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Various collectable coins, etc, Festival of Britain cased crown, WWII Africa star medal, a Queen's Golden Jubilee coin set 2002 (a quantity)

Various 20thC silver plate, to include a box set with George IV coin with a part beaded outline on orb feet, 7cm H, 17cm W, 12cm D, milk jug and sugar bowl, galleried edge tray, a heart shaped ink bottle, another, papier mache pen work pen tray, fork, wick cutters and a collectors plate. (a quantity)

Framed Picture with Coin - Battle of Briton - very good condition

Great Britain 1999 Princess Diana Memorial Five Pound Coin and Stamp Set cover - Kensington Gardens, special cancellation.

Great Britain 1992 40th Anniversary of the Accession to the Throne, Stamp Set, Buckingham Palace FDC, with Alderney £2 Coin.

A carton of stamps and coin covers in three Westminster albums Aviation Heritage includes Spitfire,VE Day Route to Victory stamp + coin cover, RAF covers, WWII series etc good lot

A SILVER PROOF £20 COIN TOGETHER WITH TWO WHITE METAL BANGLES, SPOONS ETC.

A COMMEMORATIVE GUERNSEY £ 25 GOLD COIN / FIRST DAY COVER - HM THE QUEEN MOTHER CENTENARY 1900-2000 / 99th BIRTHDAY 4TH AUGUST 1999

A CASED COIN HOLDER ON CHAIN

Cilicia, Tarsos AR Stater. Circa 455-400 BC. Horseman (Syennesis?) riding to left, holding lotus flower in right hand and reins in left, bow in bowcase on saddle; Key symbol below horse / Persian soldier advancing to right, bow and quiver over shoulder, extending both hands with uncertain object in right, towards Greek soldier seated to left on quiver, wearing crested Attic helmet, supporting himself with his left hand, bow on the ground at his side; all within incuse square. Unpublished in the standard references including: BMC -; Traité -; Casabonne -; MIMAA -; SNG France -; SNG Levante -. 10.70g, 20mm, 6h. Good Very Fine. Apparently unique and unpublished, and of very great numismatic and historical interest. From the collection of P.R., United Kingdom. This remarkable coin defies explanation at the present state of knowledge. That it depicts an interaction between two soldiers, one a Persian and the other of Greek style, seems reasonable enough. The Persian, on the left, carries a slung bow and quiver denoting a military aspect; he is not crowned, thus we may assume he is not a king, nor does he seem to wear the kyrbasia that would indicate satrapal rank. The figure on the right wears a crested helmet apparently of Attic style; his attire is otherwise uncertain. He may wear a fitted cuirass and a tunic that reaches down over his upper legs, he could be bare to the waist and wearing a loincloth, or he may be simply dressed in a long, light, belted tunic only - the detail is too uncertain to make a definitive judgement. Beneath him are clearly visible a quiver with arrows within, and both ends of his bow, strung for action. The great question which prevents us from determining with any more precision what kind of interaction this scene could depict centres on what the Persian soldier is doing with his hands. He holds an object in his right hand; his fingers are oriented downwards in the manner that one would wield a sword or dagger; a line beyond the end of his hand could be the hilt of such a weapon. In this case we might suppose that with his left hand he is grasping the crest of the Greek's helmet, while with his left foot he prepares to tread on his opponent. Yet if we are to see in this the act of stabbing a fallen enemy, the design could have been rendered in a more conspicuous manner - no blade is visible, and a blow to the upper arm as it appears would seem misplaced. What is the alternative? It is conceivable that the Persian proffers some object to the Greek - a message perhaps - but the positioning of his foot and placing his hand over the recipient's head seems bizarre and more than a little unwelcome. Other explanations may present themselves to the imaginative observer (the defeat by Megabyzos of the Egyptian revolt led by Inaros II and supported by an Athenian task force in 455 BC?) or one with specialist knowledge perhaps. In the meantime we can only safely say that it is a numismatic scene with no existing parallel we are aware of, and is a highly important addition to the corpus of the early coinage of Tarsos.

Constantius II AV Solidus. Antioch, AD 350. FL IVL CONSTANTIVS PERP AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right / GLORIA REIPVBLICAE, Constantius on horseback to right, turreted figure kneeling to left before him, holding torch in left hand; SMAN? in exergue. RIC 80; C 107; Depeyrot 6/2. 4.40g, 21mm, 11h. Near Mint State. Extremely Rare; in exceptional condition for the issue, certainly one of the finest of very few specimens known and far superior to the only other example on CoinArchives (H. D. Rauch 98, 21 September 2015, lot 677 [hammer: EUR 28,000]). It should be noted that the scene depicted on the reverse of this coin does not represent a formal adventus, since the raised hand, the signal gesture of the emperor's greeting and the extension of his benevolence is absent here. The kneeling figure is not that of the Tyche of Antioch, for she carries not a cornucopiae but a torch, and the legend clearly indicates that we are to perceive this figure as a personification of the Res Publica. Thus, Kent, Sutherland and Carson (RIC VIII p. 505) advocate that the intended meaning should be seen as the 'liberation' or 'deliverance' of the Republic, similar to the LIBERATOR REI PVBLICAE multiples struck for Magnentius at Aquileia. Viewed in this context, the issue must refer to Constantius' imminent departure to the West to 'liberate' it from the usurper Magnentius, whose agents had assassinated Constantius II's brother and Imperial colleague Constans as he tried to flee to safety.

Crete, Phaistos AR Stater. Mid 4th century BC. Herakles standing in fighting attitude to right, wearing Nemean lion skin, seizing with his left hand one of the heads of the Lernean Hydra, and with his right hand preparing to strike with club; bow and bowcase in left field / Bull standing to left. Svoronos 66, pl. XXIV, 23 (these dies); Le Rider pl. XXIII, 11 (same dies); BMFA Suppl. 125 (same dies). 11.60g, 26mm, 1h. Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare, only two examples recorded by Le Rider. Ex private American Collection, Roma Numismatics X, 27 September 2015, lot 380. The obverse of this coin depicts the second of Herakles' Twelve Labours set by Eurystheos, the agent of Hera. He was tasked with slaying the ancient serpent-like monster that resided in the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, which guarded an underwater entrance to the underworld. Upon cutting off each of the Hydra's heads however, Herakles found that two more would grow back in its place, an expression of the hopelessness of such a struggle for any but the hero. Realizing that he could not defeat the Hydra in this way, Herakles called on his nephew Iolaos for help. Iolaos then came upon the idea (possibly inspired by Athena) of using a firebrand to cauterize the stumps after each decapitation. When Hera saw that Herakles was gaining the upper hand she sent a large crab to distract the hero, but Herakles crushed it underfoot. He cut off the last and strongest of the Hydra's heads with a golden sword given to him by Athena, and so completed his task. Hera, upset that Herakles had slain the beast she raised to kill him, placed it in the vault of the heavens as the constellation Hydra, and she turned the crab into the constellation Cancer. The encounter with the Lernean Hydra is not only well attested in epic, but is also the subject of some of the earliest securely identifiable Herakles scenes in Greek art. On two Boiotian fibulae of c. 750-700 BC (BM 3025, Philadelphia 75-35-1), the hydra is attacked by Herakles, at whose feet is the crab sent by Hera. This particular form of the scene would later be replicated on the coins of Phaistos (cf. Svoronos 60, pl. XXIV, 20), even including the crab. The present example is the earliest in the Herakles-Hydra series at Phaistos, and consequently is more archaistic in style. It has been extensively argued that the later designs of Phaistos copy a now lost masterpiece of sculpture or painting, perhaps even a statue group by the great sculptor Lysippos (see Lehmann, 'Statues on Coins', New York 1946; see also Lacroix, 'Les Reproductions de Statues sur les Monnaies Grecques', Liege 1949; see also Lattimore, 'Lysippian Sculpture on Greek Coins', California Studies in Classical Antiquity Vol. 5 1972). The present type however most likely draws its inspiration from a locally significant vase or wall painting, given that the composition is pictorial in nature, showing Herakles' bow and quiver behind him in the field. Though the particular source of inspiration for this type is not known, clear parallels can be seen in surviving Greek art of the late Archaic and early Classical periods, notably on an Attic black figure Lekythos now in the Louvre (CA598) which depicts Herakles and the Hydra in a similar combat pose.

Southern Arabia (Arabia Felix), imitative Alexander type AV Stater. Late 3rd - 2nd centuries BC. Head of Athena right, wearing triple crested Corinthian helmet / Stylised figure of Nike standing to left, wearing helmet and long chiton, holding a serpent; Southern Arabian imitative characters around. Unpublished in the standard references; for the epigraphy cf. S. Munro-Hay, Coinage of Arabia Felix: The Pre-Islamic Coinage of the Yemen, Nomismata 5, Milan 2003, pp. 33 and passim. 5.49g, 23mm, 12h. Extremely Fine. Unique, unpublished, and of great numismatic interest. From a private British collection; Privately purchased from the collection of the late Manzoor Mirza. The convexity of the flan, artistic imitative style and Southern Arabian epigraphy all indicate a southern Arabian origin, the region known to the Romans as Arabia Felix and which now forms part of the territory of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman. Most of the extensive coinage is made up of silver copying the old and new style issues of Athens, but there are also three rare issues imitating Alexander III tetradrachms (Munro-Hay p. 131, 1.10.4, pl. 11, 367-9). Curiously, the wreath and stylis normally carried by Nike are on this coin replaced by a serpent, which the standing figure (who is clearly helmeted here) grips with both hands. This departure from the prototype cannot be mere error; even on the most worn of Alexander staters the position of Nike's arms is clear. The depiction of a serpent thus suggests a deliberate change of iconography.

Lucius Verus AV Aureus. Rome, AD 164. L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Victory, naked to waist, standing right, holding writing instrument in right hand and with left hand steadying shield inscribed VIC AVG that is set atop palm tree. RIC 525 (Aurelius); BMCRE 296 (Aurelius); Calicó 2177. 7.26g, 19mm, 6h. Fleur De Coin. Shortly after Lucius Verus succeeded to the position of co-emperor in AD 161, a position he shared with Marcus Aurelius, the peace Antoninus Pius had negotiated with the Parthians collapsed. The Parthian king Vologases IV invaded the Kingdom of Armenia, then a Roman client state, expelling the king and installing his own. Both initial attempts to recover the territory of Armenia by the Governor of Cappadocia, Marcus Sedatius Severianus, and the Governor of Syria, L. Attidius Cornelianus, were unsuccessful. Marcus Aurelius took the decision to send his imperial colleague Lucius Verus to defend the Eastern territories in person. This aureus was struck shortly following the successful invasion of Armenia and capture of Artaxata in AD 183 by M. Statius Priscus, the former Governor of Britain who had been sent to replace Severianus as the Governor of Cappadocia. The obverse proudly boasts the title of Armeniacus, which was granted to Verus despite him having never seen combat. Verus is believed to have spent the majority of the campaign in Antioch, where his contribution to military matters is one of historical dispute. Nevertheless, the recovery of Armenia into the empire as a subordinate client kingdom saw the end of the limited themes which had featured on the early gold issues of the two Augusti in favour of the new – Minerva, Felicitas, Pax – including Victory, who is depicted on the reverse of this coin.

