| Dmitry Markov Coins & Medals | M&M Numismatics Ltd > Auction 60 | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 26 Price realized: 800 USD (Approx. 733 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sicily, Alontion. Æ (5.83 g), ca. 210-180 BC Male head (or possibly the head of Roma) to left, wearing Phrygian helmet. Reverse: ΑΛΟΝΤΙΝΩΝ, Man-headed bull standing left, spouting water; in exergue, crab. CNS I 2. HGC 2, 214. Very Rare, especially in this condition. Sharply struck and quite lovely. Extremely Fine. A native Sikel city, Alontion claimed a Greek origin, assigning the city's foundation to Patron of Akarnania, the man who guided Aeneas and the Trojans on their tour of Sicily. The head on the obverse, sporting a Phrygian helmet, is usually identified as male, although it may instead be the Roman goddess Roma, and copied from Roman didrachms of the mid third century. If so, then this coin should probably be seen as an issue struck late in the First Punic War (264-241 BC) or shortly thereafter. Estimate: 1000 USD |  |
Match 1:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 114 | Auction date: 23 November 2023 |
| Lot number: 1339 Price realized: 160 GBP (Approx. 199 USD / 183 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: City Commemorative BI Nummus. Struck under Constantine I. Arelate, AD 332. VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma to left, wearing imperial mantle / She-wolf standing to left, head to right, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus; S and three-armed palm between two stars above, SCONST in exergue. RIC VII 368 var. (no S). 2.46g, 17mm, 12h. Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare. The repetition of S twice (one in the mintmark) on the reverse, unpublished and possibly unique, suggests an apparently occasional innovation by Arelate mint, or an engraver's error. Estimate: 50 GBP |  |
Match 2:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Auction 15 | Auction date: 1 June 2024 |
| Lot number: 80 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | |
| Lot description: KINGS OF PAPHLAGONIA. Amastris, circa 300-285 BC. Stater (Silver, 22 mm, 9.58 g, 1 h). Head of Mên to right, wearing Phrygian cap adorned with a laurel wreath. Rev. ΑΜΑΣΤΡΙΟΣ - ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ Aphrodite seated left on throne, holding Nike, who crowns her with wreath, in her right hand and lotus-tipped scepter in her left. F. De Callataÿ: Le premier monnayage de la cité d'Amastris, in: SNR 83 (2004), p. 67 and pl. 9, 16a (this coin, D5/R5). HGC 7, 353. SNG Delepierre 2477. SNG von Aulock 6799. Beautifully toned and struck in high relief, a lovely example of this earliest independent coinage of a female ruler in history. Slightly porous and with minor marks, otherwise, good very fine. Ex Giessener Münzhandlung 45, 4 April 1989, 113. As the niece of the last Achaemenid king and wife of two Diadochi and a tyrant, the Persian princess Amastris witnessed the tremendous upheavals of early Hellenism. Born around 340 BC as the daughter of Oxyathres, a brother of Darius III (336-330 BC), she was a direct descendant of Darius II (423-404 BC) and thus came from the highest Persian nobility. Amastris, along with the entire family of Darius III, fell into Macedonian captivity after the Battle of Issus in 333 BC and was married to the distinguished general Krateros by Alexander in the mass wedding at Susa in 324 BC. Like all high-ranking officers of Alexander except Seleukos, Krateros divorced his Persian wife after the king's death, who then married Dionysios, the tyrant of Herakleia Pontika. After her husband's death in 305 BC, she served as queen regent for her eldest son Klearchos under the suzerainty of Antigonos Monophthalmos. In 302 BC, Amastris married the Diadoch Lysimachos, who shortly thereafter defeated Antigonos in alliance with Seleukos I, only to leave his new wife immediately and marry Arsinoe II, the daughter of Ptolemy I. Shortly thereafter, the now twice-abandoned queen founded a new city