| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 30 | Auction date: 13 July 2024 |
| Lot number: 943 Price realized: 130 CHF (Approx. 145 USD / 133 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: KINGS OF ARMENIA. Tigranes VI, second reign, 66/7. Tetrachalkon (Bronze, 19 mm, 5.06 g, 12 h), Arados or an uncertain coastal mint, CY 325 = 66/7. Jugate heads of Tigranes VI, diademed and wearing five-pointed tiara decorated with three eagles, and his wife, wearing Phrygian cap, to right. Rev. [BAΣIΛEΩΣ TIΓP]ANOY MEΓAΛOY Tyche of Arados seated left on rudder, extending her right hand and holding cornucopiae in her left; to inner right, TEV. Kovacs 200.1. Very rare. The obverse struck slightly off center, otherwise, fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. Tigranes VI hailed from a distinguished lineage, with his grandfather none other than Herod the Great, and his paternal grandmother being Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus of Cappadocia. Additionally, his uncle was Tigranes V, who reigned as king of Armenia during the time of Augustus. This noble ancestry held great promise for Tigranes. At the outset of the Roman-Parthian War of 58-63, he was crowned King of Armenia by Nero. Despite initial Roman successes, a Parthian counteroffensive effectively subdued part of the Roman army, leading to Tigranes' expulsion from Armenia in 62. He relinquished his throne to the Parthian candidate, Tiridates I, yet maintained a presence in Sophene and the Peraia of Arados in Syria. Nero intended to reinstate Tigranes, but the eruption of the first Jewish-Roman War in 66 delayed these plans. Little is known of Tigranes' fate thereafter, except for his sole coinage, likely minted in the Aradian Peraia or on the island itself. These coins feature portraits of Tigranes and his wife, whose name remains unknown, on the obverse, and the city goddess on the reverse, and is dated to 66/67, the first year of the Jewish revolt. Starting price: 50 CHF |  |
Match 1:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 30 | Auction date: 13 July 2024 |
| Lot number: 942 Price realized: 3,200 CHF (Approx. 3,578 USD / 3,280 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: KINGS OF ARMENIA. Tigranes VI, second reign, 66/7. Tetrachalkon (Bronze, 19 mm, 5.75 g, 1 h), Arados, CY 325 = 66/7. Jugate heads of Tigranes VI, wearing a tiara decorated with three eagles and tied with a diadem, and his wife, wearing a Phrygian cap, to right; all within wreath of olive and ivy. Rev. [B]AΣIΛEΩΣ / TIΓPANOY - [M]EΓAΛOY - T[EK] The city-goddess of Arados seated left on a horizontal rudder, holding cornucopiae. Kovacs 200. Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. Boldly struck with two incredibly detailed portraits and undoubtedly among the finest known. Slightly rough and the reverse a bit weak, otherwise, good very fine. From a Swiss collection, formed before 2005. Tigranes VI hailed from a distinguished lineage, with his grandfather none other than Herod the Great, and his paternal grandmother being Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus of Cappadocia. Additionally, his uncle was Tigranes V, who reigned as king of Armenia during the time of Augustus. This noble ancestry held great promise for Tigranes. At the outset of the Roman-Parthian War of 58-63, he was crowned King of Armenia by Nero. Despite initial Roman successes, a Parthian counteroffensive effectively subdued part of the Roman army, leading to Tigranes' expulsion from Armenia in 62. He relinquished his throne to the Parthian candidate, Tiridates I, yet maintained a presence in Sophene and the Peraia of Arados in Syria. Nero intended to reinstate Tigranes, but the eruption of the first Jewish-Roman War in 66 delayed these plans. Little is known of Tigranes' fate thereafter, except for his sole coinage, likely minted in the Aradian Peraia or on the island itself. These coins feature portraits of Tigranes and his wife, whose name remains unknown, on the obverse, and the city goddess on the reverse, and is dated to 66/67, the first year of the Jewish revolt. Starting price: 200 CHF |  |
Match 2:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 31 | Auction date: 7 September 2024 |
