| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 29 | Auction date: 24 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 9 Price realized: 420 CHF (Approx. 477 USD / 441 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: NORTHWEST GAUL. Senones. 2nd-early 1st century BC. Stater (Gold, 13 mm, 7.00 g), 'Gallo-Belgic Bullet' or 'Globular Cross' type. Convex surface with cross in center. Rev. Plain convex surface. DT 2537. Flesche 158. SLM 704-709. Good fine. Starting price: 75 CHF |  |
Match 1:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 29 | Auction date: 24 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 11 Price realized: 505 CHF (Approx. 573 USD / 530 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: NORTHEAST GAUL. Ambiani. Circa 60-30 BC. Stater (Gold, 20 mm, 6.05 g), 'statère uniface' type. Irregular blank convex surface. Rev. Celticized horse galloping to right, horseman transformed into fibula-like figure; before, eye-shaped ornament; below horse, pellet; in exergue, ornamented ground line formed out of crescents and pellets. DT 239. LT 8710. Some scratches and scuffs on the obverse, otherwise, very fine. Starting price: 75 CHF |  |
Match 2:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Auction 15 | Auction date: 1 June 2024 |
| Lot number: 93 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | |
| Lot description: IONIA. Uncertain. Circa 650-600 BC. Stater (Electrum, 20 mm, 13.99 g), Lydo-Milesian standard. Curved forepart of a ram set to left on a striated convex surface. Rev. Central rectangular incuse punch, flanked by a slightly smaller rectangular punch on the left, intersected by a single line, and a small incuse square on the right, intersected by two cross-shaped lines. BMC -. BMFA -. Linzalone -. Pozzi 2367 (same die and punches). SNG Kayhan -. SNG von Aulock -. Traité -. Weidauer -. Of the highest rarity and the finest known example. Well centered and with one of the earliest figural types in numismatic history, an issue of tremendous numismatic and historical interest. Very fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. The invention of coinage occurred in the 7th century BC in western Asia Minor. We know that the Lydian Kingdom played a significant role in this, not only because later Greek authors like Herodotus report it, but crucially because the epochal innovation of minting precious metal pieces according to a standardized and guaranteed weight standard is only conceivable against the backdrop of the militarily and economically dominant power of Asia Minor, namely the Lydian realm of the Mermnads. What we do not know is exactly by whom the first coins were minted - conceivable issuers include the Lydian kings themselves as well as various local elites such as tyrants or oligarchically organized Greek cities operating under Lydian suzerainty. The dating of the invention of coinage is also disputed, but it is now believed that the earliest coins were minted around 650-625 BC. Iconographically, the transition from blank to pictorially designed obverse dies likely occurred quite early. The boundaries between these are fluid, and the development did not occur in a strict chronological sequence. Additionally, early coin dies were sometimes used until completely worn out, so that pictorial motifs became unrecognizable over time (and the latter coins are then incorrectly assessed as earlier in chronological terms). This issue is evident not least in the highly exciting series of earliest electrum coins that we are pleased to offer in this catalog (Lots 90-105), where one can observe the increasing die wear very well. The present, extremely rare stater depicts on the obverse a schematic profile view of a ram's forepart on a striated convex surface. Whether this represents the coat of arms of a ruler, a deity, or a political community such as Klazomenai remains unclear, yet it undoubtedly is one of the earliest, securely identifiable pictorial representations on coins altogether, rendering it of the utmost historical, numismatic, and iconographic significance. Estimate: 25000 CHF |  |
Match 3:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 29 | Auction date: 24 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 8 Price realized: 550 CHF (Approx. 624 USD / 577 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: NORTHWEST GAUL. Aulerci Eburovices. 2nd to early 1st century BC. Hemistater (Gold, 19 mm, 2.89 g, 1 h), 'au sanglier' type. Celticized male head to left, with a boar standing left at his neck. Rev. Devolved charioteer driving cart to right; below, boar standing right with pellet below; to right, pellet-in-annulet. DT 2401. LT -. Lightly toned. Very fine. Ex iNumis 48, 3 March 2020, 74. Starting price: 100 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 404 Price realized: 180 CHF (Approx. 205 USD / 190 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: SOUTHERN GAUL. Sotiates. 2nd-1st centuries BC. Drachm (Silver, 13 mm, 2.94 g). Celticized head to left. Rev. Long cross; in inner upper left quarter, pellet in annulet and pellet; in upper right quarter, pellet in annulet; in lower left quarter, pellet in crescent; in lower right quarter, crescent. DT 3015. Flesche 153. SLM -. Nicely toned. Two cuts and some deposits on the reverse, otherwise, good very fine. From the Lucien Birkler Collection. Starting price: 25 CHF |  |
Match 5:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 5576 Price realized: 460 CHF (Approx. 523 USD / 486 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Israel, second half of the 570s. Argyros (Gilt Billon, 15 mm, 0.83 g, 12 h), anonymous type. ነገሠ✠አከሰመ ('ngs 'aksm = 'King of Axum' in Ge'ez) Draped bust of Israel facing, wearing tiara inlaid in gold, circular earrings and pearl necklace. Rev. ✠ነገሠዘየዐበየለመደኀነ ('ngszyʽbylmdhn' = 'The king who exalts the Savior' in Ge'ez) Cross in outline with central square inlaid in gold within distyle arch. Hahn, Aksumite, 68. Hahn & Keck , MAKS, 78. Munro-Hay, AC, type 125. Very rare. Somewhat rough, otherwise, good fine. From the Dr. Stephan Coffman Collection. After the reign of Ella Gabaz/Wazen Agad, the exact succession of the Axumite kings becomes increasingly uncertain, though Hahn & Keck in MAKS prefer the order Israel-Gersem-Joel-Hethasas/Hataza, based on a series of anonymous argyroi such as this one closely copying those of Ella Gabaz/Wazen Agad, which carry the legend 'ngs ʼksm', or 'King of Axum', a title also used on the chrysoi of Israel (and which had fallen into disuse on the coinage for a while after the reign of Mhdys in the middle of the 5th century). The 'King of Axum' title was likewise employed on the gold coinage of Joel, but this king struck argyroi under his own name and of a different type, implying Israel was closer to Ella Gabaz/Wazeb Agad than Joel was. While we follow Hahn & Keck's order here, it is not unlikely that future evidence will further refine the chronology of the later coin-producing kings. It is worth noting that the king's name, Israel, was the name given to the patriarch Jacob after wrestling with an angel (Genesis 32:24-32), from which the Israelites derived their name.The reverse scene may, together with the legend, refer to the gift of a piece of the True Cross by the Byzantines (otherwise also attested as a diplomatic gift), which would certainly have received a fitting shrine in Axum. Starting price: 75 CHF |  |