by synoecism of the towns Sesamos, Kytoros, Kromna, and Tios, which she named after herself - an extraordinary act, as it represents the only known case in antiquity where a queen independently founded and named a city after herself. Undoubtedly, Amastris positioned herself within the early Hellenistic tradition of city foundations, evidently considering herself an equal queen to her male rivals. Although Greek aristocratic women occasionally exerted great political power in the Hellenistic era, Amastris' Persian heritage is likely evident here, as women in Achaemenid society generally held a more independent and influential role than in Greek society. Amastris' position in Herakleia Pontika was so formidable that she eventually became the first woman in history to also mint coins in her own name, of which we have here a particularly well-preserved example. Remarkably, nothing on these coins indicates her role as regent for her son; on the contrary, she appears unambiguously as a βασίλισσα, an independent queen. Therefore, through the figure of the former Persian princess Amastris, we witness not only early Hellenistic history but also an important moment in global cultural history, as the earliest independent coinage by a female ruler holds evident significance. However, the reign of the queen did not end well, for when she died in 285, her sons Klearchos and Oxyathres were suspected of murder by Lysimachus and executed. Nevertheless, her legacy lives on both in her coins and in the founding of her city, which still bears the name Amasra to this day. Estimate: 3500 CHF |  |
Match 3:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 2897 Price realized: 460 CHF (Approx. 523 USD / 486 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: A. Manlius Q.f. Sergianus, 118-107 BC. Denarius (Silver, 21 mm, 3.88 g, 10 h). ROMA SER Head of Roma to right, wearing helmet with plumes and pendant earring. Rev. [A•(MANL)I•Q•F Sol standing in a facing quadriga over waves, head to right; to upper left, X above star; to upper right, crescent above star. Babelon (Manlia) 1. Crawford 309/1. RBW 1152. Sydenham 543. Rare. An unusually well preserved and beautifully toned example of this lovely issue. Old scratch under the tone on the obverse, otherwise, very fine. From an old Swiss collection, formed in the 19th century. The reverse depicts Sol in his quadriga that rides through the heavens, daily providing warmth and light, and represents the East, where the moneyer's ancestor, one Cn. Manlius Vulso, defeated the Galatians in what was little more than a brutal plundering expedition in 189-188 BC. Starting price: 200 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Spink > Auction 24121 | Auction date: 9 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 254 Price realized: 120 GBP (Approx. 152 USD / 140 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: a Selection of Greek and Roman Bronze (10): Apulia, Arpi, AE, c.275-250BC, bull charging right, POILAI below, rev. horse galloping right, ARPA above, NOI below, E in exergue, 12h, 7.83g, (HN Italy 645; SNG ANS 644; SNG Copenhagen -; HGC 1, 535) toned, residually lustrous, details flattened, verdigris and deposits, otherwise fine; Neapolis, Campania, AE, c.250-225BC, Laureate head of Apollo left, rev. Victory crowning man-headed bull right, control below, 12h, 7.17g, (HN Italy, 595) light patina, porosity, flattened but residually lustrous and good to fine; Lucania, Heraclaea, AE, c.276-250, head of Athena right, wearing Corinthian helmet, rev. Heracles standing left with philale, club and cornucopiae, 12h, 4.64g, (Van Keuren, 168; HN Italy, 1448b) darkly toned but flattened, fine; Sicily, Syracuse, Time of Hieron II (285-246BC) Imitative issue in the types of Ptolemy II Philadelphos of Egypt, AE Obol, laureate head of Zeus right, rev. eagle standing left on thunderbolt with wings spread, Galatian shield to left, 5h, 17.18g, (CPE, B289; Svoronos, 610; Wolf & Lorber, 'Alexandrian' Style, P57–71; SNG Copenhagen, 114) flattened but lustrous, good; Sicily, Syracuse, Hieron