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Lot 126
GREAT BRITAIN collection of First Day Covers, coin covers, barcode booklets and stitched booklets, commemorative covers to include Royal Mint and Mercury, £5 40th Anniversary of QEII, Bank of England £2 1994, £2 1995, etc stitched booklets to include Tolkien £6 booklet 1992, Beatrix Potter £6 booklet 1993, National Trust booklet 1995 etc. Usable stamp FV approx £100.
Lot 107
A Collection of GB Coins, including two pound coins, coppers, sixpences, miscellaneous crowns and various bank notes including Great Britain Pre-Decimal Currency together with Great Britain Coin Collection folders, half crown x 2 florins x 2, shilliings x 3, sixpences x 3, threepence silver, threepence brass, pennies and halfpennies.
![Crete, Arkadia, silver stater, c. 320 BC, head of Zeus Ammon right wearing ram’s horn, rev., ΑΡΚΑ – [Δ]ΩΝ, Athena standing fa](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/abfbff87-ce73-4fea-bdbe-a76300e569e7/4192249d-5bdf-4009-c761-4d3030425f33/468x382.jpg)
Lot 22
Crete, Arkadia, silver stater, c. 320 BC, head of Zeus Ammon right wearing ram’s horn, rev., ΑΡΚΑ – [Δ]ΩΝ, Athena standing facing, holding spear and shield, 10.66g, die axis 6.00, with some areas of weakness, good very fine, toned, extremely rare. This coin published: Le Rider p. 28, note 4. Other References: Le Rider pl. VI, 6. Provenance: Hess-Leu 15, Lucerne, 7 April 1960, lot 188; Bank Leu 13, Zurich, 29 April 1975, lot 177; with Jean-Bruno Vigne, Paris, 1980s; Gemini III, New York, 9 January 2007, lot 159; Manhattan Sale I, New York, 5 January 2010, lot 68; The Bru Sale, Auction 3, Brussels, 6 May 2011, lot 38. Note: Although excavations in the 1920s revealed its Minoan origins and inscriptions point to its importance in the second century, Arkadia was a city in central Crete about which ancient historians have left us scant information. Polybius (4.53) notes that Arkadia sided with Lyttos in its opposition to Cnossos during the Cretan civil wars of the later third century. In the Bru Sale in 2011 this coin was described as “apparently the fourth known, and the only one in private hands”. Le Rider recorded only three: the example in the 1953 Cretan hoard, another in the British Museum (post BMC) and the present coin. Svoronos was unaware of any staters but recorded a small number of drachms (Sv. pl. II, 16-18).
Lot 33
Ionia, Miletos, electrum stater, 600-550 BC, two lion’s heads back to back and seen from above, rev., three individually applied incuse punches, 14.20g, partly weak on obverse, very fine and extremely rare. References: Weidauer 156; Traité 27, pl. 1, 21; Kraay/Hirmer pl. 177, 588; SNG Kayhan 706. Provenance: Gemini & Heritage, Auction VIII, Chicago, 14 April 2011, lot 74. Note: The attribution of mint locations to the earliest of Greek coins, as here, is difficult but on the basis that later coins of Miletos feature a lion’s head and that the weight standard employed is Milesian point to the likelihood that this coin emanates from that mint. At this early date no ethnic has developed and the incuse punches on the reverse were individually applied. They pre-date or overlap with the Lydian coinage attributed to Croesus who introduced the first pure gold coins, dispensing with the naturally occurring electrum alloy.
Lot 17
Boeotia, Thespiae, silver stater, c. 400-350 BC, Boeotian shield, rev., ΘΕΣΠ-ΙΚΩΝ, head of Aphrodite Melainis right with crescent before and a second crescent below truncation, 11.97g, about extremely fine and toned, extremely rare. References: BMC 9, same dies; BCD Collection (Triton IX) 605, same dies; Boston supplement 94, same reverse die. Provenance: Peter Guber Collection; Manhattan Sale II, New York, 4 January 2011, lot 41. Note: Thespiae, which was the only Boeotian city to fully oppose the Persians, has been described as a grudging member of the Boeotian League which was “virtually a façade of Theban rule.” (Bakhuizen, p. 308). Well-known in antiquity for being home to the famed Eros of Praxiteles, Pausanius also mentions its sanctuary of “Black” Aphrodite [Aphrodite Melainis] (ix.27.4) whose head appears on the reverse of this coin; her name was “ingeniously explained by Pausanius as meaning that most love-making takes place at night.” (Graves, 18.4 [Paus. viii.6.5]).