Domitian AR Denarius. Rome, AD 93. IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P XIII, laureate head right / IMP XXII COS XVI CENS P P P, Minerva standing right on capital of rostral column, holding spear and shield, owl to right. RIC 762; C. 284; BMCRE 216; RSC 284. 3.49g, 19mm, 6h. Fleur De Coin. Ex collection of a Munich doctor, acquired c. 1960s-1990s.

Commodus, as Caesar, AV Aureus. Rome, AD 175. COMMODO CAES AVG FIL GERM, bare-headed and draped bust right / LIBERALITAS • AVG, Commodus, togate, seated to left on curule chair set on platform, extending right hand; Liberalitas standing to left before, holding abacus and cornucopiae; togate citizen at base of platform standing to right, left foot on steps, holding out fold of toga in both hands. RIC 597 (Aurelius); MIR 18, 304-12/13, pl. 2 (same obv. die); Calicó 2274 (same dies); BMCRE 635 (Aurelius and Commodus), pl. 66, 4 (same rev. die); Biaggi -. 7.02g, 19.5mm, 6h. Good Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare, one of only two examples on CoinArchives, and the first issue to feature the portrait of Commodus. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 100, 7 October 2015, lot 1907. In AD 175, Commodus entered the College of Pontiffs and thus begun his career in public life. In the same year, he gave a congiarium, as commemorated on this coin, this being a gift to the people usually from the emperor but here given by the teenaged heir. Congiaria were originally distributions of oil or wine (congius meaning a measure of liquids) but the emperors’ gifts grew more generous over time to include grain and money and thus the word congiarium disappeared from the numismatic legend to be replaced with liberalitas - the spirit of imperial generosity. We can date this liberalitas thanks to a comment in the Historia Augusta which states that before his departure to the East with his father in AD 175, Commodus “in his fourteenth year…even though still in the youth’s praetexta gave largess” (Historia Augusta 2.1). Therefore, this took place around June 175, during the time of the revolt of Avidius Cassius. Avidius Cassius had been appointed governor of Syria by Marcus Aurelius and had by AD 173 successfully quelled the revolt of the Bucoli in Egypt at the head of a large army, second only in power to Marcus Aurelius himself. Cassius remained in Egypt following the rebellion, ruling the East in the name of the emperor who was spending much of his time fighting the Germanic tribes away from Rome. It is said a rumour that Marcus Aurelius had died from an illness on the Danube reached Cassius, who then persuaded his legions to acclaim him emperor. Another report is that Faustina, fearing for her husband’s ill health and what this would mean for her young son Commodus, goaded Cassius to usurp Aurelius (see Historia Augusta, Avidius Cassius, 7). Whatever the case, Cassius, whether aware of Marcus Aurelius’ good health or not quickly gained support in the East, with Egypt, Syria and most of the Asian provinces declaring for him. He controlled much of the East for three months, during which time Aurelius, who had been forced to withdraw from the Marcomannic war to deal with the usurper, amassed troops and prepared to march east to depose Cassius. This rebellion proved to be the catalyst for a hastening of Commodus’ official entry into adulthood and assumption of imperial duties. He assumed his toga virilis on the Danubian front on 7 July 175 during preparations for the campaign against Cassius and, as this coin demonstrates, was also entrusted with performing deeds usually carried out by reigning emperors. Cassius’ rebellion lost momentum as soon as news reached the East that Aurelius was approaching with a greatly superior military force than Cassius had at his disposal. He was murdered by one of his centurions sometime in late July AD 175, as Egypt chose to recognise Aurelius again on July 28. Perhaps realising his need for a secure succession and reliable imperial colleague, two years later Marcus Aurelius made Commodus consul - the youngest consul in Roman history - and later in the same year Commodus was given the titles of Imperator and Augustus, elevating him to the position of co-emperor despite his being only sixteen years old.

Kingdom of Macedon, Philip III Arrhidaios AV Stater. Lampsakos, circa 323-317 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with griffin / Nike standing left, holding wreath and stylis; ??????OY to right, buckle above crescent-over-A in left field. Price P13A. 8.61g, 19mm, 5h. Fleur De Coin. Superb, sharp strike and brilliant mint lustre.

Marcus Aurelius AR Denarius. Rome, AD 164. M ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS, bare-headed and cuirassed bust right / P M TR P XVIII IMP II COS III, Armenia seated left, in mournful attitude, vexillum and shield before, hand on bow behind; ARMEN in exergue. RIC -, cf. 85-85a var. (different obv. legend and bust type); BMCRE -; RSC 6 var. (same). 3.27g, 18mm, 6h. Fleur De Coin. An apparently unpublished variety of this popular issue. From a central European collection.

Sicily, Katane AR Tetradrachm. Circa 465-450 BC. The river god Amenanos as a bearded, man-headed bull kneeling to right, fish below; above, a heron standing upon his back and walking left / Nike, wearing long chiton, advancing left, holding taenia in her outstretched right hand; KATANE around. Rizzo pl. IX, 2 (same dies); Randazzo pl. 3, 48-53 (same rev. die); Kraay-Hirmer 31 (same obv. die); Randazzo -; SNG ANS -; Boehringer Ognina 74 (same obv. die); Ognina Hoard AttiMem pl. 1, 3 (same obv. die). 17.31g, 29mm, 3h. Obverse die heavily used; Extremely Fine, light grey tone. Extremely Rare. Ex private American collection; Ex Roma Numismatics VII, 22 March 2014, lot 108 (hammer: £16,000). The city of Katane, founded around 729 BC by Chalkidic colonists from Naxos, was established on the site of the archaic village of the same name that was then peopled by the indigenous Sikels, who had named their village after the rugged black lava landscape (katane, meaning sharp stones). The native Sikels were rapidly hellenised, but the Naxian founders kept the autochthonal name for their new home on the banks of the river Amenanos. This outstanding coin was struck within a few years of the refoundation of the city, issued in celebration of the return of the Chalkidic inhabitants of Katane to their homeland following the Aitna episode. Hieron, tyrant of Syracuse, had forcibly transferred the populations of Katane and Naxos, Katane's parent city, to Leontinoi, renamed Katane as Aitna and settled it with 5000 colonists from Syracuse and 5000 Dorians from the Peloponnesos. However, after the death of Hieron in 466 and the overthrow of his brother Thrasybulos less than a year later, relations between the newly democratic Syracuse and its former colony soured, leading to war in 461. Allied with the Sikels under Douketios, Syracuse through several battles compelled the newly settled inhabitants to retire to the fortress of Inessa (to which they gave the name of Aitna), while the old Chalkidic citizens were reinstated in the possession of the city. The obverse depicts clear civic types referencing both the life-giving river by which Katane was sited, and other types reference the wine-grapes that must have been key to the city's prosperity through use of the type of Silenos. The taenia borne by Nike on the reverse here almost certainly alludes to the fall of the Deinomenid tyranny that, with the aid of Syracuse and the native Sikels, allowed the displaced people to return to their ancestral home.

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.

Caracalla AV Aureus. Rome, AD 205. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / PONTIF TR P VIII COS II, Mars standing left, right foot on helmet, holding olive branch and reversed spear. RIC 80a; BMCRE 476; C. 419; Calicó 2777. 7.16g, 20mm, 5h. Fleur De Coin. A bold portrait, struck on a broad flan. Lustrous metal and perfect surfaces. Rare. Ex Hermann-Joseph Lückger Collection, Dr. Busso Peus Nachf. 417, 2 November 2016, lot 409; Ex Getrudenstrasse Hoard, found in Cologne in 1909. The Getrudenstrasse Hoard was found by workmen digging the foundation of a building. It consisted of approximately 15,000 denarii and 150 or so aurei - a sizeable accumulation. Many of the coins of that hoard bear a distinctive colouration similar to that of the Boscoreale Hoard, derived from the decomposition of the original container.

Karia, Antioch ad Maeandrum AR Tetradrachm. Circa 165-145 BC. Stephanophoric type. Eunikos, magistrate. Bearded head of Zeus right, wearing laurel wreath / Zebu bull standing to left, head facing, before small female figure standing right, wearing long chiton; ANTIOXE?N T?N ?PO? T? in two lines above, MAIAN?P?? to right, EVNIKO? in exergue, all within laurel wreath. BMC -; Leschhorn, Lexicon of Greek Coin Inscriptions -; McClean -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG Lockett -; SNG von Aulock -; Weber -; CNG 108, 230. 16.00g, 27mm, 12h. Near Extremely Fine. Of the highest rarity - the finest of two known examples. The city of Antioch ad Maeandrum is not to be confused with the more famous Antioch ad Orontes, capital of the western Seleukid Empire, and indeed the legend of this coin makes this abundantly clear: “Of the people of Antioch by the Maeander”. The city was located on high ground overlooking the plain of the Maeander at its confluence with the Morsynus, near the eastern end of the Maeander valley. Founded on the south bank of the river, by the time of Strabo it had grown across both banks, and controlled a strategically important crossing (cf. Strabo 13.4.15). Probably founded by AntIochos I, little to nothing of importance occurred at this city of which records have survived, however the bridge is explicitly depicted on the city’s Roman-era coinage. While no Seleukid issues are currently attributed to this Antioch, there are many unattributed western issues from the reigns of Antiochos I through Antiochos III, so the possibility that it may have struck coinage during this period cannot be excluded. The present series probably commenced after the Third Macedonian War, when large parts of the Rhodian Peraia in Karia were separated from the territory of Rhodes and given liberty by the Roman Senate (168/7 BC) as punishment to the city-state of Rhodes, which in Rome’s view had been a little too friendly with the defeated Macedonian king. Because subsequent issues bear an abbreviated legend ("of the people of Antioch"), and due to the Stephanophoric type of the reverse (a common feature of mid-2nd century Hellenistic coinage in Asia Minor), this issue has been hypothesised to be the earliest of Antioch’s civic silver coinage.

Hadrian AR Denarius. Rome, AD 119-122. IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate head right / P M TR P COS III, Roma as Amazon standing left, right breast bared, holding Victory and spear. RIC 76; BMCRE 149; RSC 1108. 3.40g, 20mm, 6h. Fleur De Coin. Ex collection of a Munich doctor, acquired c. 1960s-1990s.

