| Roma Numismatics Ltd > Auction XXX | Auction date: 21 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 342 Price realized: 1,300 GBP (Approx. 1,647 USD / 1,516 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Agrippa Ӕ "Sestertius" of Gades, Hispania. Struck under Augustus, circa 27-12 BC. Head of Hercules-Melqart to left, wearing lion skin headdress; club over shoulder / M AGRIPPA COS III MVNICIPI PARN, aplustre. RPC I 78 (same dies as illustration); ACIP 3308 (same dies as illustration); Alfaro Asins 3179-80. 37.47g, 37mm, 5h. Very Fine; typical test cut(?) to obv. Extremely Rare; just four specimens cited by RPC Online and a further three found on CoinArchives. Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., E-Sale 39, 26 August 2017, lot 2 (hammer: 1,800 GBP). A. Guadàn contends that the marks located on the obverses of all known examples of this issue, at first glance mere test cuts, may in fact be evidence of 'denominational revaluation'. See p. 18 of 'Las monedas de Gades' (Barcelona, 1963) for further deliberations. Estimate: 500 GBP |  |
Match 1:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > Auction XXX | Auction date: 21 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 187 Price realized: 36,000 GBP (Approx. 45,604 USD / 41,988 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Kimmerian Bosporos, Pantikapaion AV Stater. Circa 325-310 BC. Bearded head of satyr to left, wearing ivy wreath / Π-Α-Ν around griffin standing to left, head facing, holding spear in its mouth, forepaw raised, on grain ear. SNG Stancomb 547 (this coin); MacDonald 63; SNG BM Black Sea 878 (same dies); Gulbenkian 590 (same obv. die); Hunt I, 95 (same obv. die); Kraay-Hirmer 440 (same obverse die); HGC 7, 24 (same dies). 8.58g, 21mm, 12h. Extremely Fine; ex mount, lustrous metal. This coin published in Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Great Britain, Volume XI, The William Stancomb Collection of Coins of the Black Sea Region (Oxford, 2000); Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XXIII, 24 March 2022, lot 207 (hammer: GBP 55,000); Ex William Stancomb Collection; Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XVIII, 29 September 2019, lot 378; Ex Sotheby's (London), 5-6 October 1989, lot 11. Pantikapaion, founded by Milesians in circa 575 BC, was a small hub of trade and crafts until it became the capital of the Kingdom of Bosporos in around 480 BC. The Bosporan Kingdom appears to have coalesced from a defensive league established to counter the threat of Skythian tribes to Greek cities in the area. Pantikapaion seems to have been the obvious choice for a capital due to its favourable geographical features: strategically located on a hill, it also commanded a harbour east of the city which could hold up to 30 ships, thus allowing the city to maintain a naval force. Pantikapaion became both powerful and wealthy under its first dynastic rulers the Archaianaktidai. Dubbed tyrants by Diodorus (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, 12.31.1) probably because of their aggressive policy of expansion, the Greek Geographer Strabo disputed this view and described them instead as 'equitable' (Strabo, Geographica , 7.4.4). The Archaianaktid dynasty was in 438 BC usurped by a Hellenised family of Thracians, the Spartokids, and by the time this issue was struck in c. 325-310 King Pairisades I (344-310) ruled over a Bosporan Kingdom that had grown from a local hegemony to a large Hellenistic kingdom, extending from the Tauroi to the Caucasus. Pairisades continued to expand Bosporan influence, eventually expanding the kingdom more than even his father had in the Bosporan Expansion Wars; he became king of the Sindoi through strategic marriage to his cousin Komosarye, annexed the city Tanais, and subdued many tribes around the Maeotic Swamp. Pantikapaion was the only city in the Bosporan Kingdom to strike its own coinage until c. 450-425 BC, after which time mints can be found in other cities including Gorgippa and Phanagoria. Pantikapaion's coinage was initially primarily silver in the fifth century, but as the city's wealth and power grew, so did its coinage and golden staters such as the present example became a widely recognised product of the mint. The obverse figure, here described as a satyr, is identified by Sear (Greek Coins and their values,1978) as the god Pan, the connection being drawn no doubt from the city's name, although it should be noted that the etymology of Pantikapaion is from a proto-Skythian language meaning 'fish-path' and makes no reference to the god. The griffin on the reverse of this coin is notable as it bears the head of a horned lion rather than the typical eagle head. The reason for this seems little discussed in literature and rarely is the distinction even noted. The prevalence of lions on the Pantikapaian coinage is presumably the reason; the facing head of a lion can be seen on much of the silver coinage of this mint and is assumed to be a symbol of Apollo, specifically the Milesian cult of Apollo at the Delphinion and at Didyma (Zograf, Antichnye Monety, Materialy i Issledovania po Arkheologii SSSR 16, 1951). The Milesian connection to the almost mask-like facing lion makes it likely that the die engravers for these distinctive staters syncretised the lion and griffin for their own purpose of developing a unique type that celebrated the city of Pantikapaion and the primary source of its wealth – the grain upon which the griffin stands. Estimate: 35000 GBP |  |
