| Roma Numismatics Ltd > Auction XXX | Auction date: 21 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 60 Price realized: 80,000 GBP (Approx. 101,343 USD / 93,306 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sicily, Siculo-Punic AR Tetradrachm. 'People of the Camp' mint (Entella?), circa 320-315 BC. Female head (Artemis-Tanit or Elissa-Dido?) to right, wearing Phrygian tiara / Lion walking to right; palm tree with three date clusters behind, s'mmhnt ('People of the Camp') in Punic in exergue. Jenkins, Punic, series 4, 272 (O85-R226, these dies); De Luynes 1472 (these dies); Rizzo pl. 68, 8 (these dies); Boston MFA 36 (these dies). 17.31g. NGC graded AU★ 5/5 - 5/5 (#6674505-002). Extremely Rare. Ex 'Exceptional Collection' assembled between the early 70's-late 90's, Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 132, 30 May 2022, lot 233 (hammer: CHF 130,000). Carthage, at the head of considerable commercial empire in the western Mediterranean, like Etruria and Phoenicia, did not adopt the Greek practice of coining until the last decade of the 5th century BC when she came into direct contact with the Greek city states of Sicily such as Naxos, Syracuse and Messana, which had started to produce coins of the highest technical quality in the artistic style of the late archaic Greek school in the last quarter of the 6th century BC. The origin of the so-called Siculo-Punic coinage, often of rather crude style mostly imitating contemporary Syracusan tetradrachms produced at Rash Melkarth (= 'Promontory of Herakles', possibly Kephaloidion), Panormos (Ziz, 'the splendid'), Motya (the 'spinning factory') and the 'people of the camp' and 'pay master' military mint (generally considered that of Entella) for the payment of the army including many Italian and Greek mercenaries, is dated to about 410 BC and the Carthaginian military operations in Sicily. Hannibal, grandson of Hamilcar, taking the opportunity presented by the quarrels of the Greek cities in Sicily and of the mutual exhaustion of Athens and Syracuse, invaded western Sicily with a strong military force and defeated the Greeks at Himera in 409. The obverse female figure is wearing an oriental tiara in the form of a Phrygian cap, which in Greek iconography generally denotes personages of oriental origin, including Amazons, Trojans, Phrygians, Persians and the great Anatolian mother goddess Kybele and her youthful lover Attis, as seen on the coinage of Amastris (cf. SNG BM Black Sea 1304). 19th and 20th century numismatists poetically described this head as that of Dido (Virgil) or historically, Elissa (Timaeus), the sister of Pygmalion, king of Tyre, who fled Phoenicia to found Carthage in 814 BC (cf. Pierre Straus in Münzen und Medaillon sale 43, 1970, 33-4). However, a realistically more convincing interpretation is that it is the portrait of a goddess also represented in certain terracotta figurines of the latter 4th century found at the archaeological sites of Selinos and Gela, both within the Punic sphere of influence by this time. These terracottas depict a female in a Phrygian cap, sometimes accompanied by a lion and a palm tree. This goddess has been called Artemis-Astarte by some authorities and Kybele by others, but the only certainty is that she was one of the great Asian nature-deities, who were subject to syncretic amalgamation in the Hellenistic period (cf. P. Orlandini, 'Typologia e cronologia del Materiale archeologico di Gela della nuova fondazione di Timoleonte all'atà di Ierone II,' in Archeologia Classica 9, 1957, pl. 14, 2). The reverse type combines two of her symbolic attributes. The palm tree is an ancient Semitic fertility symbol, recalling the Carthaginian homeland in Phoenicia. The lion is associated with the Asian mother goddess in her aspect as mistress of wild beasts. The lion is also a solar symbol as is the horse, which appears regularly on Punic coinage. The die engraving of both sides of this coin is of exceptional and restrained classical Greek workmanship. The obverse is graced with a portrait of serene divinity, realistic curly hair below a pleated headdress, reminiscent of the finest 5th century sculpture. The reverse is no less of a masterpiece, depicting a majestic lion with a muscular body, protruding veins, luxuriant mane and emphasis on the power of the animal reminiscent of 4th century funerary lions found in the Kerameikos cemetery in Athens. Estimate: 65000 GBP |  |