Cilicia, Tarsos AR Stater. Circa 455-400 BC. The walls of Tarsos, with three turrets visible, each turret surmounted by three merlons / Forepart of bull to right, Key symbol to right; all within incuse square. BMC -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG France -; SNG Levante -; Traité -; Casabonne -; MIMAA -; CNG 109, 190 corr. (Asia Minor, uncertain mint). 11.02g, 20mm, 3h. Very Fine. The second and finest known example. From a private North American collection. The stylistically simple designs of both obverse and reverse of this rare type point to it being one of the very earliest issue of Tarsos. We may of course identify this as a coin of Tarsos based on the use of the 'Key' symbol, as Casabonne calls it, that he argues should be considered as the emblem of the local dynastic power, i.e. that of the syennesis (see Casabonne, Le syennésis cilicien et Cyrus : l'apport des sources numismatiques pp.164). This, together with a rendering of the walls of Tarsos which appear in a more complete form on the later satrapal coinage of Mazaios (the towers always with three merlons) makes the identification certain. That the bull type does not appear ever again at Tarsos is surprising, however we could possibly infer that this is a symbolic representation of wealth, and chosen as an appropriate motif for what was likely a tribute payment made to the city's Achaemenid overlords.

Lucius Verus AR Denarius. Rome, AD 164. L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS, bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right / TR P IIII IMP II COS II, Mars standing right, holding spear and resting hand on shield set on ground. RIC 514 (Aurelius); BMCRE 289 (Aurelius); RSC 228. 3.46g, 18mm, 6h. Fleur De Coin. From a central European collection.

Uranius Antoninus Æ32 of Emesa, Seleucis and Pieria. Dated SE 565 = AD 253/4. AVTOK C OV?? ANT?N?INOC C?, laureate bust right, wearing paludamentum and cuirass / ?MIC?N KO??N, hexastyle temple of Elagabal at Emesa containing the conical stone of Elagabal shaded by two parasols; crescent in pediment, ??? (date) in exergue. BMC 24; Baldus 38-42; R. Delbrueck, 'Uranius of Emesa,' NC 1948, Series I, 2; SNG Hunterian 3174. 24.03g, 32mm, 1h. Near Extremely Fine. Very Rare. Sold with export licence issued by The Israel Antiquities Authority. The literary sources are unclear about Uranius Antoninus: Zosimus describes a usurper by the name of Antoninus during the reign of Gallienus, while contemporary Christian writer John Malalas speaks of an Emesan priest by the name of Samsigeramus who repulsed the Sassanid king Shapur I. Whether the accounts describe the same person, and whether this person was the Uranius who struck coins at Emesa, is a matter for debate. The era date given on the reverse of this coin, ??? = 565 = 253/4, suggests that Uranius established an independent Empire at Emesa around the time Valerian and Gallienus were crowned co-augusti in 253. The dating supports Malalas' account and Uranius may have indeed come to prominence during the attempts to defend the city of Emesa from the invasion of Shapur, prompting the establishment of his small independent state. If Uranius was the priest described by Malalas, the name Samsigeramus suggests that he may have been a member of the Emesan royal house of the same name and likely, the high priest of Elagabal. If this was the case, we might assume that Uranius was a descendant of the Severan-Emesan house who had previously seen a priest proclaimed emperor in Elagabalus. Though the name Samsigeramus is not attested on the coinage of Uranius, the reverse depiction of the temple of Elagabal certainly suggests the cult was important to his legitimacy. There is little doubt that Uranius' rebellion came to an end shortly after Valerian marched east and recovered Syria in AD 254.

Diocletian AV Aureus. Rome or Cyzicus, AD 286. IMP C C VAL DIOCLETIANVS P F AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from front / IOVI CONSERVAT AVGG, Jupiter standing left, nude but for chlamys, holding thunderbolt in right hand and grounded sceptre in left. RIC 134d (Rome); C. 216; Calicó 4463a (this coin). 5.36g, 22mm, 6h. Near Mint State. Perfectly centered, with a medallic quality. This coin published in X. Calicó, Los Aureos Romanos (2002); Ex Dreesmann Collection, Spink & Sons Ltd., 13 April 2000, lot 67; Ex Numismatik Lanz 44, Munich, 16 May 1988, lot 808.

Cilicia, uncertain mint AR Stater. Persic standard. Circa 450-400 BC. Herakles(?) standing to right, preparing to strike fallen Amazon(?) who he holds by the helmet crest; I (Aramaic 'zayin'?) in left field / Bull standing to right, tail tied with ribbons(?); all within dotted border within incuse square. Unpublished in the standard references including: BMC -; Traité -; Casabonne -; MIMAA -; SNG France -; SNG Levante -; but cf. Roma Numismatics XIII, 371 for similar themes. 10.76g, 21mm, 9h. Very Fine. Apparently unique and unpublished, and of great fascination. From the collection of P.R., United Kingdom. The stance of the standing figure on the obverse is greatly reminiscent of the attitude in which Herakles is depicted while fighting the Hydra on certain very rare coins of Crete (see Roma IX, 9 and Svoronos 66, pl. XXIV, 23), and to a lesser extent, staters of Kition. The fallen figure in comparison is considerably more slight in build, with slender legs and waist, and what look to be well defined breasts. As such this type immediately recalls the myth of Herakles' ninth Labour and his battle with the Amazons after slaying their queen Hippolyta, with similar depictions preserved on surviving vases such as Tampa 82.11.1 and Met 61.11.16. This cataloguer thus favours a Cilician origin for this coin on account of the coin's fabric, weight standard, the predominantly Cilician origin of the other coins with which it was reportedly originally found, and its obverse theme - since Amazons are represented at other Cilician mints including Soloi and on the three surviving coins of an uncertain mint (Roma XIII, 371; CNG 103, 344; CNG e386, 313). The latter issue depicts an Amazon on the obverse and the familiar Persian lion-bull combat motif on the reverse, together with the mysterious Aramaic legend 'DRGL' or 'RRYL', and may be related to the present issue. Herakles' killing of the Amazon queen Hippolyta is one of the many tragic incidents that make Herakles such a flawed individual, driven by the whims of the gods, by misfortune and by his own violent nature to commit terrible crimes and acts of slaughter. Ordered by Eurystheos to bring him the Belt of Hippolyta as his ninth Labour, Herakles duly set out with his companions to retrieve this gift of Ares. When at last he reached the lands of the Amazons, Hippolyta herself came to meet the men, and impressed by Herakles and his exploits, agreed to give him the Belt. She would have done so had Hera not disguised herself and walked among the Amazons sowing seeds of distrust, claiming the strangers were plotting to carry off the Queen. Alarmed, the Amazons armed themselves and set off on horseback to confront the 'invaders'. Herakles, seeing this armed host approaching, guessed that Hippolyta had been plotting treachery all along and had never meant to gift him the Belt, so he killed her, and in the ensuing battle between the Greeks and Amazons he took the Belt and returned to Eurystheos.

Etruria, Populonia AR 20 Asses. Circa 300-250 BC. Facing head of Metus with curly hair and torque-like diadem over head; X. .X below / Blank. EC I, 62.20 (O49, this coin); HN Italy 152. 7.63g, 22mm. Extremely Fine. Very Rare; one of only ten examples from this die. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist; This coin published in I. Vecchi, Etruscan Coinage, 2012; Ex Astarte 7, 10 October 2001, lot 11. While at first glance this issue appears to follow on from the previous series (EC I, 61) given the curved diadem above the head, closer inspection reveals some important discrepancies. Firstly, the ‘hair’ bears little resemblance to any of the preceding Metus issues, with semicircular ringlets enclosing pellet ornaments. More important is the placement of two wings to either side of the uppermost part of head, just above the ‘diadem’. While the winged head of Medusa is a common convention in later Greek art, it is quite unusual in this context. Stylistically and iconographically this series stands well apart from the rest of the Second Metus Group (series 37-64). In terms of the artistry employed, the semi-circular pellet-in-ringlets and curved, pelleted diadem above the head lend an almost Celtic quality to the style of the work; the addition of the small wings above the head represent an abrupt departure from the more archaizing heads that preceded this issue. It is difficult to tell, on account of the poor condition of the surviving examples, if the wings were present on the other die (O48) used to strike this issue, but it seems likely that they were not. This issue should certainly be considered to be in the first rank of surviving Etruscan coinage; it is a bold and fresh take on an extensive series, and of great aesthetic quality.

Kingdom of Macedon, Alexander III ‘the Great’ AR Tetradrachm. Civic issue of Miletos, circa 295-270 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left, holding sceptre; A?E?AN?POY to right, MI monogram in left field. Price 2150. 17.19g, 31mm, 1h. Fleur De Coin. Ex Ambrose Collection; Roma Numismatics XIII, 23 March 2017, lot 174; Ex Stack's Bowers and Ponterio 164, 6 January 2012, lot 155.

Septimius Severus AV Aureus. Possibly struck in India, circa AD 193-211. IMPER AEL SEPTI SEVER PERT III, laureate head right / P M I PT II P VIII COS NI AV II, Victory advancing to left, holding wreath in outstretched right hand, trophy over left shoulder. Unpublished in the standard references, but cf. Roma Numismatics XV, 587 (same dies); Roma XV, 586 (same obverse die); NAC 102, 531 (same obverse die). 6.91g, 18mm, 5h. Fleur De Coin. Apparently only the second known example.

North Africa, Carthage BI Shekel. Libyan Revolt, circa 241-238 BC. Head of Herakles left, wearing lion's skin headdress / Lion prowling right; Punic 'M' above, ?IBY?N in exergue. Carradice & La Niece 1; MAA 53; SNG Copenhagen 239. 7.95g, 22mm, 12h. Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare, and among the finest known specimens of this usually poorly-struck issue. Ex Monsieur Note (1910-1982) Collection, France. This type is normally found struck on heavily debased silver flans, and often overstruck, but this coin appears to be struck on much higher quality metal. The issue itself (and the normally poor metal quality) is indicative of the dire straits which the Carthaginian state was reduced to following the conclusion of the First Punic War in 241; as part of the peace settlement Carthage was required to give up “all islands lying between Sicily and Italy”, immediately pay Rome a sum of 1,000 talents of gold, and pay a further 2,000 talents over a period of 10 years. After meeting the Roman demands, a destitute Carthage now found itself having to find additional funds to pay the wages of its defeated but still enormous mercenary army. Negotiations between the mercenaries and the Carthaginian state quickly broke down, and despite the Carthaginian officials capitulating to the mercenary demands, open rebellion ensued based on speculation that Carthage would be unable to pay. The Libyan population, discontent under Carthaginian rule (and perhaps justifiably so, for their soldiers were conscripted and not paid as mercenaries) joined the rebels. E.S.G. Robinson, in “A Hoard of Coins of the Libyans” in NC 1953, confirms the attribution of these coins to the Libyan revolt (also known as the Mercenary War or the Truceless War, on account of it exceeding all other conflicts in cruelty, ending only with the total annihilation of one of the opponents), and supports the appearance of the Punic ‘M’ appearing on these (and regular Carthaginian coins) as being an abbreviation of ‘machanat’ - camp. The appearance of a Greek alpha on some of the issues, the use of Greek types (heads of Zeus and Herakles), and of course a Greek legend on the reverse furthermore confirm that these issues were struck by the rebels, rather than for them. We may reasonably assume that all of the coins produced by the rebels were overstruck on the state issues of Carthage; in the increasing debasement seen throughout the series we are offered a glimpse of the desperate position of the Carthaginian finances. Although ultimately the rebellion was put down by Hamilcar Barca with a combined army of existing loyal mercenaries and newly hired ones together with citizen soldiers, culminating at the Battle of ‘The Saw’ with some 50,000 rebels killed or executed, Carthage was left effectively penniless, internally weakened and externally virtually defenceless against a still belligerent Roman Republic.

