| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 158 | Auction date: 5 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 69 Price realized: 26,000 CHF (Approx. 32,130 USD / 27,960 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Islands off Thrace, Samothrace Didrachm circa 280, AR 22 mm, 7.41 g. Head of Athena r., wearing Corinthian helmet decorated with coiled snake. Rev. ΣAMO – MHTPONA Cybele seated l., holding phiale and sceptre; under the throne, lion seated l. BMC 1. SNG Lockett 1212 (these dies). Weber 2491 (this coin). Jameson 2019 (this coin). SNG Copenhagen 992 var. (Athena l.). Zhuyuetang 41 (this coin). Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, undoubtedly among the finest specimens known. Light iridescent tone, minor marks and a metal flaw on obverse, otherwise extremely fine Ex Schulman 231, 1958, 3654 and Jean Vinchon 26 April 1999, 122 sales. From the Imhoof-Blumer, Weber and Jameson collections. Samothrace, an island located off the Aegean coast of Thrace, was said to have gained its name from early settlement by Thracians and Greek exiles from the island of Samos around 700 BC. Together, the Samian and Thracian inhabitants of the island worshipped a variety of chthonic deities described in the Greek sources as the Cabeiri or the Great Gods as part of a mystery religion. The foundation of the cult of the Great Gods was sometimes attributed to a local pair of heroes named Dardanus and Iasion, who were equated with the Dioscuri. A central figure of the Samothracian Great Gods was known by the secret name of Axieros and given the title of Great Mother. She was the powerful mistress of the wild mountains, and sacrifice was made to her on coloured porphyry outcroppings. Her power was also believed to be found in veins of magnetic iron on the island, which initiates into her mysteries fashioned into rings as a sign of identification. As the Great Mother, Axieros of Samothrace was frequently conflated with Cybele, the widely known Great Mother of the Phrygians, who was recognized in many Greek pantheons before the fourth century BC. Unlike the famous Eleusinian mysteries, entry into the mysteries of the Great Gods of Samothrace was open to anyone (male, female, adult, child, rich, poor, free, enslaved) who could be present at the sanctuary for the rites of initiation. Due to its relative proximity to coastal Macedonia, the mysteries came to be patronized by the Macedonian kings of the late fifth and fourth centuries BC. Indeed, Philip II is said to have met Olympias, his future wife and the mother of Alexander the Great, while they were being initiated into the Samothracian mysteries. Philip II and Alexander the Great increased the beauty and fame of the sanctuary by commissioning the erection of the Temenos building and the sanctuary's Main Altar, respectively. The sanctuary's Hieron and its Doric monument were commissioned by Alexander's immediate successors, his half-brother Philip III Arrhidaeus, and his infant son, Alexander IV. This close involvement of the last Argead kings of Macedonia in monumental construction at the Samothracian shrine set a precedent for subsequent Hellenistic monarchs, especially the rival Antigonid and Ptolemaic dynasties, who competed in financing new monuments and buildings in the third century BC. This rare didrachm depicts the Great Mother on the reverse, while featuring the head of Athena on the obverse. The latter is derived from contemporary Macedonian staters following types first popularized for the imperial coinage of Alexander the Great. The Samothracian issue was probably struck in the 280s BC, when Lysimachus, Alexander's general-turned-king, had begun construction of the Rotunda at the sanctuary. This building was dedicated to his wife, the Ptolemaic princess Arsinoe II. Its construction may have been financed by coins such as this. Lysimachus, who was killed in battle in 281 BC, probably did not live see the completion of the Rotunda, which subsequently became an important center of Ptolemaic dedications under Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the brother and later husband of the widowed Arsinoe II. Estimate: 10000 CHF |  |
Match 1:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 158 | Auction date: 5 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 41 Price realized: 3,250 CHF (Approx. 4,016 USD / 3,495 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Demetrius I Poliorcetes circa 306 – 283 Imitation stater in types of Alexander III, "Tarsus" circa 306-283 , AV 21 mm, 8.61 g. Head of Athena r., wearing Corinthian helmet decorated with snake. Rev. B – [AΣIΛΕΩ]Σ / ΔHMHTPIOY Nike standing l., holding wreath in r. hand and stylis in l.; below l. wing, monogram and in r. field, X. Newell 37 note, pl. xviii, 15 (these dies). Zhuyuetang 103 (this coin). Extremely rare. Lovely reddish tone, several edge marks, possibly traces of mounting, otherwise very fine Ex CNG sale 58, 2001, 288. In his important study of the coinage of Demetrius Poliorcetes, Edward T. Newell described staters struck in this peculiar style and naming Demetrius as "a curious category of staters apparently belonging to (or copied after)" staters of the usual fine style struck at Tarsus. He considered the staters of Tarsus to have been probably struck in the period c. 298-295 BC. Although he had been defeated and his father, Antigonus Monophthalmos, had been killed by the coalition of Cassander, Lysimachus, and Seleucus I at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, Demetrius managed to retain control of the important city of Tarsus and the surrounding satrapy of Cilicia thanks to a marriage alliance made with Seleucus I in 298 BC. Seleucus feared the growing power of Lysimachus and wished to retain Demetrius as a potential ally against him in Asia Minor. If Newell was right about the chronology, the regular staters of this type struck at Tarsus were produced in a period when Demetrius was actively engaged in war on land and sea to reconquer cities in the Peloponnesus and Central Greece-especially Athens-which had thrown off Antigonid influence in the aftermath of Ipsus. The death of his father had thrown the territories of the Antigonid empire into chaos, but Demetrius was very much determined to win them back. Silver tetradrachms and gold staters struck at Tarsus and other Anatolian mints still under Demetrius' control would have been crucial for maintaining the fleet and paying the mercenaries fighting for him in Greece. Tarsian issues engraved in the same slightly crude style as the present piece may be the work of an inexperienced engraver at the mint, or, perhaps more likely, they represent the output of a workshop producing contemporary imitations. If they are indeed imitations, it is impossible to know precisely where they were produced, although Thrace might be a strong possibility. Hoards show that Thracian mercenaries had a great appreciation for staters with the Athena and Nike types of Alexander the Great, and that sometimes imitations were produced to meet (or take advantage of) this preference. The fact that the engraver went to the trouble of copying a specific issue of Demetrius, including his name, rather than the much more common name of the dead Alexander the Great, may suggest that it had some special appeal for the issuers or recipients of the staters. Estimate: 2000 CHF |  |