Match 2:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 552 | Auction date: 13 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 42 Price realized: 325 USD (Approx. 301 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander III 'the Great'. 336-323 BC. AR Tetradrachm (23mm, 16.93 g, 1h). Babylon mint. Struck under Stamenes or Archon, circa 325/4 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; Φ in left field, M below throne. Price 3581a = BM no. 1878,0301.114 (same dies); Waggoner Issue I, dies 10/c; Taylor, Earliest, Group 1.1.2, 26 (A3/P7 – this coin, illustrated); ANS inv. 1944.100.80288 (same dies); ANS inv. 1944.100.80289 (same dies). Lightly toned, some scratches and marks, patches of find patina on obverse. Near VF. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 215 (29 July 2009), lot 71. Estimate: 150 USD |  |
Match 3:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 29 | Auction date: 24 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 469 Price realized: 7,000 CHF (Approx. 7,946 USD / 7,342 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: KINGS OF MACEDON. Alexander III 'the Great', 336-323 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 27 mm, 17.24 g, 6 h), struck under Nikokles. Paphos, circa 325-317. Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress; in tiny letters, hidden within the lion's mane to left, ΝΙΚΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ - ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ Zeus seated left on low throne, holding long scepter in his left hand and, in his right, eagle standing right with closed wings; to left, monogram of ΠΑΦ. Price 3118. Very rare and among the finest known examples of for this historically important issue, with a boldly struck head of Herakles and an exceptionally well readable name of the Cypriote king. Harshly cleaned and with light doubling on the reverse, otherwise, good extremely fine. From an American collection. Nikokles succeeded his father, Timarchos, to the throne of Paphos in 325. His father had been one of the Cypriot kings who assisted Alexander in his siege of Tyre, for which he was allowed to keep his kingdom. After Alexander's death, Ptolemy I gained control of Cyprus, and Nikokles initially supported him in his fight against both Perdikkas and Antigonos I Monophthalmos. However, in 310 Ptolemy abolished all of the Cypriot kingdoms, and Nikokles secretly aligned himself with Antigonos as a result. When Ptolemy discovered the plot, he sent his friends, Argaios and Kallikrates, to Paphos, who surrounded the palace with troops borrowed from the general, Menelaos, and insisted that Nikokles commit suicide. The former king and his brothers hung themselves, after which his wife reportedly killed their unwed daughters, not wishing them to fall into the hands of the Macedonian soldiers. Then, she and her sisters-in-law set the palace alight, all perishing in the flames. This beautifully preserved tetradrachm of Nikokles is highly interesting for the fact that hidden within the lion's mane, in tiny letters, can be found the name 'Nikokles', NIKOKΛEOYΣ. Because it appears on at least seven different dies of significantly varying style, it cannot be the name of the die engraver; thus, it must be the name of King Nikokles himself! One might question why Nikokles hid his name in the lion's mane while on other types his name appears openly (see, for example, the extremely rare Persic standard distaters, where the reverse boldly claims NIKOKΛEOYΣ ΠΑΦΙΟΝ, cf. A.-P. C. Weiss: The Persic Distaters of Nikokles Revisited, in: Studies BCD). Weiss suspects that these Alexandrine tetradrachms with the hidden name were struck during Ptolemy's war against the cities of Kition and Marion, where the Ptolemaic king received assistance from Nikokles, and that the Paphian king wished to minimize his involvement in the eyes of Cyprus' inhabitants. But then why not omit his name entirely, as was the case with almost all other Cypriote tetradrachms issued in Alexander's name? Starting price: 750 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 118 | Auction date: 8 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 938 Price realized: Unsold | |
| Lot description: Augustus Æ "Dupondius" of Gades, Hispania. Circa 27 BC - AD 14. Head of Hercules-Melqart to left, wearing lion skin headdress; club behind / Winged thunderbolt; AVGVSTVS above, DIVI F below. RPC I 93; ACIP 3323a; Vives 76-1. 19.20g, 30mm, 3h. Good Fine. Scarce. Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., E-Live Auction 6, 25 March 2023, lot 44; Ex Jesus Vico S.A., Auction 157, 26 November 2020, lot 160. Estimate: 25 GBP |  |
Match 5:
| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 119 | Auction date: 24 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 1080 Price realized: 5 GBP (Approx. 6 USD / 6 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Augustus Æ "Dupondius" of Gades, Hispania. Circa 27 BC - AD 14. Head of Hercules-Melqart to left, wearing lion skin headdress; club behind / Winged thunderbolt; AVGVSTVS above, DIVI F below. RPC I 93; ACIP 3323a; Vives 76-1. 19.20g, 30mm, 3h. Good Fine. Scarce. Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., E-Live Auction 6, 25 March 2023, lot 44; Ex Jesus Vico S.A., Auction 157, 26 November 2020, lot 160. Estimate: 5 GBP |  |
