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Lot 486
French bronze and tole peinte firescreen, late 19th Century, in Rococo Revival style, painted with a scene of 17th Century courtiers in a classical garden, within a frame cast with scrolls and rocaille work, width 74cm, height 72cmProvenance: Purported to have been purchased from the dispersal sale of the contents of Clumber Park, Notts, seat of the 9th Duke of Newcastle
Lot 1213
British Coins, Victoria, model crowns (3), private patterns, 1848, by H. Hyams: bi-metallic, central gilt Gothic bust with silvered border, rev. central cross of shields, Garter Collar and Badge around publisher’s name below; others (2), similar, but without publisher’s name, silvered bronze and bronze with silvered obverse, latter with edge engraved ‘NO. 4.’, 26.6mm. - 26.8mm., minor handling marks, extremely fine or better, very rare (3) *ex Baldwin’s vault
Lot 1453
Foreign Coins, Hejaz, al-Husain ibn Ali (1334-1342h), set of first regular coinage, comprising bronze 1, 1 ½ , ¼, 1/8 piastre, 1334/5, struck at Makka; with additional ½ piastre (KM.24/23/22/21), all with full original silver wash, the 1 piastre with a black carbon spot, otherwise all extremely fine, a scarce set, particularly so in this condition (5)
Lot 1515
Foreign Coins, Myanmar (Burma), Republic, proof set, 1952, comprising copper nickel kyat, 50, 25, 10, 5 pyas and bronze pya, Chinze to l., rev. value and date flanked by sprays (KM.37/36/35/34/33/32), certified by NGC, the kyat graded Proof 64 Cameo, the 50 and 25 pyas Proof 64, the 10 and 5 pyas Proof 65 and the pya Proof 64 Brown (6) Only 100 sets minted.
Lot 1638
British Commemorative Medals, The Battle of Waterloo, 1815, silvered bronze electrotype of the reverse of the proposed medal by Benedetto Pistrucci, c.1850-1860, Victory guiding the equestrian figures of Wellington and Blücher, around them a border of battling giants, civic wreath border and outer decorative scrolled wreath border, 150mm. (BHM.870; Eimer 1067a; Eimer, Wellington 57), a most decorative and unusual item and made on a slightly convex flan, uneven colour, nearly extremely fine
Lot 2012
Ancient Coins, Greek, Greek bronze coins (6), including Ionia, Chios (c.190-133 BC), Æ 19mm., sphinx seated r., a corn-ear before, countermark (tripod?) on wing, rev. HP[OΣTPA]/XIOΣ, amphora, bunch of grapes on l. (SNG. Copenhagen 1573); and issues from Kamarina, Macedon, Elaea and Kyzikos, generally very fine or nearly so (6)
Lot 2170
Foreign Medals, World War II, the completion of the Burma-Siam Railway, bronze medal, 1943, designed by Captain Ewart Esercitt; map of the Malay peninsular, the railway marked with a line, the Islands of Borneo and Java, to the fore the railway track recedes to the distance, to r., a palm tree, rev. legend in Japanese characters (IN COMMEMORATION OF THE BURMA-SIAM RAILWAY, SHOWA [OCTOBER] 18TH), 49mm. (Fearon, D., A Bronze Medal for the Burma-Siam Railway, 1943, Numismatic Circular, LXXXIV, January 1976, p.8), cast on a thick flan?, as made - very fine, an extremely rare and emotive medal It is not the place of an auction catalogue to record the horrors of the Burma-Siam Railway. The railway was actually completed seventy-five years ago on the 17th October 1943 and the ceremony for its opening was held a week later on the on the 25th, when a golden nail was hammered into the final section of track. Captain Charles Ewart Esercitt of the Royal Army Service Corps who commanded many of the British prisoners working on the railway and at the rail base camp at Nong Pladuk, was a talented amateur artist specialising in lino-cuts. It seems safe to attribute the medal design to him. The medal was kept as a souvenir by Pte. Frederick Arthur Knightly, RASC (T/205155), serving as a driver with 54 Infantry Brigade Group and captured at Shanghai. The medal is sold with his service medals, 1939-45 and Pacific stars and War medal, brooch mounted; dress miniatures and ribbon brooch (both these include Defence medal); duplicate Pacific star; RASC cap badge; Far East POW Social Club lapel badges (2); more recent FEPOW badges, pins, etc (8); with photocopied research. The 1976 article records three specimens and the example now in the Imperial War Museum (not on display) is believed to be one of these three. Since then the cataloguers know of only a single example being offered for sale (by private treaty some 20 years ago) and none has been offered for sale at auction. There are possibly between 5 and 10 pieces extant.
