| Spink > Auction 24125 | Auction date: 26 March 2025 |
| Lot number: 1161 Price realized: 250 GBP (Approx. 324 USD / 300 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Thessaly, Larissa, AR Drachm, struck c. 350 BC, head of nymph Larissa, hair in ampyx combed straight back, rev. LARI-SAION, horse standing left, preparing to roll, plant below, 5.96g (Lorber "A Hoard of Facing Head Larissa Drachms" (SNR 79 [2000] pp. 7-15), phase L-I, pl. 2, 22 (same dies); Herrmann group VII, pl. V, 11; SNG Copenhagen 123 var. (hair and legend)), residually lustrous, great portrait, very fine. Provenance, Classical Numismatic Group, Mail Bid Sale 58, 19 September 2001, lot 396 Estimate: £250 - £350 |  |
Match 1:
| Spink > Auction 24125 | Auction date: 26 March 2025 |
| Lot number: 1160 Price realized: 1,600 GBP (Approx. 2,072 USD / 1,918 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Thessaly, Larissa, AR Drachm, c. 356-342 BC, head of the nymph Larissa facing slightly left, hair in ampyx, wearing necklace, rev. LARIS, horse standing right, preparing to lie down, AION below, 6.10g (Lorber, Hoard, phase L-III, 51; SNG Copenhagen 120; SNG Ashmolean 3882; Boston MFA 898), toned, lovely portrait, about extremely fine. Provenance, The "Veitchii" Collection of Ancient Coins, Purchased from Spink, c. 1912 (with ticket), Egger Bruder, 15 January 1912, lot 272 Estimate: £500 - £700 |  |
Match 2:
| Spink > Auction 24125 | Auction date: 26 March 2025 |
| Lot number: 1159 Price realized: 380 GBP (Approx. 492 USD / 455 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: NGC Ch VF | Thessaly, Larissa, AR Drachm, c. 365-356 BC, head of the nymph Larissa facing slightly left, air in ampyx, wearing plain necklace, rev. LARIS, horse standing right, preparing to lay down, front left foreleg raised, 5.85g (Lorber, Phase L-II, 32; BMC 57; BCD Thessaly II 316; HGC 4, 453), struck on short flan, however toned, attractive and about very fine, in an NGC 'Ancients' holder, graded Choice VF (Strike: 4/5, Surfaces 2/5) [Cert. No. 8221846-014]. Provenance, The "Estafefette No. 21" Collection of Ancient, English and World Coins, Sotheby's, 26 March 1987, lot 394, Westminster School Estimate: £400 - £600 |  |
Match 3:
| Nomos AG > obolos 37 | Auction date: 17 May 2025 |
| Lot number: 662 Price realized: 65 CHF (Approx. 78 USD / 69 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: THESSALY. Larissa. Late 4th-early 3rd centuries BC. Hemidrachm (Silver, 15 mm, 2.24 g, 11 h). Head of the nymph Larissa, facing slightly to left, wearing ampyx. Rev. ΛΑΡΙΣ/ИΩΙΑ Horse crouching to right, preparing to roll; below horse, Ξ. BCD Thessaly II 338 (same dies). HGC 4, 514. Toned. Obverse struck from rusted die; marks, otherwise, very fine. Starting price: 50 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. > Buy or Bid Sale 231 | Auction date: 29 April 2025 |
| Lot number: 221 Price realized: Unsold | |
| Lot description: Thessaly, Larissa. Drachm; Thessaly, Larissa; 400-370 BC, Drachm, 6.18g. Lorber-17.2(a) (this coin), BCD-205 (same obv. die). Obv: Head of the nymph Larissa facing, wearing ampyx inscribed [ΓEY]. Horse standing r., trailing rein, preparing to lie down; AI below belly. Ex CNG E488, 24 March 2021, lot 131. Ex CNG E445, 5 June 2019, lot 76. Ex BCD Collection, CNG E311, 25 September 2013, lot 120. Ex Athena Fund Part III, Sotheby's, 9 December 1993, lot 123 (part). Ex NFA inventory 4705. Ex 1989 Unknown Findspot Hoard, CH IX, 65.This early Larissa drachm shows an obverse Larissa that is certainly taken from the Amphipolis issues. Toned EF / VF |  |
Match 5:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVIII Online Sessions | Auction date: 22 January 2025 |