Lot 18
Elis, Olympia, silver hemidrachm, c. 450-430 BC, eagle with open wings right, holding hare in its talons and tearing at it with its beak, rev., F – A, thunderbolt with wings above and volutes below, 2.97g, die axis 4.00, extremely fine and very rare, an exceptional example and lightly toned. This coin published: Jameson 2507. Other references: SNG Berry 825, same dies; SNG Copenhagen 362, same dies. Provenance: Capt. E.G. Spencer-Churchill Collection; Ars Classica XIV, Geneva, 2 July 1929, lot 277; R. Jameson Collection, Paris; M & M Numismatics I, New York, 7 December 1997, lot 102; BCD Collection; Leu Numismatics 90, 10 May 2004, lot 43; Manhattan Sale II, 4 January 2011, lot 54. Note: The catalogue of the BCD collection (2004) and its commentary is generally accepted as the “latest thinking” in regard to the complex nature of the coins of Olympia. The present coin which is remarkably well preserved (and was described as “one of the finest known hemidrachms of Olympia of the 5th century” in the BCD sale) shows die flaws (from rust on the dies) which are not present on a die duplicate (the previous lot in the BCD sale) – thus raising the notion that dies were sometimes retained from one Olympiad to the next, assuming the theory that “new” coins were indeed produced for each Olympic festival. With the Games attracting huge audiences from all parts of the Greek world it seems very likely that the authorities would have insisted on the use of locally made coins in all transactions to ensure that correct weights and measures were to be adhered to – and whatever exchange rate was decided upon would no doubt have benefitted state coffers.
Lot 23
Pontus, Trapezus, silver trihemiobol, 4th century BC, bearded male head left, rev., ΤΡΑ, table; Ι and reversed Γ below, 1.50g, die axis 9.00, toned, extremely fine and very rare. This coin published: Jameson 2545. Other references: Waddington p. 148, 3, pl. XV, 15, probably same dies; cf. SNG von Aulock 6783 (as diobol). Provenance: R. Jameson Collection, Paris; Dr. Alfred E. Mirsky Collection gifted to Rockefeller University, New York in 1974; Gemini VII, New York, 9 January 2011, lot 437. Note: One of the earliest Greek settlements on the Black Sea, Trapezus (later Trebizond) was traditionally founded in 756 bc. It was, according to Xenophon, who visited in 400 bc, “a colony of the Sinopeans in the land of Colchis.” The table on the reverse is a punning allusion to the town’s name in Greek, and Barclay Head suggested that the name itself might possibly have been derived from the site’s geographical position: “forming a sort of land table.” Head also considered the autonomous coins of Trapezus to be of “extreme rarity” (NC, 1871, p. 167).
Lot 12
Kings of Macedon, Alexander III, the Great (336-323 BC), gold stater, uncertain eastern mint, c. 325-300 BC, head of Athena right wearing crested Corinthian helmet, the bowl decorated with coiled serpent, rev., ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡ[ΟΥ] ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, Nike standing left holding wreath and ship’s stylis, 8.60g, die axis 9.00, a few minor marks but good extremely fine and with an exceptional head of Athena. This coin published: Price p. 500, 3993A; de Sartiges 199; Gerald Hoberman, The Art of Coins and their Photography, London, 1982, pp. 63 and 78-9. Provenance: Vicomte de Sartiges Collection, Paris; Kunstfreund sale (Charles Gillet Collection), Bank Leu/Münzen und Medaillen, Zurich, 28 May 1974, lot 234; Gerald Hoberman Collection; DNW, London, 27 September 2011, lot 2004. Note: In recording this coin Price suggested that there was a “branch (?)” positioned below the truncation of Athena but it is much more likely to represent a continuation of the elaborate crest emerging from behind her lower strands of hair. Nevertheless the exquisite style of Athena’s head on the present coin is without parallel within the recorded coinage of Alexander the Great and in this regard it appears to be unique. In the 1974 Kunstfreund auction it realised 36,000 CHF, almost three times its estimate.