Etruria, Populonia AR Didrachm. 4th century BC. Head of Turms left, wearing winged petasos, Etruscan legend 'poepl' around; all within dotted border / Blank. EC I, 11 (O1); SNG Firenze 70; I. Vecchi, ‘A new Etruscan toponym for Populonia: poepl’ in SNR SM 268, 217, pp. 91-2; I. Vecchi, ‘Un nuovo toponimo per Populonia: poe-p-l’ in Monete Antiche 97, 2018, pp. 3-4; I. Vecchi, ‘A New Ancient Discovery’, Coin News January 2018, p. 39. 6.59, 23mm. Extremely Fine; dark tone. Of the Highest Rarity - one of only four examples recorded, of which only two are in private hands (the other two both in Florence, and of very poor quality, though 11.1 is fortunately sufficiently well preserved to definitively determine that the dies used to strike it, and the two coins presented here are are indeed the same. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist; Ex Erik Schonholz Collection (USA); Privately purchased from The Fountainhead of Fine Coins (New York), 1976.

Seleukid Empire, Antiochos IV Epiphanes AR Tetradrachm. Antioch, circa 168-164 BC. Laureate head of Zeus right, with the features of Antiochos / Zeus Nikephoros seated left, with Nike standing right crowning Zeus with laurel wreath; BA?I?E?? ANTIOXOY to right, ?EOY E?I?ANOY? NIKH?OPOY to left. SC 1398; Le Rider, Antioche, Series IIIA; Mørkholm Series III; SMA 63; SNG Spaer 1003; Houghton 106-107. 16.79g, 33mm, 12h. Good Very Fine. Very Rare. From the inventory of a North American dealer; Ex Roma Numismatics XIII, 23 March 2017, lot 440. Struck to commemorate Antiochos' return to Antioch following the conclusion of his second Egyptian campaign, this coin features a head of Zeus that bears distinct resemblance to Antiochos IV himself. Evidence to support an interpretation of the obverse as an amalgamation of Antiochos and Zeus can be found in the facts that Antiochos both caused the radiate diadem – a symbol of royal apotheosis - to be introduced on Seleukid coinage, and added the self-given title E?I?ANH? (God Manifest) to his coinage. Yet despite his grand titles, Antiochos IV's second Egyptian campaign was brought to a conclusion not by any great victory of his or his enemy's. Before reaching Alexandria, Antiochos' path was blocked by a single, old Roman ambassador named Gaius Popillius Laenas. Popillius, with whom Antiochos had been friends in the time of his stay in Rome during his youth, offered Antiochos not a friendly welcome, but an ultimatum from the Senate: he must withdraw his armies from Egypt and Cyprus, or consider himself in a state of war with the Roman Republic. Antiochos begged to have time to consider but Popillius drew a circle around him in the sand with his cane and told him to decide before he stepped outside it. Weighing his options, Antiochos decided to withdraw; only then did Popillius agree to shake hands with him.

Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, Cleopatra VII Thea Neotera Æ Obol - 40 Drachmai. Alexandria, circa 51-30 BC. Diademed and draped bust right / K?EO?ATPAC BACI?ICCHC, Eagle standing left on thunderbolt; cornucopia to left, M to right. Svoronos 1872; Weiser 184-5; SNG Copenhagen 422-4; Noeske 383. 8.77g, 22mm, 11h. Extremely Fine; in outstanding condition for the type, with a high-relief portrait of fine style. Sold with export licence issued by The Israel Antiquities Authority. Much has been written concerning the differences in appearance of the queen on her various coinage issues, and the apparent inconsistency in depicting both her age and beauty. Collectors often wonder at her plain appearance on the surviving coins both in her sole name and those issued jointly with Marc Antony, an appearance which seems at odds with her famous seduction of two of the most powerful men in history – first, Julius Caesar in 48/47 BC when she was twenty-one, then Marc Antony in 41/40 BC, the year this coin was struck. Surviving busts of Cleopatra certainly are more flattering than her coinage; the exaggeration of certain features on the coinage can often be explained by deliberate emphasis on attributes associated with strength and power, notably the angular jaw and chin, and distinctive Ptolemaic nose.

Julius Caesar AR Denarius. P. Sepullius Macer, moneyer. Rome, February-March 44 BC. Wreathed head right; CAESAR DICT PERPETVO around / Venus standing left, holding Victory and sceptre resting on shield; P•SEPVLLIVS downwards to right, MACER downwawrds to left. Crawford 480/10; CRI 107a; BMCRR Rome 4169-71; RSC 38; Alföldi Caesar, pl. LXVIII, 25 (this coin). 3.87g,18mm, 6h. Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone. This coin published in A. Alföldi, Caesar in 44 v CHR (1974). Ex Walter Niggeler Collection, Bank Leu - Münzen und Medaillen, 21-22 October 1966, lot 935.

Kings of Armenia, Tigranes IV (Restored) and Erato Æ Dichalkon. 2 BC-AD 1. Jugate busts of Tigranes, wearing tiara and diadem, and Erato right / [???????C??], the two peaks of Mount Ararat, as seen from the Armenian capital Artaxata; A in exergue. F. Kovacs, Tigranes IV, V, and VI: New Attributions, AJN 20, 5; CAA 128 (Tigranes II?); AC 122 (Tigranes II). 6.64g, 18mm, 12h. Near Very Fine. Extremely Rare. Sold with export licence issued by The Israel Antiquities Authority. This remarkable type was only discovered in 1978, being first published by Bedoukian. Admitting that he could not arrive at a certain attribution, he placed it in his catalogue under Tigranes II, stating that 'it may have been struck by Tigranes when he conquered Cappadocia in 93 BC, forcing the ruling king, Ariobarzanes I, to flee to Rome,' and that the double-peaked mountain on the reverse resembled Mt. Argaios in Cappadocia (CAA pg. 24). It seems that Nercessian merely followed Bedoukian in his placing the coin under Tigranes II without further explanation, although he included a footnote telling the reader to see additional information in a subsequent chapter which he then neglected to provide. More recently Frank Kovacs convincingly argued for assigning the coin to Tigranes IV and his sister-queen Erato. He based his argument on four points: the reverse legend ???????C?? ('Friend of Caesar'), which was previously misread by Bedoukian as KAICAPE?N; the regnal year A in the exergue, which 'implies that Tigranes' earlier reign under the Parthian aegis was illegitimate and that Rome alone had the right to crown the king of Armenia,' and draws parallels to similar instances in the coinages issued by other client kingdoms of Rome; the extreme scarcity of the coins which of course better fit this king's short reign than do the plethora of types and number of extant pieces assigned to him by both Bedoukian and Nercessian; and finally the beardless portrait better fits the youthful son of Tigranes III than do the previously assigned bearded types.

Cilicia, Tarsos AR Stater. Circa 440-400 BC. Horseman (Syennesis?) riding to left, wearing kyrbasia, holding lotus flower in right hand and reins in left, bow in bowcase on saddle; Key symbol below horse / Nergal of Tarsos standing to left, holding lotus flower in right hand and spear in left, bow in bowcase and lion skin over shoulder; Tree of Life behind, Aramaic legend 'LNRGL' (to/for Nergal) to left. BMC -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG France -; SNG Levante -; Traité -; Casabonne -; MIMAA -; for obv. type cf. SNG France 213 = Casabonne pl. 2, 10; for rev. type cf. MIMAA type D4, pl. V, 7. 10.66g, 20mm, 10h. Extremely Fine. Unique and unpublished; of great numismatic interest. From a private North American collection. 'Syennesis' was the title held by the local Tarsiote dynasts of Cilicia, at least three of whom figured prominently in Near-Eastern history. The first, an independent monarch in his own right, joined with Nebuchadnezzar in mediating between Cyaxares of Media and Alyattes of Lydia in circa 610 BC. The second appears as a vassal of the Achaemenid king Darius I, and whose daughter was married to Pixodaros, son of Maussolos. He was perhaps the same man whom Herodotos mentioned as one of the most distinguished of the subordinate commanders in the fleet of Xerxes I. The last recorded Syennesis participated in the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes II as described in detail in Xenophon's Anabasis. The lack of any further mention of this dynasty following the events of Cyrus' rebellion has long been taken as meaning that the syennesis was forcibly retired and a satrapy established in his place; the general and long-held acceptance by numismatists such as J. P. Six, E. Babelon and C. M Kraay of the obverse horseman portraying the Tarsiote syennesis has therefore complicated the dating of such issues (for an in-depth discussion see Casabonne, Le syennésis cilicien et Cyrus : l'apport des sources numismatiques, 1995). Casabonne does not refute the identification of the obverse figure as the syennesis, but he cautions against attempting to identify particular individuals within the series, rather suggesting the type should be considered in a less literal manner, and, viewed as evidence that the "Tarsiote monetary iconography attests to a certain continuity of relations between the central and local powers", he accepts the type as being certainly "charged with political significance". This being the case, and despite the fact that numismatists and historians alike have long seen the Tarsiote coinage as probably struck (at least in part) for the payment of such tribute to the Achaemenid king as is attested in several sources (see, for example Strabo XV.3.21), it should nonetheless be viewed primarily as a civic and not military coinage, regardless of what it may eventually have been used to finance. This is amply demonstrated by the reverse of this remarkable coin, which employs a highly intriguing design. The standing figure wearing a Persian kandys and carrying both bow and spear is named by the inscription as Nergal, the Babylonian-Assyrian god of the hunt, of war, pestilence and death. Cults at Hatra in Mesopotamia and much later, at Palmyra, have shown that Nergal was equated with the Hellenic Herakles, an assimilation probably begun by the Assyrians who seem to have equated Nergal to Melqart (see Jenkins, Two New Tarsos Coins 1973). Mary Boyce (A History of Zoroastrianism: Volume II: Under the Achaemenians pp. 272) notes that the cult of Nergal "appears to have been well established in Tarsus... there would appear to be a deliberate attempt here at religious syncretism of a sort, in the interests of secular power"; the unique addition of what appears to be a lion-skin hanging from behind Nergal would seem to support this notion. However, Seyrig (Cylinder Seals, 1939) in tracing the existence of the cult of Nergal also to Palestine, Syria and Cyprus, renders his appearance at Tarsos less surprising, and his depiction, while helping to bridge the gap between older periods and the Greco-Roman times, may not simply be a casual attempt at religious conflation but may reflect some deeper metaphor. Nergal, apart from being a god of war and death, was also a god of vegetation and rebirth, attributes that the Greeks associated with Kore-Persephone. The manner of Nergal's depiction here - specifically, holding a lotus flower - together with the placement of a sacred tree or 'tree of life' (which had ancient, but now poorly understood significance in Assyrian religion) behind him, may be indicative of the reason for his appearance. While the tree may also potentially have roots in the Epic of Gilgamesh, wherein Etana searches for a 'plant of birth' to provide him with a son, its meaning is less clear than that of the the lotus flower. The lotus appears only sporadically in Greek and near-Eastern mythology, though it has a well attested use in Egyptian art and legend, where it was taken as a symbolic representation of the sun on account of its physical behaviour: it closes at night time and descends into the water, rising and flowering again at dawn, thus also becoming by extension a symbol of the eternal cycle of death and rebirth. A potential interpretation of Nergal in this context could therefore indicate his favour being sought for a transition of some sort, to preside over a death and a rebirth, an ending and a beginning, past and future.

