Our partner for world banknotes research
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 165 | Auction date: 26 May 2026 |
| Lot number: 433 Price realized: 190,000 CHF (Approx. 240,842 USD / 207,750 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Cyrene Tetradrachm circa 480-435, AR 27 mm, 16.94 g. Silphium plant with two pairs of leaves and five umbels. Rev. KVPA Pearl-diademed, bearded and horned head of Zeus Ammon r . BMC p. xxxvii, 42 and pl. V, 16 (these dies). Jameson 1350. Weber 8425. Boston, MFA 1310. Traité III, pl. 263, 5. SNG Copenhagen 1174. Very rare and undoubtedly the finest specimen in private hands. An exceptionally well-preserved and detailed obverse and a portrait of enchanting beauty, the work of a very skilled master-engraver. Wonderful iridescent tone and good extremely fine Ex Leu sale 45, 1988, 295. Cyrene was founded in about 630 B.C. by settlers from the island of Thera led by a certain Aristoteles Battus, and continued to be populated by others, principally Dorian Greeks. The venture was not easy, and the first two efforts failed. However, when the Thereans acquired local Libyan help, an ideal site was found that enjoyed good rainfall and had a freshwater spring. Other dependent settlements were established before a second round of colonisation occurred in the 6th Century B.C. The initial co-operation between locals and colonists was continually tested as more Greeks arrived. The dynasty established by Battus remained intact until the region succumbed to Persian rule in 525 B.C., which lasted to one degree or another until c.440 B.C. The locals then established a Republican-style government comprised of members of local families, who about a century later offered their loyalty to Alexander the Great. Soon thereafter, in c.323 B.C., the Spartan mercenary Thibron temporarily seized power in the Pentapolis, as the region was known because of its five major cities. But the displaced oligarchs fled to Egypt, where they gained the support of Ptolemy I, Alexander's successor in Egypt. Under the leadership of the general Ophellas, Thibron was defeated and the region was annexed by Ptolemy. Thereafter, various efforts to minimise or shed Ptolemaic rule occurred, even by the Ptolemaic strategoi Ophellas and Magas. A particular effort was made by citizens of Cyrene, who invited the Megalopolitan philosophers Ecdelos and Demophanes to confederate their cities as a republic, but it failed when in 246 B.C. a royal marriage occurred between King Ptolemy III and Magas' daughter Berenice II. As the only marriage of Ptolemy III, it cemented the relationship between Egypt and Cyrene, which remained strong until Cyrene fell into Roman hands in 96 B.C. Estimate: 150000 CHF |  |