Lot 7
Sicily, Syracuse, silver tetradrachm, c. 420 BC, by the die engraver “A”, quadriga driven right by charioteer who is crowned with wreath by Nike flying above, rev., ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙ-ΟΝ, head of Arethusa right wearing double-hook earring and necklace with lion-head pendant, ampyx ornamented with olive branch, her hair confined in sakkos decorated with maeander pattern above chevrons and signed with the letter A; four dolphins around, 18.02g, die axis 9.00, slight traces of overstriking on the reverse, good extremely fine and very rare so well preserved, possibly the finest known from these dies. References: Boehinger 699; SNG ANS 234, same dies. Provenance: David Freedman Collection; Roma Numismatics II, London, 2 October 2011, lot 106 (and illustrated on the front cover of the Roma Numismatics I sale, 15 October 2010, lot 24). Note: Boehringer recorded three dies signed by “A”, one signed on the sakkos (V. 479) and two signed on the neck of Arethusa (V. 478 and V. 480). To these can be added his V. 477, the obverse die of the present coin where the examples seen by him were too worn to read the artist’s initial letter so clearly rendered here, making it almost certainly the finest known specimen. Whoever the artist was, he was the first at Syracuse to sign coin dies some ten to fifteen years before coin engravers such as Kimon and Euainetos made it fashionable to add their signatures to their works.
Lot 27
Mysia, Lampsakos, silver tetradrachm, c. 200-150 BC, bearded head of Priapos right, hair wreathed with ivy and in long locks down side of neck, rev., ΛΑΜΨΑ – ΚΗΝΩΝ, Apollo Kitharoidos standing right, holding lyre; to left, monogram; to right, bow and arrow; below, magistrate’s names: ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ - ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ – [Μ]ΙΚΑΛΟΥ, 16.45g, die axis 12.00, light toning, extremely fine and very rare. References: Baldwin pl. VIII, 1, same dies; Gaebler 70, pl. II, 42, same dies; SNG France 1229, same dies. Provenance: Münzen und Medaillen 41, Basel, 18 June 1970, lot 149; Bank Leu 48, Zurich, 10 May 1989, lot 220; Giessener Münzhandlung 46, Munich, 30 October 1989, lot 220; Prospero Collection, The New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012, lot 475. Note: The origin of Priapos is ill-defined and versions give him a variety of gods as parents; however, “at Lampsakos [where] they believe in Priapos more than anyone; they say he is the son of Dionysos and Aphrodite.” (Paus. ix.31.2). On this rare series of tetradrachms his archaized head is in dual identity with his father. The cult of Priapos began to spread to Greece following the death of Alexander. An unusual aspect of the present coin is the magistrate’s name (Demetrios) appearing alongside not only that of his father (Demetrios) but also his grandfather (Mikalos).
Lot 25
Mysia, Kyzikos, electrum hekte, c. 410 BC, naked Helios kneeling right, holding foreparts of two horses prancing left and right by their bridles; below, tunny fish, rev., quadripartite incuse square, 2.67g, extremely fine and extremely rare, almost certainly the finest known. This coin published: Jameson 2194; SNG von Aulock 7312; Kraay/Hirmer 715. Other references: von Fritze 148; BMC 106. Provenance: R. Jameson Collection, Paris; Hans von Aulock Collection; Bank Leu 38, 13 May 1986, lot 98; DNW, London, 22 June 2011, lot 1017. Note: The engravers of the Kyzicene coinage drew their ideas from numerous sources, both local and foreign. Here, the inter-connected mythological relationships of Helios to Apollo; and Apollo as father to the city-founder Kyzikos point to an indigenous origin. The symmetrically balanced composition of the sun-god Helios flanked by the horses’ foreparts must have been sculptural in inspiration and the observation that the composition is perfectly square (Head, NC, 1877, p. 170 [J.P. Six]) suggests that it has “been copied from a metope of a temple.” (Greenwell, p. 59). Although full staters bearing this composition exist in some numbers, the hektes are exceedingly rare; the only example noted by Greenwell was acquired by the British Museum in 1841 and is well-worn.
