian (A.D. 81–96) Aureus struck at Rome, A.D. 76.

The 12 Caesars in silver denarii are much more attainable. Once obtained, collectors usually try to upgrade each coin to the best available. Imperial denarii will be the most expensive, provincial issues will cost less.

Top Macedonian artifacts

The Golden Larnax

A larnax is a small closed coffin, or "ash-chest" used for human remains. A 4th century BC example found at Vergina in Macedonia is made of solid gold. The tomb where it was found belonged to King Philip II of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great.

The cremated bones of Alexander IV, the posthumous son of Alexander the Great who was murdered, along with his mother, Roxane, by Alexander's former general Cassander in 311/310 B.C. The ashes had been placed in a silver hydria, crowned by a golden wreath. They were found in 1978 at Vergina.

The Derveni Krater is a volute krater, found in 1962 in a tomb at Derveni, not far from Thessaloniki. Weighing 40 kg, it is made of an alloy of bronze and tin. It is dated to the late 4th century BC. Large metalwork vessels are rare survivors and the Derveni Krater is the finest known.

Alexander the Great bust. Due to its original inscription, the figure can be definitely identified as Alexander the Great. The work is a copy of a work from 330 BC attributed to Lysippos.Philippeioi, later called Alexanders were the gold coins used in Macedonia. First issued at some point between 355 and 347 BCE, the coins featured a portrait of Apollo, and on the reverse, an illustration of a biga, a Greek chariot. They had the value of one gold stater each.

The Alexander Mosaic, 100 BC, is a Roman floor mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii. It depicts a battle between Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia.

The mosaic is believed to be a copy of an early 3rd-century BC Hellenistic painting.

The Zodiac drachm

Zodiac drachm with Kronos (Saturn) in Capricorn struck in Alexandria in the 8th year of Antoninus Pius, 144–145 AD. This period is remembered as a time of uninterrupted peace and stability within the Pax Romana. Coins may celebrate the publication of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos (astrology manual) in the city in that year. Currently 1600 CHF.

The finest known Zodiac wheel type $43,200 in 2011.

The Zodiac Drachm is highly sought after. Struck to celebrate the Great Sothic Cycle, the coins feature 16 variations pairing the 12 zodiac signs with Greco-Roman deities and planetary symbols. The Great Sothic Cycle refers to the flooding of the Nile River and the beginning of a new eon, marked by the appearance of the phoenix, a mythological bird which was reborn every 500 to 1000 years out of its own ashes. The ultimate project for collectors, coins often feature zodiac constellations alongside portraits of deities, like a centaur drawing a bow (Jupiter in Sagittarius) or the Dioscuri twins (Gemini).

The set comprised one design specific to each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac plus four variant versions of a complete Zodiac wheel incorporating all the signs of the Zodiac in their correct order.

Ancient Mysteries

Tarim Mummies. During an excavation beneath the Tarim Basin in western China, archaeologists found more than 100 mummified corpses that dated back 2,000 years. Victor Mair was stupefied when he found blonde-haired and long-nosed Tarim mummies after they were dug up and put on display. In 1993 Mair returned to collect DNA samples from the mummies. Test results validated his hunch that the bodies were of European genetic stock. While ancient Chinese texts describe groups of far-East dwelling Caucasian people, there is no mention of how or why they ended up there.

The Carnac Stones. With over 3,000 standing stones, Carnac (in Brittany) is the largest megalithic site in the world. There are stone circles, rows of stones aligned perfectly, and even mausoleums with roofs made of large stones. Stones may have been periodically placed over thousands of years, but the beginning of the stone placements is around 4,000 BC.

Minoan Palace Ruins at Knossos

Fall of the Minoans. The Minoans were an Aegean Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from about 2600 to 1400 BC. The Minoan eruption on the island of Thera (present-day Santorini) was among the largest volcanic explosions in history. The eruption is believed to have severely affected the Minoan culture. Evidence found on Crete indicate that a massive tsunami, generated by the Theran eruption, devastated the coastal areas of Crete and destroyed many Minoan settlements.

Bog Bodies. A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are widespread. Bog bodies have retained their skin and internal organs due to the unusual conditions of the bog. These conditions include highly acidic water, low temperature, and a lack of oxygen. The overwhelming majority of bog bodies have been found in Northern Europe, particularly Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Helike Delta with the Gulf of Corinth at left.

Lost City of Helike Helike was situated on the northwestern part of the Peloponnesian peninsula. During its heyday, Helike was an important economic, cultural and religious centre. One night during the winter of 373 B.C., the city of Helike was obliterated. The rescue party that came in the following morning found no survivors. No trace of the legendary society existed outside of ancient Greek texts until 1861 when an archaeologist found a bronze coin with the unmistakable head of Poseidon. In 2001, a pair of archaeologists located the ruins of Helike.

Rongorongo. Rongorongo is an indecipherable hieroglyphic script used by the early inhabitants on Easter Island. While no other neighboring oceanic people possessed a written language, Rongorongo appeared mysteriously in the 1700s. The language was lost—along with the best hopes for ever deciphering it—after early European colonizers banned it.

Frozen for 40,000 years, this mammoth calf was discovered in 2007 by reindeer herders in Siberia. The remains of two Ice Age puppies were found perfectly preserved in 2015. Long extinct Siberian Cave Lion Cubs were discovered in 2014. Frozen remains emerge from shrinking ice sheets regularly.