File talk:Cyrenecoin.jpg

An interesting copyright problem. The coin itself is clearly in the public domain. The photograph, however, might not be. Per Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp., if the photograph merely duplicates the coin without adding any originality the image is public domain. If the act of photographing the coin required originality/creativity, the image may be copyrighted.

From User talk:Kurt Baty, the uploader does not own the rights, but had permission to use the image in a magazine article. --Srleffler 07:07, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Category:Abortion images ?

What has a coin to do with abortion ?-- Xil/talk 17:33, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

See the article on silphium. The image on the coin is of a silphium seed. Silphium was so important to the Cyrenian economy that they put it on their coins. This plant was widely used in ancient cooking and medicine. In particular among its medical uses, it was believed to be an effective contraceptive/abortificant. Though the plant is apparently now extinct, it is plausible that it may have actually worked. Some existing plants that are related to it can trigger miscarriages.--Srleffler 19:53, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Deletion

This image is more important than it may seem. The image shown is a seed or seed pod of a Silphium plant. This is an extinct species; this ancient coin is one of the few surviving images of the seeds of this plant. The shape of the seed is important because it may be the origin of the Heart symbol.--Srleffler (talk) 02:14, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

The problem is that the photo is replaceable: the coin still exists, so it would be possible to take a free photo of it. --Stefan2 (talk) 09:20, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Does the coin still exist? I don't know that. Is it in a private collection or a museum? Does the owner allow photography? (They generally do not.)--Srleffler (talk) 03:44, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

I notice that according to the template text the standard is not that a new image could be taken, but that a new image could be "reasonably found or created". The word reasonably could be important in this case.--Srleffler (talk) 03:48, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

If the coin can't be located, I agree that the photo might not be replaceable, so I have removed the tag. However, since it is an old coin, it is entirely possible that there are old photos of it which are in the public domain because of age. It would be nice to locate such photos. --Stefan2 (talk) 11:29, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

Excavation at the site where this coin was found started in 1969; there won't be any photos in the public domain yet.--Srleffler (talk) 04:13, 8 April 2012 (UTC)