Lot 1
Celtic Coinage, Germania, attributed to the Vindelici (in Bavaria), gold stater, 1st century BC, coiled serpent (Konvex Rolltier) enclosing three uncertain objects, rev., six pellets, the letter T and a star within open Celtic torc, 8.10g, die axis 12.00, very fine and of the highest rarity. This coin published: Edgar Wendling, Euroatlas des monnaies celtes, pl. 240, 4693. Other references: Lambert, p. 78 and plate 4, no. 19 = Brenet and Scheers 1183, same dies – illustrating the example in Lyon; cf. Kellner H-J, Bemerkungen zur Situation der Forschung, in Passauer Jahrbuch 26 (1984), 1999, type IA, pl. 2, 1-5 var. Provenance: The Bru Sale, Auction 3, Brussels, 6 May 2011, lot 26. Note: This unusual coin is from the series of cup-shaped gold staters known as regenbogenschlüsselchen or “rainbow cups”, the name referring to the old belief that gold is to be found at the end of the rainbow. The present coin is an important and extremely rare variant (first recorded in 1864 by Lambert, op.cit.) in displaying the three uncertain objects (which might represent some sort of treasure within the coiled serpent on the obverse (mythologically serpents used to guard buried treasure). Wendling recorded 4 examples including the present piece (nos. 4690-4693 but it seems that 4690 and 4691 are the same coin). The letter T and the star on the reverse seem not to be otherwise known for this series of gold coins. Its weight of 8.10g is high for Kellner type I where the normal weight is around 7.50g but is on a par with the Glatte Schlüssel (“empty cup”) type – as Kellner type V. Kellner’s Die Münzfunde von Manching und die Keltischen Fundmünzen aus Sudbayern, Die Ausgrabungen in Manching (Stuffgart 1990) does not record such a coin. In cataloguing this piece we are very grateful for a number of helpful observations made by Michael Nick, Chris Rudd and John Sills.
Lot 5
Sicily, Messana, silver tetradrachm, 420-413 BC, ΜΕΣ-ΣΑΝΑ (retrograde), biga of mules driven right by the nymph Messana who wears long chiton and holds whip and reins in both hands, rev., ΜΕΣΣΑΝΙΟΝ, hare springing right with dolphin below, 17.31g, die axis 8.00, good extremely fine, well centred and lightly toned. References: Caltabiano 534; BMC 40, same dies; SNG ANS 362, same reverse die. Provenance: Roma Numismatics II, London, 2 October 2011, lot 149. Note: The designs on this coin go back to the period when Anaxilas of Rhegion took control of Messana in 480 BC when both cities adopted the same general types of a mule-biga and a springing hare. The obverse commemorated Anaxilas’s victory in the mule-biga event at the Olympic Games in that year. The same general types continued to be utilised with variations throughout the 5th century with the crouching figure of Anaxilas himself on the earlier issues replaced, as here, with the more elegant and upright figure of the nymph Messana.
Lot 19
Elis, Olympia, silver stater, c. 360-350 BC, F – A, head of Hera right wearing stephane decorated with lily and palmette, rev., eagle standing left with head turned back; all within olive wreath, 11.90, die axis 2.00, minor marks on obverse, struck in high relief, toned, very fine and rare. This coin published: Locker Lampson 235. Other references: Seltman 313 (dies EX/ια and this coin possibly 313b (“in the trade”). Provenance: Grand Duke Alexander Michailovitch Collection; Ars Classica XII, Geneva, 18 October 1926, lot 1554; G. Locker Lampson Collection; Münzen und Medaillen 72, Basel, 6 October 1987, lot 604; BCD Collection, Leu Numismatics 90, Zurich, 10 May 2004, lot 130; Gemini & Heritage VIII, Chicago, 14 April 2011, lot 59. Note: At Olympia there were two distinct mints striking, on the one hand the coins depicting Zeus, and on the other the coins depicting Hera (as here). We know that the mints were separated because there are no instances of cross linkage of the reverse dies which feature the eagle. In 1951 Charles Seltman published the so-called Katoché hoard of Elean coins (NC 1951, part 1) and in so doing produced tables attributing his obverse dies to specific Olympiads (which took place every four years). In a final footnote he stated : “….. an error of four years, but not more than four, either up or down, is a possibility”. Thus, according to his scheme, this coin represents the stater issue from the Hera mint for the 106th Olympiad that took place in 356 BC. In the catalogue of the sale of the BCD collection in 2004 (where this coin featured) the cataloguer, whilst following Seltman’s scheme, expressed some reservations (p. 52), hence a somewhat less precise date for the present coin is given here of c. 360-350 BC.