Lot 24
British Coins, William IV, pattern sovereign, 1830, plain edge, second portrait, bare head r., rev. crowned shield of arms (S.3829B; W&R.260 [R5, 6-10 known]; Nobleman 203; DM.178), evidence of some handling, bold proof impression, beautifully mirrored fields surrounding frosted images of the king and his royal shield, certified and graded by PCGS as Proof 62 Deep Cameo, only one other example graded PF62DC by PCGS Victoria’s uncle reigned just short of a decade, having spent most of his adult life in the Royal Navy, where he was influential in its modernisation and as a result of which he was sometimes called ‘the sailor king’ by admirers, who were relatively few as he was not an outgoing person; he seemed lacking in many kingly qualities, doubtless as a result of his experience at sea and in the Admiralty until his older brother, George IV, left the crown to him. The kingdom itself enjoyed prosperity during these years, which marked the end of the Romantic Age in the arts. Politically and militarily this was the beginning of the modern empire; it would be Victoria who led the nation into a new period of military might, but it was her Uncle William who prepared the way by advancing the naval forces. William’s coinage included tiny silver and bronze coins made purposely for use in far-flung reaches of the empire, where few of his subjects would encounter his gold sovereigns and none would ever have set eyes on a coin like this, a deluxe proof specially made to show off the coin’s qualities to best advantage, and an image of the king as custodian of the realm. Commercial sovereigns of this reign are invariably entirely different from this coin, as their lustre is satiny, whereas here we see the king’s image set off by watery mirrored fields. J. B. Merlen’s elegant royal shield on reverse also captivates the viewer’s eye. ‘Regal’ is a fitting description of this very rare golden treasure.
Lot 696
Vespasian Æ Sestertius. Judaea Capta series. Rome, AD 71. IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TR P P P COS III, laureate head right / IVDAEA CAPTA, Vespasian standing right, holding spear and parazonium, foot on helmet; before him, Jewess in attitude of mourning seated to right on cuirass beneath palm tree. RIC 167; BMCRE 543-4; BN 497-8; Hendin 1504. 19.71g, 31mm. Extremely Fine. Privately purchased from B&H Kreindler; Ex Brody Family Collection, The New York Sale XXXIX, 10 January 2017, lot 236 (cover coin); Ex Abraham Bromberg Collection Part II, Superior Galleries, 10 December 1992, lot 611. Struck for 25 years by Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian, the Judaea Capta coins were issued in bronze, silver and gold by mints in Rome, throughout the Roman Empire, and in Judaea itself. They were issued in every denomination, and at least 48 different types are known. The present piece proudly displays imagery of this significant Roman victory, after which Vespasian boldly closed the gates of the Temple of Janus to signify that all of Rome's wars were ended, and that the Pax Romana again prevailed. The obverse portrait of Vespasian shows him as strong, robust and in the prime of life; the reverse celebrates Rome and Vespasian's triumph over the Jewish revolt in Judaea, which Titus had brought to a close the previous year with the capture of Jerusalem after a seven month siege and the destruction of the Second Temple. It had been a costly and devastating war which had cost the lives of twenty five thousand Roman soldiers and somewhere between two hundred and fifty thousand and one million Jewish civilians. The reverse design is simple, but contains powerful imagery: a Jewish woman is seated in an attitude of mourning beside a date palm; behind her looms large the figure of the victorious emperor. It has been occasionally suggested that the female figure represents Jerusalem, and it is sometimes noted that the reverse of this coin can be interpreted to reflect the prophecy of Isaiah 3:8, 25-26: 'For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen... Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground'. It is also possible that the reverse is symbolic of the general enslavement of the Jewish population; Josephus reports that one of Titus' freedmen "selected the tallest and most handsome of the youth and reserved each of them for the triumph; of the rest, those over seventeen years of age he sent in chains to the mines in Egypt, while multitudes were presented by Titus to the various provinces, to be destroyed in the theatres by the sword or by wild beasts; those under seventeen were sold". The Arch of Titus in Rome, completed by his brother Domitian shortly after his death and in commemoration of this victory, depicts the Roman army carrying off the treasures from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah, after the siege of the city had ended. The spoils were used to fund the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre, more commonly known as the Colosseum, the great lasting monument of the Flavian dynasty.
