Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 149Auction date: 2 December 2024
Lot number: 252

Price realized: 1,300 CHF   (Approx. 1,464 USD / 1,399 EUR)   Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees.
Lot description:


Demetrius II Nicator, first reign, 146 – 138
Tetradrachm, Antiochia on the Orontes 146-145 (year 167), AR 30 mm, 16.79 g. Diademed head of Demetrius II r. Fillet border. Rev. [B]AΣΙΛΕΩΣ – ΔHMHTPIOY – ΘEOY – ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOY – NIKATOPOΣ Apollo seated l. on omphalos, testing arrow in r. hand and resting l. arm on grounded bow; in inner l. field, monogram and in exergue, ZΞP and monogram. DCA 146. SC 1906.2d.
Wonderful old cabinet tone and good very fine

Ex M&M sale 95, 2004, 67.
In 147 BC, Demetrius II Nicator, the son of Demetrius I Soter, embarked upon a plan to reclaim the Seleucid kingdom from the usurper who had killed his father. Despite being only about 13 years old, Demetrius II hired an army of Cretan mercenaries and landed in Cilicia to challenge Alexander I Balas for the throne. At the same time, Ptolemy VI Philometor was marching northwards from Egypt, apparently to assist the beleaguered Alexander I, but once he reached Ake-Ptolemais thought better of it and instead threw his support behind Demetrius II. To seal the deal, Ptolemy VI even gave Demetrius II the hand of Cleopatra Thea, whom he had only married to Alexander I a few years earlier in 150 BC(!).While Ptolemy VI s2eems to have planned to use Demetrius II as a puppet to control the Seleucid kingdom in the interests of Egypt, he was ultimately thwarted by defeating Alexander I in battle in 145 BC. Despite achieving victory for Demetrius II, the Ptolemaic king died soon after from wounds sustained in the fighting, thereby leaving the youthful Demetrius II to reign withou2t oversight. He immediately set about making himself extremely unpopular with both the people of Antioch and with the army. Preferring to rely on his mercenaries, Demetrius II disbanded and failed to pay many elements of the regular Seleucid army in Syria, while reprisals against the Antiochenes for their previous support of Alexander I led to rioting in the city. Demetrius' solution to this outpouring of public anger was to use 3,000 Jewish archers provided by the high priest Simon Thassi to fire into the raging crowds. Unsurprisingly, calm was not restored in this manner, and popular resentment against Demetrius II soon began to be focused by the general Diodotus at Apamea, in support of the child king Antiochus VI Dionysus. In little more than a year, Diodotus, who came to be known as Tryphon, forced Demetrius II out of Antioch, although he still retained control of Seleucia in Pieria, Laodicea by the Sea, and much of Cilicia. While the power of Demetrius II was unravelling in Syria due to civil war, the eastern territories of the Seleucid empire were in a fight for survival against local dynasts and the expanding Parthian empire of Mithradates I. In 141 BC, the unthinkable happened and the Parthians, who had already swallowed up Seleucid Media and Susa, overran Babylonia and captured the capital at Seleucia on the Tigris. Deeming the new Parthian crisis to be more dangerous than the ongoing struggle against Tryphon and Antiochus VI, in 138 BC, Demetrius II left Cleopatra Thea to hold Seleucia in Pieria and began a campaign to push back the eastern invader. He enjoyed some initial success against the Parthians and managed to reclaim Seleucia on the Tigris, but in July/August of 138 BC Demetrius II was defeated in battle and captured by Mithradates I. He subsequently lived as an honored hostage at the Parthian court in Hyrcania until he was finally released eight years later.

Estimate: 500 CHF

Match 1:
Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 149Auction date: 2 December 2024
Lot number: 259

Price realized: 1,000 CHF   (Approx. 1,126 USD / 1,076 EUR)   Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees.
Lot description:


Demetrius II Nicator, first reign, 146 – 138
Tetradrachm, Antiochia on the Orontes 145-144 (year 168), AR 30 mm, 16.00 g. Diademed head of Demetrius II r. Laurel wreath border. Rev. BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ – ΔHMHTPIOY – ΘEOY – ΦIΛAΔ – EΛΦOY – NIKAT – OPOΣ Apollo seated l. on omphalos, testing arrow in r. hand and resting l. arm on grounded bow; in inner l. field, monogram, between legs, monogram and in exergue, HΞP. DCA 146. SMA 209. SC 1907.1e.
Lovely iridescent tone and extremely fine

Ex CNG sale 108, 2018, 339. From Atlas Numismatics Inventory 1016579 (August 2014). From the Semon Lipcer, Jonathan Kern and MLN collections.