| Lot number: 606 Price realized: 1,500 CHF (Approx. 1,780 USD / 1,603 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: KINGS OF ARMENIA. Tigranes VI, second reign, 66/7. Tetrachalkon (Bronze, 18 mm, 4.79 g, 12 h), Arados, CY 325 = 66-67. Jugate heads of Tigranes VI, wearing a tiara decorated with three eagles and tied with a diadem, and his wife, wearing a Phrygian cap, to right; all within wreath of olive and ivy. Rev. [BAΣIΛEΩΣ / TIΓ]PANOY - MEΓAΛOY - [T[EK] The city-goddess of Arados seated left on a horizontal rudder, holding cornucopiae. Kovacs 200. Very rare. Scratches, otherwise, about very fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. Tigranes VI hailed from a distinguished lineage, with his grandfather none other than Herod the Great, and his paternal grandmother being Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus of Cappadocia. Additionally, his uncle was Tigranes V, who reigned as king of Armenia during the time of Augustus. This noble ancestry held great promise for Tigranes. At the outset of the Roman-Parthian War of 58-63, he was crowned King of Armenia by Nero. Despite initial Roman successes, a Parthian counteroffensive effectively subdued part of the Roman army, leading to Tigranes' expulsion from Armenia in 62. He relinquished his throne to the Parthian candidate, Tiridates I, yet maintained a presence in Sophene and the Peraia of Arados in Syria. Nero intended to reinstate Tigranes, but the eruption of the first Jewish-Roman War in 66 delayed these plans. Little is known of Tigranes' fate thereafter, except for his sole coinage, likely minted in the Aradian Peraia or on the island itself. These coins feature portraits of Tigranes and his wife, whose name remains unknown, on the obverse, and the city goddess on the reverse, and is dated to 66/67, the first year of the Jewish revolt. Starting price: 75 CHF |  |
Match 3:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Auction 15 | Auction date: 1 June 2024 |
| Lot number: 128 Price realized: 15,000 CHF (Approx. 16,597 USD / 15,310 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: KINGS OF ARMENIA. Tigranes the Younger, 77/6-66 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 27 mm, 16.18 g, 1 h), Tigranokerta (?), circa 71/0-69/8. Draped bust of Tigranes the Younger to right, wearing five-pointed tiara decorated with a comet star. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ - TIΓPANOY Eutychides' Tyche of Antiochia, turreted and veiled, seated right on rock, holding long palm frond in her right hand; below, river-god Orontes swimming right; in field to right, Π; in exergue, in small letters, ΔHMO; all within wreath. Kovacs pl. 12, 152 (same dies) = SCADA Group 2, A4/P1 (as 'Tigranes II' from the 'Damaskos satellite mint'). Extremely rare, an issue of great historical interest. Well struck, perfectly centered and undoubtedly among the finest known tetradrachms of Tigranes the Younger. Light die roughness on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. While earlier authors denied Tigranes the Younger, the son of Tigranes II, any independent coinage, Kovacs has convincingly argued that the extremely rare issues featuring a comet with a tail but no eagles on the tiara should be attributed to the rebellious prince. The young Tigranes, maternally a grandson of the great Pontic king Mithradates VI Eupator, served as a general under his father since the early 70s BC and was acknowledged by him as co-ruler. Dated coins bearing his portrait from the years 71/0-69/8 BC suggest a stay in Damaskos, from where the Tigranids expelled the Ituraean ruler Ptolemy, but the city was lost again due to the onset of conflict with the Romans in 69 BC. In 66 BC, Tigranes the Younger rose against his father with the help of the Parthians but was defeated by him, after which he betrayed the old king to Pompey, who advanced into Armenia the same year. However, the monarch preempted his deposition by a humiliating submission to the Roman general. Pompey, apparently mistrustful of the young Tigranes due to his connections with the Parthians, chose to leave Armenia under the rule of the father and entrusted the son with the insignificant rule over Sophene and Gordiene. Disappointed, Tigranes the Younger allegedly refused an invitation to a banquet by Pompey, prompting the general to depose him