Kyrenaika, Barke AR Tetradrachm. Circa 440-420 BC. Silphium plant with leaves and flowers / Bearded head of Zeus Ammon to right, BAP before; elaborate border around, all within incuse circle. BMC 93, 7 (same dies); Münzen & Medaillen 38, 118 (same dies); Traité III, 1949 and pl. CCLXIX, 8. 17.27g, 27mm, 10h. Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare. From the Mordecai Medvin Collection; Privately purchased from Numismatic Fine Arts (Beverly Hills, CA), 1993. Herodotos (4.160.1) informs us that the city of Barke was founded in the mid-sixth century BC by brothers of Arkesilaos II of Kyrene, who were in conflict with him, and that therefore from the very start it frequently followed an independent and occasionally opposing political line, though its coinage developed in parallel with that of its parent city. In 525 BC, the Achaemenid King Cambyses II effected a swift and bloody conquest of the Pharaonic Kingdom of Egypt, following which both “Kyrene and Barke, being struck with terror” (Herodotos 3.13) delivered themselves up without resistance, and send tribute and gifts to Cambyses. Though both nominally independent still at this time, subsequent civil strife would result in Kyrenaika falling under the hegemony of the Persians. In c. 518, King Arkesilaos III of Kyrene demanded the return of the monarchical powers his ancestors had possessed before his father’s reform of the city’s constitution. An internal struggle ensued, in which Arkesilaos was defeated and exiled, being forced to leave Kyrenaika with his mother Pheretima. He himself went to Samos, while his mother went to the court of King Evelthon in Salamis. Arkesilaos succeeded in recruiting an army on Samos, with which he retook Kyrenaika, murdering or exiling his opponents, contrary to advice he had received from an oracle. Wary of reprisals and apparently fearing for his life Arkesilaos fled Kyrene and made for Barke which was then under the government of his father-in-law, while Pheretima took over the reins of power at Kyrene. Recognised in the Barkaean marketplace by exiled Kyrenaeans however, both Arkesilaos and his father-in-law were set upon and murdered. When news reached Pheretima, she went directly to the Persian satrap of Egypt, Arysandes, and pitifully implored his assistance to avenge her son’s murder. Thus in 515 BC a Persian army duly set out against Barke, and laid siege to the city for nine months, before finally luring the people out under a false offer of armistice. The women were mutilated at Pheretima’s order and all were enslaved, being then resettled in far away Baktria. Those exiles who survived the journey named their settlement Barke, after their lost home. Pheretima herself died later in the same year; her grandson Battos IV succeeded her, supported by Persian troops, and thus as a vassal of the Achaemenid empire. Kyrenaika thereupon became an extension of the satrapy of Egypt. Battos IV reigned peacefully, and passed the throne to his son Arkesilaos IV in 465, whose victory in the chariot race at the Pythian Games of Delphi was celebrated by the Greek poet Pindar in the Fourth and Fifth Pythian Odes. Pindar stressed the legitimacy of his rule - his family, the Battiatid dynasty having ruled for eight generations - and urged him to reconcile with his enemies. However his reign grew progressively more tyrannical as time went on, and Arkesilaos exiled many Kyrenaean nobles, bringing in mercenaries to support his rule. Despite, or perhaps because of this in 440 the populace rebelled and killed Arkesilaos along with his son Battos V, proclaiming Kyrenaika a republic under Persian suzerainty. The present coin most probably dates to the late rule of Arkesilaos IV, or the period after the overthrow of the monarchy and re-establishment of autonomous internal governance by the cities of Kyrenaika. Considering the fine classical style and prominent use of the city ethnik, the latter seems more likely.

Kingdom of Macedon, Alexander III ‘the Great’ AR Dekadrachm. Babylon, circa 325-323 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress / Zeus Aëtophoros enthroned to left, holding sceptre; A?E?AN?POY to right, monogram above M below throne. Price 3600 = Mitchiner, The Early Indo-Greeks and their Antecedents p.11, illustration 4 = NAC 72, 344 = Price, Mnemata, 6 = Coin Hoard 1975 fig. 6, 2; cf. Price 3618A (same obverse die); cf. cf. Prospero 307 (same obverse die); cf. Sotheby’s 19, June 1990, 102 (same obverse die). 41.62g, 35mm, 8h. Extremely Fine. One of the very finest of the exceedingly few surviving dekadrachms of Alexander, engraved in fine style and remarkably well preserved in good metal. From a private European collection. In all of human history, there have been but very few individuals whose accomplishments are recounted again and again undimmed by time, whose legends have grown only brighter with the passing of the years, and whose names can stir fierce emotion and wonder at a distance of millennia. Alexander is perhaps the greatest of all such paragons of humanity, whose life and exploits are the near-incredible stuff of myth and fable. Silver dekadrachms, be they of Athens, Syracuse, Akragas or Carthage, have ever been amongst the most desired and sought-after of ancient coins by virtue of their impressive size and weight, and the large canvas they presented for the showcasing of the engraver's art. Though considered 'rare', the surviving dekadrachms of Syracuse number in the high hundreds or low thousands, and those of Athens in the dozens. Fewer than twenty dekadrachms of Alexander are known to exist today - figurative grains of sand on a beach amidst the hundreds of thousands of surviving tetradrachms, drachms, staters and other fractions. The extreme rarity of Alexander's dekadrachms has therefore contributed an aura of unobtainability to the mystery of this most iconic coinage. Missing from most of the world's major institutional collections, the majority of the examples known today originated from the 1973 'Babylon' Hoard (sometimes also referred to as the Mesopotamia Hoard), and a smaller 1989 find that Martin Price believed to be a part of the original 1973 deposit. The eight coins that are known to have come from these two groups form the backbone of the Dekadrachm corpus. Struck in three emissions from a mint generally considered to be at Babylon, but possibly Susa or Ekbatana, the dekadrachms formed part of a massive conversion of bullion seized from the Persian Royal treasuries at Susa and Persepolis - some 180,000 Attic talents (4,680 metric tons) were liberated from those vaults, converted by decree of the King into ready coinage to meet the expenses of his vast empire and to pay his beloved soldiers. That so few examples of this large denomination survive today is potentially indicative of a special significance or purpose for these coins. It is certainly tempting to think - as many often have - that they represent presentation pieces intended for certain men of rank, and that Alexander, who was well known for his love of giving gifts, may have distributed them personally. In reality though, their low survival rate is probably due to the impracticality of the denomination, since the ubiquitous tetradrachm was the more common and more convenient medium of payment. Regardless of its intended purpose, and though it represents only a small splinter that survives of Alexander's great vision, today his dekadrachms are one of the most tangible artefacts of his reign, and amongst the greatest prizes of ancient Greek numismatics.

Ionia, Ephesos AV Stater. Circa 155-140 BC. Draped bust of Artemis right, wearing stephane, and with bow and quiver over shoulder / Cult statue of the Artemis of Ephesos facing, a fillet hanging from each hand; thymiaterion in inner right field, ?-? across fields. G. K. Jenkins, Hellenistic Gold Coins of Ephesos, in Festschrift Akurgal, Ankara, 1987, p. 134, pl. B, 6 (BM) = R Fleuscher I, Artemis von Ephesos und der erwandte Kultstatue von Anatolien und Syrien, EPRO 35, 1973, pl. 53b; LIMC II, pl. 565, 23. 8.43g, 21mm, 12h. Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare. From the A.F. Collection, Germany. The Hellenistic era gold coinage struck at Ephesos is extremely rare and rarely well preserved. Previously thought to have all been struck during the Mithradatic wars, this is now known not to be the case. Some seem to be dated by the era of the Province of Asia and the dates they bear are too early for them to be Mithradatic War issues. Certain other issues such as the present example appear to be part of an extraordinary issue of gold struck in conjunction with an extremely rare gold stater type of Magnesia in the mid-second century. The style and fabric of both issues seem consistent with an emergency issue struck to meet an immediate expense. The reverse of this coin depicts the famous cult statue of Ephesian Artemis, housed in the great temple of Artemis that is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The original image of the goddess was a wooden xoanon that had represented a pre-Hellenic goddess who the Greeks later equated with Artemis. This first image, which was kept decorated with jewellery, was possibly lost in a flood in the 8th or 7th century which destroyed the temple; excavations have discovered the tear-shaped amber drops of elliptical cross-section which must have dressed it. In circa 550 BC, when reconstruction of the temple was begun (partly financed by Kroisos), it was undertaken in grand style and was supposedly the first Greek temple to be built of marble. The wooden xoanon was replaced by a new ebony or grapewood statue sculpted by Enoidos, which presumably survived until the temple was again destroyed, this time by an act of arson on the part of one Herostratos. The second destruction of the temple coincided with the birth of Alexander the Great; Plutarch later noted that Artemis was too preoccupied with Alexander's delivery to save her burning temple. The form of the goddess is distinctly near-eastern in appearance; characteristics such as her legs being enclosed in a tapering pillar-like term are closely related to Egyptian and Hittite images, and the curious feature of the many protuberances on her chest (usually described as breasts or eggs) are decidedly non-Greek in origin, and indeed have defied explanation or identification for centuries, though an association with fertility seems implicit.