Lot 663
Augustus AR Denarius. Samos, 21-20 BC. CAESAR, bare head right / AVGVSTVS, bull standing right. RIC 475; C. 28; BMCRE 663; Sutherland, "L'attribution des deniers augustéens aux types du temple, de la couronne et du jeune taureau" in RN 1974, 61f; BN 941. 2.94g, 20mm, 1h. About Good Extremely Fine; beautiful light cabinet tone with hints of iridescence. Ex Gorny & Mosch 114, 4 March 2002, lot 209. Among the first coins to be struck bearing the new title Augustus, this denarius is of exceptional style and engraved with beautiful craftsmanship. Struck in Pergamum, the reverse type remains an enigma with scholarship as yet unable to settle on a definitive meaning, though various suggestions have been posed. Firstly, perhaps the bull is based on Myron's bronze heifer, a statue much admired in antiquity and of which Augustus must have been aware: he is known to have restored Myron's Apollo, which Marc Antony had taken, to Ephesus. However, an alternative statue has been proposed by Sutherland in RIC to be the basis for this reverse type. He links this issue with Augustus' visit to Samos in winter 21/20 BC, where he would likely have seen a statue of Poseidon Taureos in the sanctuary, an event he later commemorated on the coinage. More personal to Augustus himself is the theory that what we see here is a reference to the famous 'butting bull' type seen on the coinage of Thurium. Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus in celebration of his father's victory in battle against a Spartacist army, which took place outside the town, this reverse type would be a personal allegory to Augustus and the high regard in which his family was held by the townspeople of Thurium.
Lot 782
Carausius AR Denarius. London, circa AD 289-290. IMP CARAVSIVS P F AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / VIRTVS SAEC C, radiate lion walking to left with thunderbolt held in mouth; RSR in exergue. PAS HAMP-2E6A12 (this coin); RIC -, cf. 591-2 for type with different rev. legend; Shiel -; Webb -; RSC -; cf. PAS BM-B49CF4 (obv. bust type var.) = Timeline Auctions, 30 May 2015, lot 2221 (sold for £17,360). 3.66g, 22mm, 7h. Good Extremely Fine; attractive original tone, as excavated. One of the very finest denarii of Carausius in private hands. Unique. Found in the parish of Itchen Stoke and Ovington near Winchester, Hampshire, United Kingdom, on Sunday 5 November 2017 and registered with the Portable Antiquities Scheme: HAMP-2E6A12. When Carausius settled in Britain in 286 the Roman currency was in a degenerate state, made up almost exclusively of base-metal issues; he saw an opportunity to use the platform of coinage as a means to present himself, his regime and his new ideology for the breakaway 'British Empire', and gold and silver issues superior to those made by the legitimate empire were the principal manifestation of his traditional standards and virtues. It is in the exergual mark of RSR that Carausius' use of classical allusion as propaganda can be seen: G. de la Bédoyère, in his paper for the Numismatic Chronicle (158, 1998, 79-88), made a strong case for a Virgilian reading of the RSR mark, based on its use on a bronze medallion of Carausius (BM 1972-7-17-1), very similar in style to a second bronze medallion with the exergual mark of INPCDA (BM 1967 9-1-1), and the reverse legend employed by Carausius of EXPECTATE VENI, 'Come, long awaited one' (cf. RIC 554-8, 439-40 and Aeneid ii, 283), which usually appears on the silver coinage. He suggests that the RSR mark is an abbreviation of "redeunt Saturnia regna" (the Saturnian kingdoms return), from Virgil's Eclogues IV, from which the following line is "iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto" (INPCDA, now a generation is let down from heaven above). Virgil's Eclogues text is entirely appropriate for the image that Carausius was trying to promote of the 'British Empire' as a haven of traditional Roman values, and the Saturnian age was a commonly used theme of Roman literature to symbolise a lost paradise, both of which are employed here to legitimise Carausius' rule and appeal to the Romano-British inhabitants of his new empire to support him in his desire to uphold the Roman ideal. The device of a lion bearing a thunderbolt currently defies logical explanation. As a type, it was previously used under the emperors Caracalla, Philip I, Aurelian and Probus who all variously claimed mastery over the East, however in the context of Carausius' reign its significance cannot be the same unless we allow for gross hubris on Carausius' part, having 'defeated' an invasion fleet of Maximianus' in 289 (a panegyric delivered to Constantius Chlorus attributes this failure to bad weather, but notes that Carausius claimed a military victory). The type may be in reference to one of Carausius' military units, Legio IIII Flavia Felix (or a detachment thereof), whose lion insignia was depicted on other contemporary issues.