shortly thereafter and present him as a captive in his triumph in Rome. The exact circumstances of the episode remain unclear, but an experienced politician like Pompey is unlikely to have acted solely out of wounded pride. Perhaps he saw in the constellation of the old Tigranes II in Armenia and his rebellious son, allied with the Parthians, in neighboring Sophene, too great a risk of further unrest, which threatened to undermine his efforts to stabilize the East. While Kovacs' attribution of the coins to Tigranes the Younger is convincing, his datings raise questions. He attributes the present emission to Tigranokerta or Artagigarta and dates it to the year 66/5 BC, i.e., to the time of the short-lived rule of Tigranes the Younger over Sophene. Such dating would indeed explain the extreme rarity of the tetradrachms and drachms - the former were struck from a single obverse and four reverse dies, the latter from a single pair of dies - but the author overlooks the close connection to a series of tetradrachms of Tigranes II (Kovacs 76.1-3, see also lot 127 above). Not only are they signed with the same name ΔHMO[...], but the portraits are also so similar that they likely belong to the same emission (cf. especially Kovacs pl. 7, 76.2). The bronzes of the younger Tigranes from Damascus from the year 70/69 BC also bear the name of the same official, who thus must have held some sort of powerful position throughout the empire, perhaps as a chancellor or financial minister. Thus, not only is the late dating of the silver coins of Tigranes the Younger obsolete, but it also raises the question of whether the clear stylistic break within the tetradrachms of Tigranes II summarized by Kovacs into one group actually all come from one mint, or whether two different workshops were active here - one might think, for example, of the formerly Seleukid capital Antioch on the Orontes, where Kovacs 71-75 would fit stylistically well (and where they were placed by SCADA), and an eastern mint like Tigranokerta for Kovacs 76 and 152-154. In any case, this cataloguer prefers an early dating of the extremely rare silver coins of Tigranes the Younger, namely to the years 71/0-69/8 BC. The coins thus stem from a time when the father, perhaps in emulation of Seleukid models from the 3rd century BC, appointed the son viceroy of the short-lived Armenian Empire, not expecting that he would be betray him only a few years later. Estimate: 10000 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 30 | Auction date: 13 July 2024 |
| Lot number: 939 Price realized: 2,400 CHF (Approx. 2,684 USD / 2,460 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: KINGS OF ARMENIA. Tigranes the Younger, 77/6-66 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 26 mm, 16.22 g, 12 h), Tigranokerta (?), circa 71/0-69/8. Draped bust of Tigranes the Younger to right, wearing five-pointed tiara decorated with a comet star. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ - TIΓPANOY Eutychides' Tyche of Antiochia, turreted and veiled, seated right on rock, holding long palm frond in her right hand; below, river-god Orontes swimming right; across field, Δ-H. Kovacs 153. Extremely rare. Struck slightly off center, otherwise, very fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. While earlier authors denied Tigranes the Younger, the son of Tigranes II, any independent coinage, Kovacs has convincingly argued that the extremely rare issues featuring a comet with a tail but no eagles on the tiara should be attributed to the rebellious prince. The young Tigranes, maternally a grandson of the great Pontic king Mithradates VI Eupator, served as a general under his father since the early 70s BC and was acknowledged by him as co-ruler. Dated coins bearing his portrait from the years 71/0-69/8 BC suggest a stay in Damaskos, from where the Tigranids expelled the Ituraean ruler Ptolemy, but the city was lost again due to the onset of conflict with the Romans in 69 BC. In 66 BC, Tigranes the Younger rose against his father with the help of the Parthians but was defeated by him, after which he betrayed the old king to Pompey, who advanced into Armenia the same year. However, the monarch preempted his deposition by a humiliating submission to the Roman general. Pompey, apparently