| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 239 Price realized: 121 CHF (Approx. 138 USD / 128 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: JUDAEA, LEGIONARY COUNTERMARKS. Legio X Fretensis. Sebaste or Aelia Capitolina, circa 132-135. AE (Bronze, 23 mm, 10.31 g). Laureate head of Hadrian to right; two countermarks: L•X•F above boar standing right above dolphin swimming right; all within rectangular incuse; and galley to right within rectangular incuse. Rev. Veiled figure ploughing right with two oxen; behind, vexillum. Meshorer 2. RPC III 3964. Sofaer 2-4. Countermarks: Howgego 291 and 410. Host coin fair, countermarks fine. From the James Knox Collection of Biblical related coins, privately acquired from Edgar Owen in December 1998. The Legio X Fretensis was the backbone of the Roman forces that crushed the First Jewish War in 66–70. Under the command of Marcus Ulpius Traianus, father of the future Emperor Trajan, the legion conquered Tarichaia and Gamala and destroyed the community at Qumran, where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls most likely came from. Stationed on the Mount of Olives, Legio X also played a crucial role in the capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE, and in the subsequent crushing of the last Jewish resistance at the Herodium in 71 and at Masada in 73 CE. Starting price: 50 CHF |  |
Match 1:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 238 Price realized: 1,300 CHF (Approx. 1,478 USD / 1,372 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: JUDAEA, LEGIONARY COUNTERMARKS. Legio X Fretensis. Sebaste or Aelia Capitolina, circa 81/2-132/5. AE (Bronze, 23 mm, 12.93 g). Laureate head of Doros (?) to right; two countermarks: laureate male head to right within oval incuse and L X F within rectangular incuse. Rev. Blank except for two countermarks: L•X•F above boar standing right above dolphin swimming right; all within rectangular incuse; and galley to right within rectangular incuse. Howgego 117, 733, 291 and 410. Rare and with unusually clear countermarks. Host coin fine, countermarks very fine. From the James Knox Collection of Biblical related coins, formed since summer 1991. The Legio X Fretensis was the backbone of the Roman forces that crushed the First Jewish War in 66–70. Under the command of Marcus Ulpius Traianus, father of the future Emperor Trajan, the legion conquered Tarichaia and Gamala and destroyed the community at Qumran, where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls most likely came from. Stationed on the Mount of Olives, Legio X also played a crucial role in the capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE, and in the subsequent crushing of the last Jewish resistance at the Herodium in 71 and at Masada in 73 CE. Starting price: 100 CHF |  |
Match 2:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII Online Sessions | Auction date: 17 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 5504 Price realized: 300 USD (Approx. 276 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: JUDAEA, Herodians. Agrippa II, with Claudius. 37-43 CE. Æ (26mm, 16.02 g, 12h). Caesarea Maritima mint. Dated RY 7 of Agrippa I (42/3 CE). Laureate head of Claudius right; c/m: laureate head left within incuse circle / Two figures (Claudius and Agrippa?) standing facing one another, each holding patera, within distyle temple; between, torso of figure holding uncertain object above victimarius kneeling left, restraining offering; L Z (date) in pediment. Burnett, Coinage 10; Meshorer 121; RPC I 4983. For c/m: Howgego 156. Red-brown surfaces, smoothed and tooled, spots of green verdigris. Coin, Good Fine; c/m, Fair. Rare. Agrippa I had a close relationship with both Gaius (Caligula) and Claudius, in part helping to secure the rule of the latter in the uncertain days following his unexpected rise to the purple by counseling the understandably shaken Claudius and entreating the Senate to support him. Indeed, his relationship with Claudius was sufficiently close that Josephus (Ant. xix. 5.1) records that among the new emperor's first acts was the publication of an edict guaranteeing Agrippa's kingdom (with the title "great king") and granting the territory of Chalcis to Agrippa's elder brother Herod. Burnett believed the scene on the reverse represented the consecration of this treaty in Rome, a treaty which is specifically mentioned by Josephus (He also made a league with this Agrippa, confirmed by oaths, in the middle of the Forum in the city of Rome. [Jospehus, Ant. xix.5.1]). Although Suetonius (Suetonius, Claud. 25.5) also places the rites of the treaty (or fetial ceremony), which included the sacrifice of a pig, in the Roman Forum, Burnett argued that they instead took place at the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. Following Burnett's interesting argument, this rare Judaean bronze not only represents a religious ceremony before the holiest temple of Rome, but accurately depicts a victimarius (sacrificial assistant) about to kill a pig. Estimate: 200 USD |  |
Match 3:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 2779 Price realized: 440 CHF (Approx. 500 USD / 465 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: LEGIONARY COUNTERMARKS. Legio XVI Flavia Firma, late 1st to early 2nd century AD. AE (Bronze, 16 mm, 4.20 g). Blank. Rev. Blank except, for legionary countermark: XVI in rectangular punch. Howgego -. Apparently unpublished. Host coin fine, countermarks very fine. This countermark was applied to the completely worn host coin by the Legio XVI Flavia Firma, stationed at Satala since the 70s and at Samosata since 117, respectively. Such countermarks are well known from the Legio X Fretensis, which likely applied them in Sebaste or Aelia Capitolina in the late 1st and early 2nd century, up until the Bar Kochba Revolt in 132-135. We do not know for sure when the Legio XVI applied its countermark to our coin, but since a detachment of this Legion was also involved in the crushing of the Bar Kochba Revolt, a connection to this hard-fought campaign is certainly possible. Starting price: 50 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 29 | Auction date: 24 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 866 Price realized: 260 CHF (Approx. 295 USD / 273 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: PISIDIA. Selge. Circa 400-325 BC. Stater (Silver, 23 mm, 10.91 g, 12 h). Two nude wrestlers, standing and grappling with each other. Rev. [ΣΤΛΕΓΕΙΥΣ] (or similar) Slinger standing right; to right, astralagos; all within dotted square border within incuse square; five countermarks: lion or panther leaping left, bull(?) standing right, lion crouching right, uncertain, and man-headed bull with Araaic legend 'Ba'al' above, all but the third countermark within rectangular incuses, the third in a circular incuse. SNG Paris 1927. Areas of weakness from countermarking and with a small test cut on the reverse, otherwise, very fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. Starting price: 50 CHF |  |
Match 5:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 29 | Auction date: 24 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 771 Price realized: 190 CHF (Approx. 216 USD / 199 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: PAMPHYLIA. Aspendos. Circa 400-380 BC. Stater (Silver, 23 mm, 10.90 g, 8 h). Two nude wrestlers, standing facing and grappling with each other. Rev. EΣT[F]EΔIIYΣ Slinger standing right, about to shoot from his sling; to right, triskeles running left; all within dotted square border; six countermarks: boar charging right, inverted crescent above, hound at bay to left, inverted crescent above, eagle(?) standing right, janiform head, goat standing right, and triskeles, the animal types in rectangular incuses, the others in circular incuses. SNG Paris 54-6. Tekin Series 3. The obverse significantly flattened due to the countermarks on the reverse, otherwise, very fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. Starting price: 25 CHF |  |