Lot 12
Etruria, Populonia AR Drachm. Late 4th - 3rd century BC. Hare leaping right / Blank. EC I, 116.3-6 (O2); HN Italy 223; SNG ANS 22. 3.96g, 16mm. Good Very Fine. Extremely Rare, one of only five known examples from this die. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist, and outside of Italy prior to December 1992. The hare was a popular motif in Etruscan art, particularly on surviving pottery and bronze ware. A bronze statuette sold by Royal Athena Galleries (New York) portrays a standing figure of Turms holding a sacrificial hare and the remains of a knife. The possibility therefore of the hare shown here representing a sacrificial animal or a symbolic attribute of swift-footed Turms (perhaps as the lion-skin diobol [see following lot] relates to Hercle?) should not be ignored, though the depiction of other animals including dolphins and octopodes (see following lots) also cannot yet be satisfactorily explained.
Lot 110
Apulia, Venusia Æ Uncia. Circa 210-200 BC. Half length bust of Herakles right, wearing lion's skin headdress and holding club over shoulder; pellet before / Lion seated left, breaking spear held in its jaw; VE monogram left. SNG ANS 757; BMC Italy pg. 151, 14; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG Munich 549; SNG Morcom 234; Laffaille, Choix de Monnaies Grecques en Bronze, pl. 5 = Weber 482. 5.92g, 19mm, 6h. Good Very Fine. Very Rare, and in outstanding condition for the type. Sold with export licence issued by The Israel Antiquities Authority.
Lot 713
Trajan AV Aureus. Rome, AD 101-102. IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM, laureate bust right, slight drapery on far shoulder / P•M•TR P• COS•IIII•P•P, Hercules standing facing on low base, holding club in right hand and lion skin in left. RIC 49 var. (bust type); C. 231 var.; BMCRE 84; Calicó 1053a (this coin); MIR 99b (this coin cited). 7.24g, 20mm, 7h. Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare; only three other examples on CoinArchives. This coin cited in B. Woytek, Moneta Imperii Romani 14 (2010); This coin published in X. Calicó, Los Aureos Romanos (2002); Ex Bank Leu Fixed Price List, December 1990, 5; Ex Hess-Leu 49, 27 April 1971, lot 354; Ex Baron Friedrich von Schennis Collection, J. Hirsch XXXIII, 17 November 1913, lot 1217; Ex Ernst Herzfelder Collection, J. Hirsch XXIX, 9 November 1910, lot 968. Trajan was the first of the Roman emperors to depict the figure and attributes of Hercules on his coinage. This was perhaps on account of Trajan having been born in Italica in southern Spain where Hercules was particularly venerated as Hercules Gaditanus (the name pertaining to the temple to Hercules outside the Phoenician city of Gadir on the southern coast of Spain). Strack argued that this type is a depiction of the cult-image of Hercules Gaditanus, and though the image is certainly suggestive of being a representation of a cult-statue, there is no corroborating evidence (Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts. I. Die Reichsprägung des Traian, Stuttgart, 1931). Indeed, the reverse types of Hadrian make specific reference to Hercules Gaditanus and depict Hercules standing from an altogether different viewpoint, with the attribute of the apples of the Hesperides rather than the lion skin (see RIC 125). An equally likely source for the representation may have been the statue that stood near the Ara Maxima Herculis Invicti, the great altar to the hero in the Forum Boarium in Rome. This was a sacred spot which legend tells us was where Hercules killed the giant Cacus who had stolen some of the cattle of Geryon from him (for the full story see Livy 1.7). Despite this, the gilded bronze statue discovered on the site of the Forum Boarium, now housed by the Capitoline Museum of Rome, also lacks the attribute of the lion skin. Lacking a clear source for the representation, this rare aureus is best understood within the context of the close association Trajan cultivated between himself and Hercules. The orations addressed to Trajan by Dio Chrysostom directly identify the emperor with Hercules, a comparison also made by Pliny (see Dio Chrysostom, On Kingship A, 84 and Pliny, Panegyricus, 14.5). A series of quadrantes struck under Trajan make the same equation, depicting Hercules