Lot 30
Lesbos, Mytilene, silver tetradrachm, c. 160 BC, head of Zeus Ammon right wearing laurel wreath and ram’s horn, rev., ΜΥΤΙΛΗ – ΝΑΩΝ, herm of Dionysos facing, bearded and wearing polos; in lower field, two monograms; all within ivy wreath, 16.74g, die axis 12.00, toned, very fine and extremely rare. This coin published: Coin Hoards VII, p. 51, 471, pl. LXIV, 2. Other references: cf. E. Babelon, Inventaire somaire de la collection Waddington, 1898, 1393, pl. 3, 8; Hunt Collection IV, Sotheby’s New York, 19 June 1991, lot 334. Provenance: Tartous Hoard, 1987; Spink & Son Ltd, private purchase, 14 November 1989; Prospero Collection; The New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012, lot 498.
![Lesbos, Methymna, silver stater, c. 480-450 BC, [Μ]ΑΘΥΜΝΑΙΟΣ, boar walking right with head lowered, scratching its snout with](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/abfbff87-ce73-4fea-bdbe-a76300e569e7/6e8bedc0-a3b6-4333-8200-b677f4105a46/468x382.jpg)
Lot 29
Lesbos, Methymna, silver stater, c. 480-450 BC, [Μ]ΑΘΥΜΝΑΙΟΣ, boar walking right with head lowered, scratching its snout with its left foreleg, rev., head of Athena right wearing helmet adorned with projecting spike and volute pattern on the bowl; within dotted frame set in incuse square, 8.36g, die axis 7.00, toned, good very fine and very rare. This coin published: SNG Lockett 2776. Other references: BMC 1, same dies; Gulbenkian 717, same dies; Boston 1658, same dies; Jameson 1466, same dies. Franke, P.R., Zur Münzprägung von Methymna, in Buchholz, H.G., Methymna (Mainz 1975), 1. Provenance: Madame Valette Collection; Feuardent, Paris, 16 June 1924, lot 118; R.C. Lockett Collection; Glendining, 21 February 1961, lot 2247; Prospero Collection; The New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012, lot 489.
Lot 21
Cycladic Islands, Paros, silver drachm, c. 500-490 BC, goat moving to right with head turned back; beaded exergual line and border, rev., quadripartite incuse square, 6.06g, toned, extremely fine and an extremely rare variety. This coin published: Sheedy 74a. Other references: SNG Delepierre 2449, same obverse die Provenance: The Paros Hoard of 1936 (IGCH 13); Kunstfreund (Charles Gillet) Collection, Bank Leu/ Münzen und Medaillen, Zurich, 28 May 1974, lot 17; Hermann Robinow Collection; Morton & Eden 51, London, 24 October 2011, lot 123. Note: In Sheedy’s corpus of early Cycladic coins he records only three examples of this drachm type struck from a single obverse die which, uniquely, shows the goat with its head turned back as opposed to the normal type of goat with a forward-facing head. In this respect the die recalls the earliest coins of Paros, the extremely rare staters issued from c. 530 BC. Of the three known examples of the present coin this is the only one in private hands.