mistrustful of the young Tigranes due to his connections with the Parthians, chose to leave Armenia under the rule of the father and entrusted the son with the insignificant rule over Sophene and Gordiene. Disappointed, Tigranes the Younger allegedly refused an invitation to a banquet by Pompey, prompting the general to depose him shortly thereafter and present him as a captive in his triumph in Rome. The exact circumstances of the episode remain unclear, but an experienced politician like Pompey is unlikely to have acted solely out of wounded pride. Perhaps he saw in the constellation of the old Tigranes II in Armenia and his rebellious son, allied with the Parthians, in neighboring Sophene, too great a risk of further unrest, which threatened to undermine his efforts to stabilize the East. While Kovacs' attribution of the coins to Tigranes the Younger is convincing, his datings raise questions. He attributes the present emission to Tigranokerta or Artagigarta and dates it to the year 66/5 BC, i.e., to the time of the short-lived rule of Tigranes the Younger over Sophene. Such dating would indeed explain the extreme rarity of the tetradrachms and drachms - the former were struck from a single obverse and four reverse dies, the latter from a single pair of dies - but the author overlooks the close connection to a series of tetradrachms of Tigranes II (Kovacs 76.1-3, see also lot 127 above). Not only are they signed with the same name ΔHMO[...], but the portraits are also so similar that they likely belong to the same emission (cf. especially Kovacs pl. 7, 76.2). The bronzes of the younger Tigranes from Damascus from the year 70/69 BC also bear the name of the same official, who thus must have held some sort of powerful position throughout the empire, perhaps as a chancellor or financial minister. Thus, not only is the late dating of the silver coins of Tigranes the Younger obsolete, but it also raises the question of whether the clear stylistic break within the tetradrachms of Tigranes II summarized by Kovacs into one group actually all come from one mint, or whether two different workshops were active here - one might think, for example, of the formerly Seleukid capital Antioch on the Orontes, where Kovacs 71-75 would fit stylistically well (and where they were placed by SCADA), and an eastern mint like Tigranokerta for Kovacs 76 and 152-154. In any case, this cataloguer prefers an early dating of the extremely rare silver coins of Tigranes the Younger, namely to the years 71/0-69/8 BC. The coins thus stem from a time when the father, perhaps in emulation of Seleukid models from the 3rd century BC, appointed the son viceroy of the short-lived Armenian Empire, not expecting that he would be betray him only a few years later. Starting price: 1000 CHF |  |
Match 5:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 31 | Auction date: 7 September 2024 |
| Lot number: 603 Price realized: 550 CHF (Approx. 653 USD / 588 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: KINGS OF ARMENIA. Tigranes IV (Restored) and Erato, 2 BC-AD 1. Dichalkon (Bronze, 19 mm, 5.84 g, 11 h), Artaxata. [BACIΛEYC MEΓAC TIΓPANHC] Jugate busts of Tigranes IV, wearing five-pointed tiara, and Erato to right. Rev. [ΦΙΛΟΚΑΙCΑΡ - A] The twin peaks of Mount Ararat, as seen from Artaxata. Kovacs 180. Very rare. Repatinated, otherwise, fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. Tigranes IV had ruled in Armenia since 8 BC, but when he allied himself with the Parthians, he was driven out by a Roman army under Gaius Caesar and replaced by his brother, Artavasdes III, in 5 BC. Three years later, Tigranes regained control of Armenia and eventually agreed to receive his crown from Augustus in an act of submission. The reverse legend of our coin refers to this event by calling the Armenian King 'friend of the Caesar'; the accompanying image shows the famous Mount Ararat as seen from Artaxata, with the Greater Ararat (5137 m) on the right, the Little Ararat (3896 m) on the left, and some foothills in front. The obverse, on the other hand, shows us Tigranes IV with his half-sister and wife, the famous Queen Erato of Armenia, who would later, during her sole reign (circa 13-15 AD), become the last of the Orontid line to rule Armenia. Starting price: 50 CHF |  |