in the place of the emperor on the obverse, alongside his imperial titles (RIC 698, 700-2). In another numismatic representation, the column celebrating Trajan’s victory over the Dacians is depicted in the form of a club resting on a lionskin pedestal (see RIC 581, pl. XI, 202), likening the emperor’s triumph to a Herculean labour. A statue in the collection of the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome makes the association most clear, depicting Trajan as Hercules-Silvanus, draped with a lionskin in much the same manner as Hercules depicted on the aureus presented here (for further discussion, see O. J. Hekster, Propagating power: Hercules as an example for second-century emperors in Herakles and Hercules, 2003, pp. 20-35).
Lot 426
Greco-Baktrian Kingdom, anonymous AV Unit. Time of Demetrios I Aniketos(?), circa 200-185 BC. Shield(?), XXX across; all within bead-and-reel border / Kerykeion; –C to right; all within bead-and-reel border. Bopearachchi -; O. Bopearachchi, “Two more unique coins from the second Mir Zakah deposit,” ONS Newsletter 169 (Autumn 2001), pp. 21-22 (this coin); Bopearachchi & Rahman -; SNG ANS -; MIG -. 1.06g, 10mm. Good Very Fine. Unique. From a private British collection; This coin published in O. Bopearachchi, Two more unique coins from the second Mir Zakah deposit (ONS Newsletter 169, Autumn 2001); Ex Classical Numismatic Group 93, 22 May 2013, lot 680; Ex Triton XV, 3 January 2012, lot 1345; Ex 1992 Mir Zakah Hoard. This coin is one of a very few non-royal coins struck in the region of the Greco-Baktrian Kingdom. Bopearachchi dated this gold coin to the time of Demetrios I, based on use of the bead-and-reel obverse and reverse borders and the depiction of the kerykeion type which link it to the bronze issues of that king. It has also been suggested that this gold coin could have been struck at the time of the Indo-Skythian king Maues, who also minted bronze coins utilising the kerykeion as a reverse type, along with a bead-and-reel border (though only on the obverse).
Lot 163
Attica, Athens AR Drachm. Circa 510-490 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing earring and crested Attic helmet ornamented with beaded decorations on crest holder and spiral on bowl / Owl standing to right with head facing, olive branch behind, ??? before; all within incuse square. Svoronos pl. 7, 20-23; cf. Seltman pl. XXII, ? (same rev. die); HGC 4, 1623 (same dies); Gorny & Mosch 232, 207 (same dies); Triton XX, 147 (same dies). 4.17g, 16mm, 4h. Good Extremely Fine; a marvellous example of this extremely desirable type - the earliest issue of Athena-Owl drachms at Athens. Ex Triton XXI, 9 January 2018, lot 415. Athens was one of the few Greek cities with significant silver deposits in their immediate territory, a remarkable stroke of fortune upon which Xenophon reflected: 'The Divine Bounty has bestowed upon us inexhaustible mines of silver, and advantages which we enjoy above all our neighbouring cities, who never yet could discover one vein of silver ore in all their dominions.' The mines at Laurion had been worked since the bronze age, but it would be only later in 483 that a massive new vein of ore would be discovered that enabled Athens to finance grand new schemes such as the construction of a fleet of 200 triremes, a fleet that would later prove decisive in defending Greece at the Battle of Salamis. This coin was produced in the period before the discovery of the new deposits at Laurion, around the time of the Ionian Revolt and the subsequent first Persian invasion of Greece. Athens aided the Ionian Greeks in their rebellion against Persian tyranny with both coin and soldiers, participating in the 498 BC march on Sardes which resulted in the capture and sack of that city – the only significant offensive action taken by the Ionians, who were pushed back onto the defensive and eventually subjugated once more. Vowing to punish Athens for their support of the doomed rebellion, the Persian king Darius launched an invasion of Greece, landing at Marathon in 490 BC. Just twenty five miles from Athens, a vastly outnumbered Athenian hoplite army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Persians, who after suffering horrendous casualties turned to their ships and fled.