Etruria, Populonia Æ Uncia. Late 3rd century BC. Head of Sethluns right; two pellets behind / Etruscan legend ‘vetalv pvflvna’, hammer and tongs, two pellets between. EC I, 132.13 (01/R2, this coin); HN Italy 188; SNG Copenhagen 8. 10.64g, 26mm, 3h. Very Fine. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist; This coin published in I. Vecchi, Etruscan Coinage, 2012; Ex Astarte 1, 11 May 1998, lot 3.

Pescennius Niger AR Denarius. 'Antioch', AD 193-194. IM P CAES C PESCFN NIGER IVST AVG, laureate head right / MAPTI VICTORI, Mars standing left, holding Victory in outstretched right hand and reversed spear in left. RIC 55 var. (legends); RSC 51 var. (same); BMCRE 308 var. (same). 3.73g, 18mm, 1h. Mint State. Exceptional metal quality and preservation for a denarius of Pescennius Niger. Ex Triton XVIII, 6 January 2015, lot 1149. The coinage of Pescennius Niger is scarce, and it is quite probable that following his death his coins were recalled and melted by Septimius Severus in so far as was practicable. Originally, scholars assigned all coinage of Pescennius Niger to a single mint: Mattingly and Sydenham (RIC IV, pp. 19) state that “Pescennius Niger’s coins are all of one general style, probably all of one mint”, naming Antioch as this mint largely due to the fact that Niger was governor of Syria and his territory while emperor was largely restricted to the East. However, some light has since been shed on the coinage of Pescennius Niger in the last eighty years. Buttrey’s “The President’s Address” (The Numismatic Chronicle Vol. 152,1992) summarises how uncertainty and ambiguity had previously hampered the study of this emperor’s coinage but that it is in fact apparent that he also struck coins at Alexandria, Caesarea in Cappadocia and Caesarea Germanice in Bithynia. Particular attention to coins minted at Antioch by Bartosz Awianowicz has suggested that the great number of misspelt and often erroneous legends, as exemplified by this coin, indicates an unfamiliarity with Latin on the part of the die engravers, meaning it is highly probable that they were produced by local workers previously responsible only for Greek legends with little intervention by literate Roman die engravers (see Peculiarities and Errors in the Legends Attributed to Antioch Denarii of Pescennius Niger and of Septimius Severus, Notae Numismaticae 2013).

Kingdom of Macedon, Alexander III 'the Great' AV Stater. Amphipolis, circa 307-300 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing Corinthian helmet decorated with a serpent on the bowl / Nike standing left, holding wreath and stylis; trident head pointing downwards in left field, A?E?AN?POY to right. Price 172. 8.59g, 19mm, 2h. Mint State. Struck from dies of magnificent style, and certainly the most artistically accomplished obverse die used for this issue. Many of the dies of this isse, attributed to Amphipolis, exhibit relatively poor style - the facial features of Athena can be disagreeably disproportionate or distorted; likewise the reverse figure of Nike can suffer from poor quality workmanship to the extent that she appears squat and graceless. The present coin by comparison employed dies of the finest style; both Athena and Nike are rendered elegantly and delicately. The resulting coin is one of the most desirable Alexander staters we have yet handled.

Diva Faustina I (wife of A. Pius) AV Aureus. Rome, after AD 141. DIVA FAVSTINA•, draped bust right / AETERNITAS, Fortuna standing left, holding patera and rudder. RIC 349a (Pius); BMCRE 368, pl. 9, 1 (Pius, same dies); Calicó 1743, cf. 1743a (same rev. die). 7.32g, 20mm, 12h. Fleur De Coin. A highly attractive example struck from rare dies. Ex Monsieur Note (1910-1982) Collection, France; Privately purchased in Paris, March 1980. Annia Galeria Faustina was born into a distinguished and well connected family; her father Marcus Annius Verus was three times consul and prefect of Rome, and she counted Sabina and Matidia as her maternal aunts. Sometime between AD 110 and 115 she married Titus Aurelius Fulvius Boionius Arrius Antoninus (who would later gain favour with Hadrian, be adopted and succeed to the throne, and be known to history as Antoninus Pius). Her marriage to Antoninus was a happy one and she bore him two sons and two daughters; her namesake, the only one to survive to adulthood, would marry the future emperor Marcus Aurelius. Faustina was by all accounts a beautiful woman noted for her wisdom, though the Historia Augusta criticized her as having ‘excessive frankness’ and ‘levity’. Throughout her life, as a private citizen and as empress, Faustina was involved in assisting charities for the poor and sponsoring the education of Roman children, particularly girls. When she died in AD 140 shortly after her fortieth birthday her husband Antoninus was devastated. To honour her memory he had her deified, built a temple for her in the Forum and issued a prodigious coinage in her name as Diva Faustina. The most fitting and touching act of this grieving husband and emperor was to ensure her legacy of charitable work would be continued: he established an institution called Puellae Faustinianae (‘The Girls of Faustina’) to assist orphaned Roman girls, evidenced by the extremely rare aurei and denarii with the legend PVELLAE FAVSTINIANAE (cf. RIC 397-399 [Pius]) and he created a new alimenta or grain dole to feed the poor. Unusually, the posthumous coinage in her name was produced over a sustained period, though this is clearly linked to the significant role she played in the ideological theme of pietas that characterised the reign of Antoninus, and which Martin Beckmann (Diva Faustina: coinage and cult in Rome and the provinces, ANS, New York, 2012) suggests likely included a distribution of the issues with the reverse legends PIETAS and AETERNITAS, being evocative of “the ‘spiritual side’ of Faustina’s divinisation” (p. 19), at a public ceremony in her memory on the tenth anniversary of her deification.

Augustus AR Denarius. Lugdunum, 15-13 BC. AVGVSTVS DIVI•F, bare head right / Bull butting to right; IMP•X in exergue. RIC 167a; RSC 137; BMCRE 451. 3.88g, 20mm, 6h. Fleur De Coin.

Phoenicia, Arados (Arwad) AR Tetradrachm. Attic standard. Circa 440-420 BC. Marine deity (Ba'al Arwad), comprised of male torso with archaic-style hair and beard, and scaled ketos-like lower body with dorsal fin ending in forked tail, swimming to right while holding two dolphins by their tails; Phoenician 'MA' above; all within circular border / Elaborate galley to right; hippocamp below, swimming to right. Unpublished in the standard references, including Elayi & Elayi, Phoenician Coinages, supplement to Transeuphratène (2014); for type cf. Betlyon 6 (1/3 shekel or tetrobol), and also Elayi & Elayi, Phoenician Coinages, p. 597, I.2.1, PL. LXXXIV, C.108 = Münz Zentrum Rheinland 105, 284 (shekel, possibly of same types but uncertain due to poor centring); for the only other Attic standard tetradrachm of Arados, cf. Betlyon 14 = de Luynes 3054. 17.28g, 26mm, 2h. Extremely Fine. A unique and unpublished type of the greatest numismatic importance; only the second known coin of Arados struck on the Attic standard, and the only one in private hands. From a private English collection; Ex Collection of a California Gentleman; acquired privately from Freeman & Sear (Los Angeles), 1999. This remarkable and highly important coin represents a significant addition to the corpus of the coinage of Arados. Betlyon's 'Third Aradian Series', which he dated to c. 400-380 BC, comprised only fractional silver coinage - namely, tetrobols, diobols and obols. He noted that "It is surprising that no staters (shekels) are extant from this series... Aradus must not have been issuing coins which were intended for use in commerce outside the city-state at this time." A shekel was however subsequently identified by Elayi & Elayi as maybe belonging to this series (Elayi and Elayi Group I, I.2.1, dated circa 440-420 BC), because it possibly bears a hippocamp below the galley, though this is uncertain due to the poor centring of the reverse strike. The only other Attic standard coin of Arados, also a tetradrachm, bears the head of Ba'al Arwad on the obverse and a galley over waves on the reverse, and is part of the de Luynes collection and was struck c. 352/1-351/0 in the context of the Tennes Rebellion of Phoenician and Cypriot cities. It has been suggested that coin was struck on the Attic standard, along with parallel issues at Sidon and Tyre, as a symbolic gesture of breaking from Persian authority. The surrender of Arados ended this 'monetary coup', and coinage reverted to the Persic standard, which was probably considered a necessary restriction by the city's Persian overlords given its strong link with the overland trade route that led to the heart of the Persian empire. No such revolt can account for the present coin's divergence from the Persic standard; the reason for its production most likely lies instead with the socio-economic situation prevalent at Arados at the close of c.5 and beginning of c.4. Vadim S. Jigoulov (The Social History of Achaemenid Phoenicia, Being a Phoenician, Negotiating Empires, 2016) notes that "Escalating internal problems in the Persian empire marked by wars for the throne left subject territories without strong Persian control in the first part of the fourth century BCE. In this political situation, the royalty of Arwad strove to foster closer relations and lively trade with the Greek West. Such development was not unknown among Phoenician city-states in the first half of the fourth century BCE, as Sidon had its representatives and envoys residing in Athens, according to the Athenian decree of Cephisodotus." Indeed, Arados was situated in a prime location to act as a gateway for trade between Cyprus, the Greek cities of the west, Phoenicia, Egypt and the Persian heartlands. Betlyon (The Coinage and Mints of Phoenicia, p. 79) following Hill (BMC Phoenicia p. xix) suggests "it may be that the Athenian coinage was the parent coinage of that of Aradus", having commenced producing their own coinage when the supply of Athenian tetradrachms began to ebb. While this is certainly possible, perhaps even likely, there is no simple exchange rate between the Attic standard and the Persic. Hill (BMC Phoenicia, p. xxiii) proposed that five Aradian tetrobols weighed nearly the same as the normal weight of an Athenian tetradrachm, though he incorrectly assumed an Attic standard of 17.44g, and tetrobols at a nominal weight of 3.55g (the Attic standard is correctly 17.2g, and the Aradian tetrobols were likely struck at an initial nominal weight of approximately 3.4g, as the best preserved examples seem to indicate). Thus, with the heaviest tetrobols an exchange would be feasible (slightly in favour of Arados), but these seem to have varied greatly in weight. We could therefore speculate that the present tetradrachm may have been a prototype or experiment in striking an Aradian civic issue of attic weight coinage for the purpose of local commerce, readily convertible with Athenian owls, which was abandoned in favour of enforced conversion of foreign money to Aradian local coinage on the Persic standard, which would have entailed an exchange rate profit for the treasury similar to that earned by the authorities at Olympia during the games. Equally, it could have been a similarly brief issue intended as a trade coinage struck with a specific payment in mind, as appears to have been the case at Seriphos, whose coinage standard varies, most likely according to whomsoever needed paying. Unfortunately, the paucity of historical sources that mention Arados combined with a dearth of information from archaeological excavation in the city do not at present allow us to form any more conclusive judgement concerning the motivation for the striking of this altogether extraordinary issue.

