| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 555 | Auction date: 7 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 350 Price realized: 200 USD (Approx. 187 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: BITHYNIA, Prusa ad Olympum. Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ Diassarion (24mm, 7.51 g, 1h). Laureate head right / Ajax the Great, wearing helmet and balteus, falling on his sword before a rocky outcropping; shield on ground before him. RG 102; SNG von Aulock 873. Brown patina, smoothing, cleaning marks. Near VF. Rare mythological type. Ajax was regarded as the second greatest Greek warrior after Achilles. Following Achilles' death in battle with Paris (who was assisted by Apollo), Ajax and Odrysseus secured the hero's body and armor from the Trojans. A feud erupted as to which of the two deserved Achilles' armor and, after intense competition, the prize was awarded to Odrysseus. Ajax, consumed with anger and disappointment, took his own life by falling on his sword. Estimate: 100 USD |  |
Match 1:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 561 | Auction date: 1 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 421 Price realized: 110 USD (Approx. 103 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: BITHYNIA, Prusa ad Olympum. Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ Diassarion (24mm, 7.70 g, 12h). Laureate head right / Ajax the Great, wearing helmet and balteus, falling on his sword before a rocky outcropping; shield on ground before him. RG 102; SNG von Aulock 873. Brown surfaces, light roughness, short flan crack. Fine. Rare mythological type. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 487 (10 March 2021), lot 323. Ajax was regarded as the second greatest Greek warrior after Achilles. Following Achilles' death in battle with Paris (who was assisted by Apollo), Ajax and Odrysseus secured the hero's body and armor from the Trojans. A feud erupted as to which of the two deserved Achilles' armor and, after intense competition, the prize was awarded to Odrysseus. Ajax, consumed with anger and disappointment, took his own life by falling on his sword. Estimate: 100 USD |  |
Match 2:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Auction 15 | Auction date: 1 June 2024 |
| Lot number: 187 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | |
| Lot description: LYDIA. Sardis. Caracalla, 198-217. Medallion (Bronze, 42 mm, 33.48 g, 11 h), Loukios Kornelios Vettenianos, strategos and asiarch for the fourth time, circa 205-209. AY•KAI•M•AY•AN-TΩNЄINOC• Laureate and cuirassed bust of Caracalla to right, wearing aegis and balteus. Rev. ЄΠΙ ϹΤΡΑ•ΚΟΡ•ΟΥЄΤΤΗΝΙΑΝΟΥ•ΑϹΙΑ•Δ // ϹΑΡΔΙΑΝΩΝ•B• / ΝЄΩΚΟΡΩΝ Septimius Severus, on the right, standing front in military attire, head to left, holding spear in his left hand and sacrificing with his right over lit altar in front of cult statue of the Kore of Sardis, veiled and draped, standing facing, with grain ears on the left and poppy on her right. GRPC -. Imhoof-Blumer, Lydia -. RPC V.2 online (forthcoming) -. SNG Copenhagen -. SNG Leypold -. SNG München -. SNG von Aulock -. Unpublished and unique. A beautiful medallion with a wonderful portrait and an exceptionally detailed aegis. Light roughness and with minor doubling on the reverse, otherwise, very fine. From a Swiss collection, formed before 2005. Next to the balteus, the body belt or sword suspension of the Roman gladius, the wonderfully crafted bust of the emperor on this unpublished medallion is also adorned with an exceptionally detailed Aegis. Caracalla wears Athena's magical goat-skin shield attached to his left shoulder, from its edges twisting serpents emerge, and the enemies of the emperor (and thus of the empire) are additionally repelled by a terrifying Gorgon head ready to petrify them into stone. The medallion was minted under the strategos and asiarch Loukios Kornelios Vettenianos and likely dates to the years 205-209, as the series includes issues of the entire imperial family, namely Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla as Augustus, and Geta as Caesar, but not of Plautilla (202-205). Interestingly, the distinctive curly beard of the emperor on the reverse indicates that this is not Caracalla, but rather his father, Septimius Severus. Estimate: 1500 CHF |  |
Match 3:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Auction 126 | Auction date: 28 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 461 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot | |
| Lot description: CILICIA, Tarsus. Maximinus I. AD 235-238. Æ (36mm, 23.63 g, 1h). Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / The Judgement of Paris: Paris seated left on rock, wearing Phrygian cap and holding apple and pedum, facing Aphrodite, nude, standing right, drawing drapery from shoulders, veiled Hera enthroned right, and Athena standing right, resting shield on ground before her and holding spear. SNG BN 1587 (same dies); RPC VI Online 7109.10 (this coin); SNG Levante –; Cornell 117 (this coin). Earthen red-brown patina, slight roughness. VF. Rare. From the Hesiod Collection. Ex Historical Scholar Collection (Heritage 3101, 25 August 2022), lot 32073; David Simpson Collection (Triton V, 15 January 2002), lot 1755; Classical Numismatic Group XXIV (9 December 1992), lot 497. Before the birth of her second son, Hekaba, wife of King Priam of Troy, dreamed that she had brought forth a flaming firebrand that destroyed the city, and the new-born child was therefore exposed on Mount Ida. Brought up by a shepherd, he was called Paris, and later, by his courage, earned the name Alexander