Lot 477
Antoninus Pius Æ Drachm of Egypt, Alexandria. Dated RY 5 = AD 141/142. AYT K T AI? A?P ANT?NINOC C?B ?YC, laureate head right / Achilles and the Centaur Chiron walking to right, Chiron with left foreleg raised, head and human torso turned towards Achilles, holding a helmet in his left hand, his right arm across the shoulder of the young Achilles who holds a spear in his right hand and places his left around Chiron; between them billows Achilles' cloak, L? (date) in exergue. Köln 1873 (same dies); Dattari (Savio) 2505 & 8369; K&G -; Emmett 1485.5 (R5); Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 135 (this coin). 23.86g, 34mm, 1h. Very Fine. Wonderful surfaces with a dark brown patina with hints of green and red. Extremely Rare; probably the finest known specimen of the type. Ex Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection, Triton XXI, 9 January 2018, lot 164; Ex Kerry K. Wetterstrom Collection, Classical Numismatic Auctions XIII, 4 December 1990, lot 218. Numismatic artistry flourished at the mint of Alexandria during the early years of Antoninus Pius’ reign with the introduction of an ambitious range of new reverse types. This coin is a rarity of the mythological series, alongside which the Labours of Hercules and the signs of the Zodiac were also produced. The reason for these strikingly different pictorial types has been examined by J.G. Milne, who suggests that a masterful Greek artist was active for a limited time at Alexandria, producing imagery previously unfamiliar to Egypt and later copied in a less expert style (speaking specifically about the Hercules series, see Pictorial Coin-Types at the Roman Mint of Alexandria, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 39, 1943). This artist seemed to work exclusively on bronze drachms which in comparison to smaller silver and bronze denominations were naturally preferable for these new medallic designs. The childhood of Achilles was only briefly touched upon in the Homeric cycle; it is not until much later that the story is embellished and his early years described at length. That Achilles was tutored by the wise centaur Chiron was mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, not an unusual upbringing for a mythical hero as many other heroes including Herakles, Jason, Perseus and Theseus were also trained by Chiron as youths. The work which is the most descriptive in presenting Achilles' time with Chiron on Mount Pelion is Statius’ unfinished epic, the Achilleid, published in the first century AD, which also covers his time on Skyros where he was hidden by his mother Thetis, disguised as a girl so that he might avoid his fated death should he go to Troy and war. Statius expanded upon the surviving Greek sources for Achilles’ upbringing with Chiron, portraying the centaur as more than a teacher and mentor, adapting his role into that of a loving foster father. Thus Achilles, when later describing what he ate when growing up, refers to Chiron as such: “thus that father [pater] of mine used to feed me” (2.102). Statius may have been following a theme begun by Ovid some years earlier; in Fasti (5.412) Achilles laments at Chiron’s death, saying “Live, I beg you; don’t leave me, dear father [pater]!” It was perhaps with such thoughts in mind that the engraver here portrays Achilles and Chiron: the old centaur drapes his left arm in an affectionate, paternal manner across the youth’s shoulder, a gesture which Achilles reciprocates, as the two walk together. Chiron carries Achilles helmet, while Achilles himself rests his spear across his shoulder, the point of which emerges on the far side of Chiron, behind him. It may be that we are invited to see in this scene the end of a day’s training: “Already at that time weapons were in my hand... Never would he suffer me to follow unwarlike deer through the pathless glens of Ossa, or lay low timid lynxes with my spear, but only to drive angry bears from their resting-places, and boars with lightning thrust; or if anywhere a mighty tiger lurked or a lioness with her cubs in some secret lair upon the mountain-side, he himself, seated in his vast cave, awaited my exploits, if perchance I should return bespattered with dark blood; nor did he admit me to his embrace before he had scanned my weapons” (2.106-128)”.