C. Poblicius Q. f. AR Serrate Denarius. Rome, 80 BC. Helmeted and draped bust of Roma right; T above, ROMA downwards behind / Hercules standing left, strangling the Nemean lion; club at his feet, bow and arrows in bowcase to lower left, T to upper left, C•POBLICI•Q•F upwards to right. Crawford 380/1; RSC Poblicia 9. 3.95g, 19mm, 4h. Fleur De Coin. Purchased from Numismatics Varesi, May 1994.

Severus Alexander AR Denarius. Rome, AD 223. IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG, laureate and draped bust right / P M TR P II COS P P, Mars standing left, holding branch and spear; star in left field. RIC 23; BMCRE 92; RSC 231. 3.55g, 20mm, 12h. Fleur De Coin.

Seleukid Empire, Seleukos II Kallinikos AV Stater. Uncertain western mint, circa 246-225 BC. Diademed head right / Apollo, nude, standing to left and examining arrow held in right hand, left hand resting on grounded bow; BA?I?E?? to right, ?E?EYKOY to left. SC 720; HGC 9, 299f; CSE 1158; Arthur Houghton, The Tarik Derreh (Kangavar) Hoard in ANSMN 25, 1980, 25-27 and plate 5, 26 (same obv. die). 8.52g, 19mm, 2h. Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; one of only four known examples. Originally attributed to Ekbatana by Houghton (ANSMN 25, 1980, pp. 43), this issue has recently been reassessed by Houghton and Lorber in Seleukid Coins and assigned to an unknown western mint. The difficulty in attribution, besides the obvious lack of mintmarks, seems to concern both the style of the portrait and the reliance upon the location of the hoard that contained most of the known examples as a reflection of whence the coins originated. The closest parallel to the portrait of this coin is SC 719, attributed to Laodikeia by the Sea, being particularly similar in the breaks and modelling of the hair. However, Houghton and Lorber separate these two issues by arguing that it cannot be securely attributed to the same mint, given differences of style. Why then can it not be attributed to Ekbatana as Houghton originally suggested? Within the hoard there were three coins of the type, struck from identical obverse dies, all in mint condition. Houghton argued that the proximity of their find-spot to the ancient city of Ekbatana, coupled with a stater identified by Newell as from Ekbatana which similarly lacks identifying marks, is evidence enough to assign this type to Ekbatana. However, it is noted that this is problematic, especially considering the vertical die axes of the coins, and instead decides an unknown mint to be the best option. Seleukos II was born in circa 265 BC, the first son of Antiochos II and his first wife Laodike. In 252 BC Antiochos II repudiated Laodike and sent her to Ephesos in order to marry the daughter of his enemy Ptolemy II and seal a peace treaty that ended the Second Syrian War. In 246 BC, Ptolemy II died, shortly followed by Antiochos II, leaving the dynastic succession in a state of confusion. Antiochos II had begot a son with Ptolemy's daughter, Berenike, and named him Antiochos, however there were rumours that before his death he had returned to Laodike and declared Seleukos II his rightful heir. With his father’s death, Seleukos II became king with his younger brother Antiochos Hierax named joint-ruler in Sardis. Their mother Laodike had Berenike and her son murdered to avoid any competition for the throne, thus sparking the Third Syrian War, also known as the Laodikean War, which saw Berenike’s brother Ptolemy III invade the Seleukid Empire to avenge his sister. This was not the end of Seleukos’ troubles, as his younger brother Antiochos Hierax soon launched a rebellion against him aided by their mother. However, after a victory for Antiochos Hierax at the Battle of Ankyra in circa 239 BC, his usurpation was ultimately unsuccessful and Seleukos II would eventually be succeeded by his eldest son, Seleukos III Soter.

Michael VII Ducas, with Maria, AV Tetarteron Nomisma. Constantinople, AD 1071-1078. +?KE RO-H?EI+, facing bust of the Virgin Mary, holding medallion containing facing bust of the Holy Infant; MHTP ligate – ?V across fields / +MIXAH? S MAPIA, Crowned facing busts of Michael and Maria, each wearing loros, holding between them long cross with X and pellet-in-crescent on shaft. DOC 5; Morgan Fitts p. 30 (this coin illustrated [rev. only]); Sear 1872. 4.08g, 21mm, 6h. Extremely Fine; clipped. This coin published in P. Morgan Fitts, The Beginner's Guide to Identifying Byzantine Coins (2015); Ex Prue Morgan Fitts Collection, Classical Numismatic Group 99, 13 May 2015, lot 856.

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.

Titus, as Caesar, AV Aureus. Rome, AD 73. T CAES IMP VESP PON TR POT CENS, laureate head right / VESTA, tetrastyle circular Temple of Vesta, a statue of Vesta standing within, holding sceptre, two statues flanking outside. RIC 530 (Vespasian, Rome); BMCRE pg. 18, note † (Vespasian, Rome) & 411 (Vespasian, Lugdunum); Calicó 796 (same obv. die); C. 349. 7.37g, 20mm, 6h. Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; only two other examples on CoinArchives. Ex E. Bourgey, 10-12 March 1976, lot E. It is impossible to ignore the importance of the Temple of Vesta to the Roman state. Containing not a statue of Vesta but her sacred fire, the ancient sources tell us that its fate was entwined with the city so closely that if the fire were to be extinguished it would be interpreted as “an omen that portends the destruction of the city” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus 2.67). The Vestal Virgins thus devoted their lives to completing the rituals required to ensure the protection of the flame, and so the city. Their purity and dedication was seen to guard the city from danger, and as a consequence if ever they disregarded their duties or were proven to no longer be virgins, severe punishment was dispensed. Alongside the flame, the Vestal Virgins protected important state documents such as the emperor’s will and items of legendary fame, reportedly including the Palladium, brought from Troy by Aeneas. Although commonly called a temple today this building was not in fact a temple in the Roman sense of the word, being that it was not a space consecrated by augurs that could be used for meetings of Roman officials (and indeed, entry to the temple was restricted to the Vestals and the pontifex maximus). However, the sacred site had been in use since the seventh century BC, although the temple itself was destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries. One such occasion was after the fire of AD 64, which saw only four of the fourteen districts of Rome escape damage and the Temple of Vesta burnt to the ground. The final destruction occurred during the reign of Commodus in AD 191 after which it was rebuilt by Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. The version seen on this coin therefore is the Neronian structure, also featured on coins of that emperor (see RIC I, 61). Architecturally, the numismatic imagery corroborates the descriptions given in the ancient literature concerning this temple. Firstly, no matter how many times it was destroyed the temple was always reconstructed in circular form, just like the huts of the early settlers of Rome and a fitting form for the shrine of the goddess of the hearth, home and family as a symbolic representation of Vesta in her guise as Mother Earth. That this was her position in the Roman consciousness is attested by Dionysius of Halicarnassus who stated that the Romans regarded " the fire as consecrated to Vesta, because that goddess, being the Earth and occupying the central position in the universe, kindles the celestial fires from herself " (2.66.3), while Ovid noted that "Vesta is the same as the earth, both have the perennial fire: the Earth and the sacred Fire are both symbolic of home." (Fasti, 6.269-70). The distinctive domed roof of the temple, clearly visible in the present depiction, featured an open oculus. This was perhaps designed in part to vent smoke from the sacred fire while allowing light into the cella, for the ancient sources tell us that in contrast to other temples the cella was fully enclosed to protect the sacred flame from wind and rain. These walls, which hid the sacred fire from the eyes of all except those permitted to enter, and the lack of a statue of the goddess in the temple is noted by the ancient sources such as Ovid: “there is no image of Vesta or of fire” (Fasti, 6.297). This therefore present us with a problem, as the temple seen in this reverse type clearly contains and is flanked by three statues. Philip Hill (The Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Types, Seaby, London, 1989) argues convincingly that what we are in fact being shown is the Aedicula Vestae on the Palatine Hill (pg. 32), which was constructed in 12 BC after Augustus gave part of his private house to the Vestals as public property and incorporated a new shrine of Vesta within it.

Cilicia, Tarsos AR Stater. Circa 440-400 BC. Horseman (Syennesis?) riding to left, holding lotus flower in right hand and reins in left, bow in bowcase on saddle; Key symbol below horse / Two Persian soldiers, standing vis-a-vis, each holding spear, with bow in bowcase over shoulder; Aramaic legend 'TRZ' between, letters 'L R' before right hand figure. BMC -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG France -; SNG Levante -; Traité II, 526, pl. CVI, 6 = Casabonne Type D1, pl. 2, 9 = Hunterian p. 546, 3 and pl. LX, 6; MIMAA -. 10.72g, 22mm, 9h. Extremely Fine. Of the greatest rarity, apparently only the second known example, and the only one in private hands. From the collection of P.R., United Kingdom. Babelon considered the two figures on the reverse of this coin to be "deux rois de Perse", noting that J. P. Six (NumChron 1884, p. 155) identified them as soldiers, but countering this description with the observation that they both wear 'le costume royal'. In fact, as shown on the 'Relief of the Immortals' at the Apadana Palace, Persepolis, their attire may be considered to be generic, and not necessarily indicative of any special status. While probably not simply representing the frontier guards of Syria and Cilicia as suggested by Six, the type likely does hold some military significance. Certainly, the Syrian Gates (the Belen pass) were of great strategic importance, as attested first-hand by both Xenophon and Alexander the Great, however garrison of this natural choke-point would logically fall not to Cilicia whose territory one would have to pass through before reaching the gates, but to the forces of the satrapy beyond. Indeed Xenophon informs us that they were guarded by a garrison of the King's troops. The Cilician Gates (a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau) which were of no less importance were guarded by the Cilician troops of the Syennesis, local ruler of Cilicia, and could well be represented here, but in this case it is quite an oblique reference. The paucity of surviving specimens suggests that this issue, along with the other related types of the period, was perhaps either a payment for the services of a small group of mercenary Greek soldiers (for the native Cilician troops would not themselves be paid by their overlords) or part of a tribute which was then melted down into bullion again almost in its entirety, leaving only a couple of surviving specimens.