II, (275-215BC) AE Hemilitron, c.230-213BC, diademed head left, rev. horseman wearing helmet and cloak charging right with spear, IERON in exergue, 11h, 16.76g, (CNS II S, 381 Ser., 195, Rl22; HGC 2, 1548) toned and lustrous, some details flattened but otherwise very fine; Sicily, Syracuse, Hieron II, (275-215BC) AE Tetras, Diademed head of Poseidon left, rev. [IER]ONOS ornamental trident flanked by dolphins, datemark LY to lower right, 11h, 6.90g, (CNS, 197 R1 17; BAR, Issue 60; HGC 2, 1550) toned and lustrous, slightly off-centre but well-struck, flattened at high points but otherwise very fine; Sicilian Bronze, (3): Syracuse, (2), AE Hemidrachm, c.306-289BC, head of Zeus right, rev. thunderbolt, barley grain to right, 3h, 13.87g,(CNS, 71; SNG ANS, 472-6; HGC 2, 1440) light patina, flattened but nicely-struck, fine; Agathokles, (317-289BC), AE, c.304-289BC, head of Artemis right, rev. [AG]ATHOKLES/[BA]SILEOS alongside winged thunderbolt, 12h, 8.41g, (CNS, 138; HGC 2, 1537) toned, lustrous, scratched but otherwise good fine; Akragas, under Roman rule, AE, after 210BC, head of Persephone right, rev. Asklepios standing facing, head left, AKRAGAN, 12h, 7.16g, (SNG Copenhagen, 123; SNG München, 205; SNG ANS, 1143) green toning, deposits, porous, good to fine (3); Roman Republic, possibly T. Carisius Moneyer, c.46BC, AE, winged and draped bust of Victory, right, rev. biga of horses right, 12h, 3.08g, (cf. Crawford, 464/4) flattened but well-struck, good fine; xi) Kingdom of Macedon, Philip II (359-336BC), AR 1/5 Tetradrachm, struck posthumously under Philip III, c.320BC, Amphipolis mint, laureate head of Apollo right, rev. ILIGO, boy riding horse, right, pellet below, 9h, 2.55g, (SNG ANS, 725-730), pierced at eleven o'clock, characterful strike, slightly flattened but some nice toning on reverse, good fine to very fine example of a rare denomination; xii) Caria, Rhodos, AR Hemidrachm, 205-195BC, head of Helios facing slightly left, rev. AINITOR, rose with bud, caduceus on left, P-O in fields to left and right, 1h, 1.84g, (Ashton, 282), some flattening but residually lustrous, characterful and rare, fine (12). Sold as described, no returns.. Estimate: £200 - £300 |  |
Match 5:
| Heritage World Coin Auctions > CSNS Signature Sale 3115 | Auction date: 8 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 31004 Price realized: To Be Posted | |
| Lot description: Ancients SICILY. Syracuse. Dionysius I (405-367 BC). AV 100 litrai or octobol (14mm, 5.79 gm, 2h). NGC Choice XF 2/5 - 4/5, flan flaw. Attic standard. Ca. 400-370 BC. ΣYPAKOΣION, head of Arethusa left, hair bound in saccos decorated with two eight-pointed stars, wearing sphendone, triple-pendant earring, and beaded necklace; eight-pointed star behind / Heracles kneeling right, both arms wrapped around neck of the Nemean lion crouching left, clawing at his leg. SNG ANS 338 (same obv. die). du Chastel 121 (same dies). HGC 2, 1275. This piece boasts a warm-toned flan complemented by bright, flashy surfaces, creating a lovely visual harmony. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 134 (21 November 2022), lot 197; Auction World, Auction 28 (16 April 2022), lot 2006. The reverse image of Heracles strangling the Nemean Lion is a work of great power and pathos, and probably is intended to reflect the ongoing struggle between Syracuse (Heracles) and Carthage (lion) for control of Sicily. Dionysius I had just won a great victory over Carthage in 396 BC, providing the impetus for this attractive series of gold pieces. The engraver has captured the moment of maximum tension, with Heracles tightening his grip around the lion's neck and mane while it claws desperately against his legs for escape. https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-sicily-syracuse-dionysius-i-405-367-bc-av-100-litrai-or-octobol-14mm-579-gm-2h-ngc-choice-xf-2-5/a/3115-31004.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3115-05082024 HID02906262019 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved Estimate: 15000-18000 USD |  |