Lot 20
Etruria, uncertain mint Æ 25 Units (Centesimae). Late 4th century BC. Helmeted head of Menvra right, ?XX behind; all within laurel wreath / Incuse cock standing left within laurel wreath. EC I, 6 (O1/R3?); HN Italy 81. 8.17g, 22mm, 9h. Very Fine. Very Rare, the eleventh recorded example. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist; Ex VCV Collection, Roma Numismatics X, 27 September 2015, lot 95. The carefully engraved bronze series characterised by wreath-bordered obverses and incuse reverses clearly belongs to a single mint, but the widely dispersed provenances (Acanaro, Cecina, Cetona, Gravisca, Populonia, Valle d'Orcia, Valle Fuino di Cascia and Vetulonia) are of little help in identifying it. However, bronze cast and struck issues did predominate in central Etruria where 4 of the finds were made. The denominations are tariffed in centesimal marks of value from 1 to 100 Units, with the basic bronze unit on a standard somewhere between 0.6g and 1g. This may have been an attempt to divide a nominal as by centesimae rather than onciae as seen on the double denominated Populonia bronze series 139 with /X (11 Units equated to a triens) and Populonia series EC I, 140 with X (= 10 Units equated to a triens of lower weight) and the > or (5 Units) denominated bronzes from the Val di Chiana - cf. HN Italy 72, 74 and 75.
Lot 392
Seleukid Empire, Antiochos II Theos AV Stater. Aï Khanoum, 261-246 BC. Diademed head of Antiochos I right / Apollo Delphinios seated to left on omphalos, holding arrow and resting left hand upon bow set on ground; ???????? to right, ???????? to left, monogram in left field. SC 435.1; ESM 695. 8.50g, 18mm, 5h. Good Very Fine, minor scuff on neck. Extremely Rare. Ex private German collection. Recent scholarship has reattributed a series of gold, silver and bronze coins with the mint mark of a delta within a circle, or close variants, from the ancient capital of Baktria, Baktra to previously unknown the city of Aï Khanoum in northeast Afghanistan. The history of this Hellenistic city is unclear - it was possibly founded by Alexander the Great as one of the military settlements left in this region, and could have been the settlement of Alexandeia Oxeiana. Another theory is that it was founded by Antiochos I in the early third century BC as a royal residence while Baktria was under Seleukid rule. Either way, the archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates that during the Hellenistic era Aï Khanoum was a major city. The excavations reveal that the city had a palace complex as well as a treasury, gymnasium, mausoleums and temples in addition to the discovery of unstruck bronze flans, highly suggestive that a mint was active here, although its dates of operation are not clear. Baktra had been suggested as the mint location only because, as Newell (Newell The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints. From Seleucus I to Antiochus III. 1938 pp. 229) wrote, the “only logical location for a large and active royal mint…[was] at Baktra, the political, commercial and geographical centre of the entire province.” However, a variant of the mintmark seen on this coin was found on bricks at one of the oldest parts of the ancient city of Aï Khanoum, a factor which led Kritt in his 2016 work ‘The Seleucid Mint of Aï Khanoum’ (Classical Numismatic Studies No. 9) to reattribute coins bearing this mintmark to this city. This was supported by Houghton and Lorber in ‘Seleukid Coins: a Comprehensive Catalogue’ who reassigned this whole series to Aï Khanoum and further argue that Baktra could not have issued these coins as a newly discovered bronze coin (catalogue number 283A) depicted the river god of the Oxus, which flowed by the city of Aï Khanoum, not Baktra.
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