Q. Servilius Caepio (M. Junius) Brutus Imitative AR Denarius. Uncertain mint, after summer 42 BC (possibly AD 68/9, or later). Bare head of Brutus right; BRVT above, IMP to right, L•PLAET•CEST around / Pileus between two daggers pointing downward; EID•MAR below. Campana, Eidibus Martiis, U1 (this coin); for prototype, cf. Crawford 508/3, CRI 216, and RSC 15. 3.62g, 18mm, 5h. Near Very Fine. Extremely Rare. This coin published in A. Campana, Eidibus Martiis (forthcoming); From a private British collection. In the summer of 42 BC Brutus and Cassius marched through Macedonia and in October met Antony and Octavian in battle on the Via Egnatia just outside Philippi, and won the first engagement. Cassius, as his conservative coins show, remained true to the old republican cause, while Brutus followed the self-advertising line of Antony in the new age of unashamed political propaganda and struck coins displaying his own portrait. Brutus' estrangement from Cassius was effectively complete when this almost inanely assertive coin was struck displaying the pileus, or cap of liberty (symbol of the Dioscuri, saviours of Rome, and traditionally given to slaves who had received their freedom), between the daggers that executed Caesar. In an ironic twist of fate, Brutus committed suicide during the second battle at Philippi on 23 October 42 BC, using the dagger with which he assassinated Caesar. An iconic type from its very inception, the EID MAR type of Brutus was copied and counterfeited probably almost immediately. At least 16 plated contemporary counterfeits are known to have survived - a disproportionately high ratio of plated coins to official issues, surely making the EID MAR one of the most contemporaneously counterfeited coins in history. Struck from dies engraved in a variety of styles, some of which are very faithful to the solid silver counterparts, those plated denarii of Brutus' EID MAR type have occasionally elicited speculation that they may have been produced thus on account of dwindling silver supplies in Brutus' camp. However, none of the plated denarii can be die matched with official, solid silver denarii. Indeed, the wide range of styles on these plated issues is indicative of their true nature as contemporary counterfeits. Whether produced by disaffected, bored or greedy Republican soldiers, or idealistically inclined civilian fraudsters, we shall never know. Of unofficial but solid silver copies there are considerably fewer specimens; it has been suggested by Italo Vecchi that the present coin "is an ancient strike, crystalized and the product of a near contemporary unofficial mint, possibly during the Civil Wars of AD 68-69 in Gaul or Spain", as its crude style bears some resemblance to the issues produced at that time which also feature the two daggers and pileus on the reverse, albeit with the legend P R RESTITVTA replacing EID MAR - however, the possibility of a later renaissance origin cannot be fully excluded.

North Africa, Carthage AR 1½ Shekel. Akra Leuka, circa 229/228 BC. Laureate head left (Melqart or Hasdrubal), with club over right shoulder / Elephant to right. MHC, Class III, 44 (same obverse die); ACIP 554; AB 486. 11.12g, 24mm, 12h. Good Very Fine. Very Rare. From a private European collection. The city of Qart Hadasht (or Carthago Nova, as it was known to the Romans), literally meaning 'new city' and identical in name to Carthage itself, had been re-founded by the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal the Fair in 228 BC on the site of a town named Mastia. The site was chosen as it possessed one of the best harbours in the western Mediterranean, thus enabling it to serve as the primary port and capital city of the Barcid dominion in Spain. This new 'empire' had been carved out by Hasdrubal's predecessor and father-in-law Hamilcar Barca, who had sought to replace the possessions in Sicily and Sardinia lost to Rome in the First Punic War, and to serve as a means of enriching and strengthening Carthage for any future war with Rome, a conflict he saw as inevitable. Hasdrubal ably succeeded his father-in-law in expanding the family's territory in Spain and power over the local tribes, but was assassinated in 221. He was succeeded by Hamilcar's son, Hannibal Barca, who was now of sufficient age to command the Carthaginian military forces, and who wasted little time in aggressively expanding Carthaginian influence over the surrounding regions. Barely two years later, Hannibal's army would besiege Saguntum and massacre the population, leading to renewed war with Rome. This bold type has been dated to the early period of Hasdrubal's command in Spain; in contrast to the coinage attributed to Hamilcar, this type makes no reference to the traditional naval power of Carthage, instead adopting the African elephant as the reverse type. Evidently not a war-elephant (note the absence of either a mahout or a fighting tower) it is perhaps best interpreted as a symbol of Carthage or Barcid power in general. Indeed it is known that Hasdrubal favoured diplomacy and the demanding of hostages to further expand his influence in Spain; the club-wielding Herakles-Melqart implies the threat of force rather than its open display. Though Robinson (Essays Mattingly) interpreted the beardless head of Melqart on this coin as bearing the features of Hannibal Barca, the dating of the issue (as per Villaronga, MHC) suggests it is more likely to be Hasdrubal, if indeed an individual commander's likeness is shown.

Etruria, Populonia Æ 2.5 Units. Late 4th - 3rd century BC. Head right, wearing Phrygian helmet; VII in front / Incuse spiral, within linear border. EC I, 16.3 (O2/R?, this coin, Uncertain Central Etruria); HN Italy 90 (Uncertain Central Etruria). 2.12g, 17mm. Good Very Fine. Very Rare. This coin published in I. Vecchi, Etruscan Coinage, 2012; From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist, and outside of Italy prior to December 1992.

Etruria, Populonia AR Tridrachm. 5th century BC. Boar stepping to right on rocky ground; dotted border around / Blank. EC I, 2.8 (this coin): HN Italy 112; Sambon 19. 16.56g, 28mm. Good Very Fine; minor porosity on edge. Extremely Rare; one of only eight known specimens, of which all but two are in Museum collections (London, New York [2], Florence, Paris, Vatican), and one of the finest of all. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist; This coin published in I. Vecchi, Etruscan Coinage, 2012; Ex VCV Collection, Roma Numismatics X, 27 September 2015, lot 10. The earliest struck silver Etruscan tridrachms (as well as didrachms and drachms) seem to be those of Populonia and Vulci, and are attributed to the 5th century BC. They seem to be struck on the 'Chalkidian' silver drachm standard of nominally about 5.8g, a model provided by Etruria's nearest Greek neighbour, Cumae in circa 475-470 BC. This weight standard is also found at other Greek cities important to Etruscan seaborne commerce in the early 5th century such as Himera, Naxos and Zankle-Messana. The coins, of which this type is certainly no exception, are of Greek style with an Etruscan flavour and display a predilection for apotropaic (demon-dispelling) images of exotic animals and monsters.

Numerian AV Aureus. Rome, AD 284. IMP NVME[RI]ANVS P F AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust right / VIRTVS AVGG, Hercules standing right, leaning on club with his left hand and resting his right on his hip. RIC 407; C. -; Calicó 4334. 4.66g, 20mm, 5h. Extremely Fine - Good Extremely Fine; pierced in antiquity. Extremely Rare, no other examples on CoinArchives. From the collection of D.I., Germany, purchased before 1992. The great rarity of this coin is in large part due to the brevity of Numerian's reign. In 282, the legions of the upper Danube in Raetia and Noricum rebelled and proclaimed the praetorian prefect Marcus Aurelius Carus emperor in opposition to Probus. Probus' army, stationed in Sirmium, decided they did not wish to fight Carus and assassinated Probus instead. Carus, already sixty, immediately elevated his sons Carinus and Numerian to the rank of Caesar. In 283 Carus determined to take advantage of a succession crisis within the Sassanid empire, and marched east at the head of an army along with Numerian, while Carinus was left in charge in the West. The invasion met with great success, and the army was able to make huge incursions into Persian lands, and even capture the capital Ctesiphon. The campaign came to a premature end when Carus died suddenly (according to some sources, from a lightning strike). Numerian made an orderly retreat from Persia, and subsequently died in mysterious circumstances during the journey west. Amid rumours of murder, the prefect Aper was executed by the man who went on to become emperor. Diocletian, previously an officer under Carus, was acclaimed by the army and proceeded to continue the march west, meeting Carinus' army in battle in Moesia and emerging as victor and emperor. The reverse of this stunning aureus typifies the propagandist nature of Roman coinage, and bestows on Numerian the quality of 'virtus', which encompassed valour, manliness, excellence, courage, character, and worth - the necessary attributes of a Roman and especially of an emperor. Coupled with the standing figure of Hercules, with his usual attributes of club and lion's skin, this reverse references the military victories that Numerian and Carus achieved in the east and likens them to the completion of Hercules' labours.

Cyprus, Salamis AR Stater. Nikodamos, circa 460-450. Recumbent ram to right, oinochoe above; Cypriot script 'pa-si-le-wo-se ni-ko-ta-mo' around / Head of ram to left, olive branch and elaborate ankh symbol below; Cypriot script 'pa-si ni-ko-ta' around. Bank of Cyprus -; BMC -; Traité II -; Tziambazis -; cf. Masson & Amandry, Notes de numismatique chypriote, VI-VIII in RN 1988, p. 33 and pl. II, 4-5 = Kunstfreund 169 (same obverse die). 11.19g, 23mm, 1h. Extremely Fine. Apparently unique and unpublished; of great numismatic interest. From the Dr. Albert Potts collection, outside of Cyprus before December 1992. The Greek dynasty of Salamis traced its ancestry back to the legendary hero Teukros (Teucer), son of Telamon, king of the Greek island of Salamis in the Saronic Gulf. The first king and founder of the dynasty of Cypriot Salamis whose name appears on the Persian standard double sigloi and fractions is that of Evelthon (560-525 BC). It has long been recognised and confirmed by the Celenderis, Asyut, Lanarca, Zagazig and Jordan hoards, that many if not all of these issues were minted by his successors from c. 515 until the mid 5th century; Herodotus (5.104) lists four successors to Evelthon: Siromos, Chersis, Gorgos and Onesilos, none of whom are confirmed by the numismatic record. Thus it appears that the royal numismatic custom at Salamis was to continue using the types of one’s predecessor, with the name of the reigning king of secondary importance to the primary message - that he was of the dynasty of Evelthon. The only other names recorded on coins before the well attested Evagoras I are: Phausis (cf. J. Kagan and K. McGregor 1995: “The Coinage of king Phausis of Salamis”, CCEC 23, 3-9, 1995); Nikotamos (cf. BMC 31-32 (Nikodamos) and Evanthes (BMC 38-9) dated to the period 480-450 BC. The recumbent ram type of the obverse ultimately derives from the type instituted by Evelthon, so continuing the theme which appears to have been retained for dynastic purposes. Significantly, a coin discovered with the name of Nikodamos on the reverse also bears the name of Evelthon on the obverse (Troxell-Spengler 1969, 17). The use of the latter’s name in the middle of the fifth century is significant, as it apparently confirms that Nikodamos was descended (or at least claimed descent) from Evelthon. The reverse type of a ram’s head may have been an innovation introduced by Nikodamos, which appears to have been retained by his successor Evanthes, and most surprisingly, by the uncertain and possibly Phoenician king ‘Maxakosa’ who coined an issue survived by a single example (Roma Numismatics XIII, lot 411) circa 450-430 BC. Nikodamos himself appears to be unknown to history other than from his coins, but he must have reigned at Salamis in the years immediately preceding the expedition of the Athenian fleet under the general Kimon against the Persians on Cyprus in 450 BC.