| Lot number: 5264 Price realized: 1,600 USD (Approx. 1,536 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: PERSIA, Alexandrine Empire. Mazakes. Satrap of Mesopotamia, circa 331-323/2 BC. AR Tetradrachm (21.5mm, 16.76 g, 9h). Imitating Athens. Helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing right, head facing; olive spray and crescent to left, "Mazakes symbol" and MZD[K] (in Aramaic) to right. Le Rider, Alexander, pp. 214–9; Van Alfen, Owls, Group IIIa, 79 (same obv. die); Nicolet-Pierre, Monnaies, pl. 26, b–c. Some weakness to strike, light roughness, scratches on reverse. Good VF. Rare without test cut. Mazakes is best known as the Persian satrap who took over Egypt after Sabakes fell in battle against Alexander the Great's army at the Granicus, and later handed over the province peacefully to the Macedonian king. Imitative owls in the name of Mazakes have been known for some time, and all were originally attributed to his satrapy in Egypt. However, it was clear that stylistic elements separated the coinage into two general groups. More recent hoards, especially the 1973 Iraq hoard, have shown that one of the groups of imitative owls was certainly not struck in Egypt, but somewhere in the territory of modern day Iraq. In his analysis of the 1973 hoard, M. Price ("Circulation at Babylon in 323 B.C." in W.E. Metcalf, ed., Mnemata: Papers in Memory of Nancy M. Waggoner [New York, 1991], pp. 63–72) changed the findspot from Iraq to the more specific cite of Babylon, based on anecdotal evidence (p. 63), and gave the series of Mazakes' owls to the city. However, such an assignment has forced numismatists to conduct mental gymnastics in order to rationalize the presence of Mazakes' coins at Babylon (cf. Van Alfen, Owls, pp. 27–33, and Le Rider, Alexander, pp. 215–7, for a summary of the previous research). It is clear that the attribution of the owls to Babylon is almost certainly incorrect, and other find evidence suggests an attribution to somewhere further north, perhaps in the satrapy of Mesopotamia (cf. Le Rider, op. cit., p. 217–9). In any event, this coinage clarifies the historical record regarding the disposition of Mazakes following his hand-over of Egypt, upon which subject the literary evidence is silent. As noted by Le Rider (op. cit., p. 215), one can compare Mazakes to other Persians who peacefully welcomed Alexander to their domains: Mazaios, who handed over Cilicia, was later made satrap in Babylon, and Mithrenes, who surrendered Sardes, was made satrap in Armenia. Also, the Persian noble Amminapes, who met Alexander in Egypt with Mazakes, was later made satrap of Parthia and Hyrkania. Thus, one would expect Mazakes to receive similarly favorable treatment, appointment to some position of authority. Interestingly, Mesopotamia is the only satrapy that is not addressed in the literary evidence when Alexander is organizing his eastern territories. As these tetradrachms of Mazakes are found in that region, and date to the period after Alexander's conquest, it is reasonable to suggest that Mazakes may have been appointed as satrap of Mesopotamia. It was also in the adjacent satrapy of Babylonia that Mazaios was allowed to strike a coinage in his name and types (influenced by his prior issues at Tarsos) for local use, and similar issues of local type and weight are known to have been issued at mints throughout the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates, from the time of Alexander to Seleukos I. Thus, these Athenian type tetradrachms likely constitute a local coinage of Mazakes, struck in the satrapy of Mesopotamia while he reigned there. Estimate: 750 USD |  |