or 'defender of men'. He was beloved by the nymph Oenone, but he deserted her as a result of a tempting suggestion by Aphrodite which led to the Judgement of Paris. When Hermes came to Mount Ida with the three goddesses he called Paris and said to him: "Come here and decide which is the more excellent beauty of face, and to the fairer give this apple's lovely fruit." (Colluthus, The Rape of Helen 130). While Paris reflected, the goddesses, who for the occasion had bathed their immortal bodies, offered him bribes in order to win the apple award of beauty: Athena offered him the command of Phrygia and the destruction of Hellas, or as some say, that he would be bravest of mortals and skilled in every craft. Likewise Hera offered him, besides wealth, the dominion over Asia and Europe. But Aphrodite offered him the hand of Helen, whose beauty was famous worldwide, and this bribe won the apple. Estimate: 2000 USD |  |
Match 4:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Auction 126 | Auction date: 28 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 452 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot | |
| Lot description: CARIA, Stratonicaea. Caracalla, with Geta as Caesar. AD 198-217. Æ (36mm, 26.35 g, 6h). Damnatio Memoriae. Zosimus II, grandson of Posittus, prytanis. Struck under Septimius Severus, circa AD 198-202. [Bareheaded and draped bust of Geta] vis-à-vis laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Caracalla; c/ms: helmeted head of Roma within circular incuse, and ΘEOY within rectangular incuse / Hecate standing facing, head left, wearing calathus, holding patera and torch; at feet left, dog standing left, looking right. SNG von Aulock 2692. For c/ms: Howgego 188; 536. Brown patina, scrape on reverse, small flan crack. Good VF. Portrait of Geta erased, Caracalla's damnatio memoriae of Geta applied after his murder in AD 211. Upon Septimius' passing in AD 211, his sons Caracalla and Geta assumed joint rule of the empire. Their joint rule was a failure, the Imperial Palace was separated into two sections and they threatened to divide the empire between them. During the Festival of Saturnalia, December 211, Caracalla tried unsuccessfully to have his brother assassinated. But a week later, at an arranged meeting in their mother's quarters, Geta was murdered by Caracalla's centurions. Caracalla immediately ordered a damnatio memoriae of his brother's image: statues were removed, paintings were destroyed or, like the Severan Tondo erased, and coins were recalled to have his image carved out. This damnatio was especially apparent on the provincial coinage of Pergamum in Mysia and Stratonicaea in Caria. It is estimated that approximately 95% of the dual bust types at Stratonicea have had the portrait of Geta erased, many of them having a countermark of Roma or Caracalla stamped over his bust. Estimate: 500 USD |  |
Match 5:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 917 Price realized: 1,900 USD (Approx. 1,740 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Constantius II. AD 337-361. Æ Medallion (34.5mm, 28.99 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 337-340. D N FL CONSTANTIVS AVG, laurel-and-rosette diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VICTOR GE NTIVM, Constantius on horseback riding right, bareheaded and wearing military attire, thrusting spear held in right hand at barbarian, to right, kneeling right, head left; fallen barbarian holding shield in right hand beneath emperor's horse; BARBARR. RIC VIII 357 (this coin cited; Ntantalia Series B, Group 10, Type h, 78 (V61/R55 – this coin cited); Gnecchi II, pp. 147–8, 17 (this coin cited). Dark brown-green patina, a few old spots of roughness, smoothing, details enhanced. Good VF. Very rare and possibly unique variety. Ex New York Sale XIV (10 January 2007), lot 453; Dr. H. Longuet Collection (Platt, 17 March 1970), lot 208; Henri Hoffmann Collection. All references cite the same coin from the Henri Hoffmann Collection in 1866. That coin, published in the 1866 Annulaire de la Societe Francaise de Numismatique et Archeologie, has a line drawing on p. 88, pl. II, 16. This coin appears to be the same coin depicted in that line drawing. The areas of weakness, particularly where the beading on the obverse tapers off are quite convincing. Furthermore, the roughness in the far right of the reverse are likewise represented. These dies, recorded in Ntantalia as V61/R55 do not appear elsewhere in her substantial 2001 work, making this coin the only known instance of these dies and die pair. What is additionally noteworthy about this coin, and is mentioned in a note for the RIC entry is that the legend appears to read VICTOR instead of VICTORI. RIC speculates that perhaps the coin's legend is tooled but this is not the case. However, there is some old corrosion in the relevant area which makes determining the distinction difficult. The original Annulaire entry for the coin (which describes it as a "Grand médaillon de bronze" on pp. 93-4 despite the incorrect symbol being used in the plate) highlighted that is was the first coin known with this legend rather than the more commonly found DEBELLATORI GENTIVM BARBARR. For context, in 1866 this type with the medallion reading VICTORI was not yet known. With this background established, this coin appears to be from Hoffmann's collection in 1866, though not appearing in any of the sales of his collection from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. More likely, it was privately sold when Hoffmann was a dealer and remained in private hands until its 1970 sale in Paris. Estimate: 1500 USD |  |