Match 1:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > Auction XXX | Auction date: 21 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 59 Price realized: 2,400 GBP (Approx. 3,040 USD / 2,799 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sicily, Siculo-Punic AR Tetradrachm. Lilybaion (as 'Cape of Melkart'), circa 330-305 BC. Charioteer, holding kentron and reins, driving galloping quadriga to right, Nike flying above to left to crown charioteer; Punic legend RSMLQRT in exergue / Head of Tanit-Persephone to right, wearing wreath of grain-ears, triple-pendant earring and pearl necklace; three dolphins around. Jenkins, Punic 37 (O14/R28); Jameson 597 (same dies); de Luynes 920 (same dies); HGC 2, 741. 17.56g, 25mm, 1h. Good Very Fine; attractive old cabinet tone. Rare. Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XV, 5 April 2018, lot 47; Ex Hess-Divo AG, Auction 332, 31 May 2017, lot 20. Estimate: 2500 GBP |  |
Match 2:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 114 | Auction date: 23 November 2023 |
| Lot number: 115 Price realized: 360 GBP (Approx. 449 USD / 413 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Kings of Paeonia, Patraos AR Tetradrachm. Uncertain Paeonian mint (Astibus or Damastion?), circa 335-315 BC. Laureate head of Apollo to right / Warrior on horse rearing to right, spearing enemy who defends with shield and spear; ΠΑΤΡΑΟΥ (retrograde) above, bukranion to lower left. Paeonian Hoard 227 (same dies); cf. SNG ANS 1030-1; Roma 86, 146 (same dies). 12.64g, 24mm, 12h. Good Very Fine. The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are obscure, but it is known that it was located immediately north of ancient Macedonia; in the Iliad, the Paeonians are reported as allies of the Trojans. During the Persian invasion of Greece the then-powerful Paeonians were conquered by the armies of Darios I and deported from their homelands to Asia. At some point after the Greco-Persian Wars, the Paeonian princedoms coalesced into a kingdom centred in the central and upper reaches of the Axios and Strymon rivers, corresponding with today's northern part of North Macedonia and western Bulgaria, and joined with the Illyrians in attacking the northern areas of the kingdom of Macedon. Philip II reformed the Macedonian armies and put a stop to both the Illyrian and Paeonian raids, and campaigned deep into Paeonian territory, reducing their kingdom (then ruled by Agis) to a vassal state, which led to a process of gradual Hellenisation including the striking of coins with Greek legends. Later, a Paeonian cavalry contingent, led by Ariston (a member of the Paeonian royal house, possibly brother of Patraos and father of the later king Audoleon - see Heckel, W. Prosopography of Alexander's Empire, 2006), was attached to Alexander the Great's army. At the Battle of Gaugamela the Paeonian cavalry were placed with the sarissophoroi on the right flank, the position of honour, and in 331 BC they routed a large force of Persian cavalry near the Tigris; Ariston personally slew the Persian leader Satropates; he then presented Alexander with the Persian's severed head. He asked Alexander for a gold cup as a reward for his feat, and the king publicly saluted him and drank to his health. Estimate: 400 GBP |  |
Match 3:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > Auction XXX | Auction date: 21 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 61 Price realized: 2,600 GBP (Approx. 3,294 USD / 3,032 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sicily, Siculo-Punic AR Tetradrachm. Entella or Lilybaion (?), circa 300-289 BC. Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress / Head of horse to left; date palm tree behind, 'MMḤNT (in Punic) below. Jenkins, Punic 370 (O115/R293); CNP 270; BAR Issue 5; GPCG Period IV. C. 19 (same obv. die); HGC 2, 293. 16.65g, 25mm, 2h. Extremely Fine. Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XVII, 28 March 2019, lot 351. Estimate: 2000 GBP |  |
Match 4:
| Astarte S.A. > Web Auction 2 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 30 Price realized: 2,000 CHF (Approx. 2,274 USD / 2,111 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: SICILY. Siculo-Punic. Lilybaion or Entella. Circa 320/315-300 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 24.35 mm, 17.05 g) Head of Arethusa to left, wearing wreath of grain leaves, triple-pendant earring and pearl necklace; three dolphins swimming around. Rev. Horse head three-quarters to left, palm tree behind to right with two bunches. 'MM in punic characters below the horse's neck. Jenkins 214 (064'/R186); CNP 265a; HGC 2, 287. Toned, Extremely Fine. From a Swiss collection, formed before 2005. Starting price: 2000 CHF |  |
Match 5:
| Savoca Numismatik GmbH & Co. KG > Online Auction 209 | Silver | Auction date: 28 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 25 Price realized: 550 EUR (Approx. 589 USD) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Sicily. Entella. Siculo-Punic issue circa 407-398 BC. Tetradrachm AR 24 mm, 16,74 g Forepart of horse to right; Nike flying to right above, holding wreath, [lion head to right in left field], grain in right field / Palm tree with two date bunches. Very Fine, darkly toned HGC 2, 259. Starting price: 200 EUR |  |