Match 2:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 158 | Auction date: 5 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 27 Price realized: 3,750 CHF (Approx. 4,634 USD / 4,033 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Alexander III, 336 – 323 and posthumous issues Quarter stater, Sardes circa 334-323, AV 11 mm, 2.11 g. Head of Athena r., wearing Corinthian helmet decorated with snake. Rev. ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ Nike standing to l., holding stylis in l. hand and wreath in r.; in l. field, tripod. Price 2538. Extremely rare. Very fine Ex CNG Numismatic Review 22, 1997, 29. Privately purchased from CNG (inventory number 717552) Estimate: 3000 CHF |  |
Match 3:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Autumn Sale 2025 | Auction date: 9 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 2019 Price realized: 700 CHF (Approx. 867 USD / 752 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Calabria, Tarentum Diobol circa 280-228 , AR, 12 mm, 1 g. Head of Athena r., wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with snake. Rev. Heracles standing facing, holding club and bridle of rearing horse. in l. upper l. field, monogram and in lower r. field, monogram. Vlasto 1451 (these dies). Historia Numorum Italy 1067. HGC 1, 919. Very rare. Light tone and about extremely fine Ex Sternberg 31, 1996, 121 and Busso-Peus 427, 2020, 42 sales. From the Graeculus collection. Estimate: 300 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Autumn Sale 2025 | Auction date: 9 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 2207 Price realized: 1,300 CHF (Approx. 1,611 USD / 1,396 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Thrace, Mesembria Tetradrachm in name and types of Alexander III circa 250-175, AR, 33 mm, 16.53 g. Head of Heracles r., wearing lion skin headdress. Rev. [Β]ΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / [Α]ΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ Zeus seated l., holding eagle and sceptre; in inner l. field, Corinthian helmet on monogram. Price 1018. Karayotov, The Coinage of Mesambria I: Silver and Gold Coins of Mesambria, 104. HGC 3.2, 1567. Wonderful iridescent tone and good extremely fine Ex CNG e-sale 460, 2020, 134. From the Matthew Curtis collection. Estimate: 500 CHF |  |
Match 5:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 158 | Auction date: 5 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 100 Price realized: 7,000 CHF (Approx. 8,651 USD / 7,528 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Attica, Athens Tetradrachm under Sulla circa 86-84, AR 30 mm, 16.73 g. Head of Athena r., wearing helmet decorated with palmettae and griffin. Rev. Owl standing r. on amphora, at sides, trophies. All within wreath. Thompson, ANSNS 10, 1344. Svoronos pl. 78, 23. Weber 3526. Zhuyuetang 34 (this coin). An extremely rare variety of a rare type. Pleasant old cabinet tone, minor scuff on obverse, otherwise about extremely fine Ex Triton sale III, 1999, 444. Few Athenian coins are as historically relevant as those of 87/6-84 B.C., when the Roman consul Sulla landed his army in Greece to wage war against Mithradates VI, the Pontic king who recently had taken the region by force. Not only are these coins the last 'ancient' silver coins struck in Athens, but they are directly tied to historical events, and are mentioned in ancient literature. The Sullan coinage at Athens consists mainly of silver tetradrachms, a smaller component of silver drachms, and a bronze coinage that today is very rare. The silver coins employ the basic designs of Athenian 'New Style' tetradrachms, which in ancient times were called stephanophoroi ('wreath-bearers') because the reverse design was enclosed within a wreath. But that is where the similarities end between Athenian coinage and the Athenian-style coinage of Sulla. The style of Sulla's coins is quite different than their predecessor Athenian coinage, and the symbols and weighty inscriptions that cluttered the reverse field of the Athenian coins are replaced only with two monograms or two trophies. The monogram coins seem to have been the first issue, for which Thompson suggested a starting date of 86 B.C., after Sulla captured Athens. The trophy coins are regarded as the second issue, and presumably were struck shortly before Sulla left Athens to return to Rome. However, there seems little reason to doubt that some of the monogram coins were struck outside of Athens, and for this, and other reasons, they often have been described as 'pseudo-Athenian' coins. Sulla landed in Greece in the spring of 87 B.C., and did not capture Athens for a year. During that period he would have needed coinage to support his army and to conduct a siege. Appian (Mith. V.30) describes how Sulla immediately collected money from the Greeks who supported the Romans against Mithradates. Might not this new fund have been converted into coinage that had a familiar Athenian type, but was easily distinguishable as a product of Sulla? Another source, Plutarch (Lucullus II.2), describes how Sulla's proquaestor L. Licinius Lucullus was put in charge of coinage on this expedition, and that he did such a fine job that the coins he made came to be named after him: "...it was called 'Lucullan' after him, and circulated very widely because the needs of the soldiers during the war caused it to be exchanged quickly." An inscription from Delphi concerning the sale of slaves echoes Plutarch: "...they paid for these in one sum of a hundred and fifty 'flats' of Lucullus..." A colloquial description like 'flats' would be fitting for Athenian 'New Style' coins, which are broad and thin, and would lend themselves to such a nickname. Estimate: 3500 CHF |  |