Estimate: 750 CHF

Match 2:
Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 149Auction date: 2 December 2024
Lot number: 258

Price realized: 3,750 CHF   (Approx. 4,224 USD / 4,035 EUR)   Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees.
Lot description:


Demetrius II Nicator, first reign, 146 – 138
Tetradrachm, Antiochia on the Orontes 145-144 (year 168), AR 27 mm, 16.35 g. Diademed head of Demetrius II r. Laurel wreath border. Rev. BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ – ΔHMHTPIOY – ΘEOY – ΦIΛAΔ – EΛΦOY – NIKAT – OPOΣ Apollo seated l. on omphalos, testing arrow in r. hand and resting l. arm on grounded bow; in inner l. field, monogram, between legs, monogram and in exergue, HΞP. DCA 146. SMA 209. SC 1907.1d.
A portrait of superb style and a lovely iridescent tone.
About extremely fine / extremely fine

Ex Ars Classica X, 1925, 1192; Hess 221, 1933, R. Laughlin, 106; Glendining 19 July 1950, Platt Hall, 191; Sotheby's 17 July 1974, 29; J. Elsen 114, 2020, 73 and CGB 7 December 2021, 64 sales. From the rev. Edgar Rodgers collection.

Estimate: 1250 CHF

Match 3:
Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 149Auction date: 2 December 2024
Lot number: 260

Price realized: 1,000 CHF   (Approx. 1,126 USD / 1,076 EUR)   Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees.
Lot description:


Demetrius II Nicator, first reign, 146 – 138
Tetradrachm, Antiochia on the Orontes 145-144 (year 168), AR 31 mm, 16.92 g. Diademed head of Demetrius II r.; behind, pilei. Laurel wreath border. Rev. BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ – ΔHMHTPIOY – ΘEOY – ΦIΛAΔ – EΛΦOY – NIKA – TOPO[Σ] Apollo seated l. on omphalos, testing arrow in r. hand and resting l. arm on grounded bow; in inner l. field, monogram, between legs, monogram and in exergue, HΞP. CSE 512. Meadows-Houghton, The Gaziantep Hoard, 1994, (CH 9.527; 10.308), A1784 (this coin). SNG Spaer –. SC 1907.4d.
Lovely iridescent tone and extremely fine

Ex Gorny & Mosch 71, 1995, 400 and Künker 347, 2021, 828 sales. Privately purchased from Spink in 1995. From the Gaziantep hoard of 1994 and from the Walter Weise collection.

Estimate: 750 CHF

Match 4:
Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 149Auction date: 2 December 2024
Lot number: 256

Price realized: 650 CHF   (Approx. 732 USD / 699 EUR)   Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees.
Lot description:


Demetrius II Nicator, first reign, 146 – 138
Tetradrachm, uncertain mint in Western Persia circa 146-145, AR 26 mm, 16.64 g. Diademed head of Demetrius II r. Fillet border. Rev. BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ – ΔHMHTPIO[Y] Apollo seated l. on omphalos, testing arrow in r. hand and resting l. arm on grounded bow; in outer r. field, monogram. SC –.
Apparently unpublished. Light iridescent tone and good very fine

Estimate: 500 CHF

Match 5:
Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 149Auction date: 2 December 2024
Lot number: 342

Price realized: 550 CHF   (Approx. 620 USD / 592 EUR)   Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees.
Lot description:


Demetrius II Nicator, second reign, 129-126/5
Tetradrachm, Seleucia in Pieria (?) 127-126 (year 186), AR 30 mm, 16.72 g. Diademed head of Demetrius II r., bearded, with tousled locks on crown of head and stubby horn at temple. Fillet border. Rev. BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔHMHTPIOY – ΘEOY [N]IKA – TOPOΣ Zeus seated l., holding Nike with wreath in r. hand and sceptre in l.; below, Δ – Ω. In exergue, ςΠΡ. CSE 842. SC 2173 corr. (dotted border).
Very fine

Ex Heritage sale 231951, 2019, 63104.

Graded Ch VF, NGC certification number 4885217-009

Estimate: 250 CHF