Lot 9
Sicily, Syracuse, silver decadrachm, c. 405 BC, by Kimon, fast quadriga driven left by charioteer who reaches forward with goad and is crowned with wreath by Nike flying above; on exergual line, traces of artist’s signature ΚΙΜΩΝ and in exergual area below, cuirass between two greaves flanked by a shield and crested helmet arranged on two steps, rev., ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩ, head of Arethusa left, wearing single-drop earring, pearl necklace and ampyx inscribed with artist’s initial K, her hair held at the back in a net; four dolphins around, the lower one inscribed ΚΙΜΩΝ, 43.09g, die axis 6.00, a few marks, about extremely fine, the Kimon decadrachm signed three times by the artist. This coin published: Gerald Hoberman, The Art of Coins and their Photography, London, 1982, pp. 78-9. References: Jongkees 3; AMB 479; Rizzo pl. 52, 3; Gulbenkian 303; SNG Lockett 998; Dewing 869; Kraay/Hirmer 118, same dies. Provenance: Münzen und Medaillen 54, Basel, 26 October 1978, lot 122 (“superbe”, erroneously described as Jongkees 7); Gerald Hoberman Collection; DNW, London, 22 June 2011, lot 1005. Note: Despite being “perhaps the most famous of all ancient coins” (Jenkins, 1972), ancient sources have been silent on the historical setting in which the Syracusan decadrachms were struck. Until the 1960s they were seen as a victory coinage to mark the defeat of the great Athenian fleet in 413 BC but this theory was abandoned by Kraay (“Greek Coins”, 1966) who saw the Kimonian decadrachms as “probably to be dated c. 405 BC and may be connected with Dionysius’s victory over the Carthaginians in that year”. Kimon was one of the greatest artists of the Syracusan mint and his decadrachm coinage was much smaller than that of his compatriot Euainetos whose decadrachms follow on slightly later and are more plentiful. The present coin is struck from Kimon’s first obverse die which shows traces of his signature along the exergual line below the galloping horses, and from the reverse die that bears his signature twice – on Arethusa’s ampyx as an initial and on the lower dolphin beneath her truncation. It has been struck from an early state of the reverse die showing only a hint of the flaw across Arethusa’s eye.
Lot 37
Uncertain Levantine Mint, silver half shekel or didrachm, late 5th to 4th centuries BC, in imitation of Athenian coinage, head of Athena right wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with spiral palmette, three olive leaves and a pattern effect below the crest, rev., Α – Θ – Ε, owl standing facing with spread wings; olive sprig in upper left field, 6.83g, die axis 4.00, slight encrustation, very fine, apparently unpublished and possibly unique. Provenance: Manhattan Sale II, New York, 4 January 211, lot 72. Note: This unusual coin of eastern style imitates the designs found on the famous decadrachms struck at Athens in the 460s BC. Athenian tetradrachms found their way to the eastern Mediterranean lands and Egypt in trade and were extensively copied locally. This coin however stands apart from these and could perhaps be compared to the drachms of the so-called Philisto-Arabian series depicting a female head on the obverse and a facing owl on the reverse much as is found here (cf. BMC p. 177, 8-11; cf. SNG ANS 32). These drachms however bear Aramaic inscriptions (apparently denoting the mint of Ascalon in Palestine) instead of the Greek letters found on the present coin.
Lot 16
Aitolia, Aitolian League, silver tetradrachm, 238-228 BC, head of Herakles right wearing lion-skin headdress, rev., ΑΙΤΩΛΩΝ, Aitolos seated right on Macedonian shield which rests on three Gallic shields and a carnyx, holding spear and sword; in right field, monogram and ZΗ, 16.89g, die axis 12.00, finely toned, extremely fine and rare. This coin published: de Nanteuil 879; Tsangari, D.I., Corpus des monnaies d’or, d’argent et de bronze de la Confederation Étolienne, Athens, 2007, 464f. Other References: Boston supplement 90, same dies; Prospero 348, same dies; Scheu, F., Coinage Systems of Aetolia, NC 1960, monogram 1. Provenance: Merzbacher sale, 1910, lot 446; H. de Nanteuil Collection, Paris; Münzen und Medaillen 72, 1987, lot 590; with Tradart, Zurich, 1990; The Bru Sale, Auction 3, Brussels, 6 May 2011, lot 34. Note: The Gallic arms on which Aitolos sits allude to the Aitolian League’s part in the defeat of the Celtic invasion of Greece in 279 BC when the sanctuary of Delphi was threatened; and the Macedonian shield is a reference to the League’s general opposition to the expansion of Macedonia or more specifically to an Aitolian victory over the Macedonians in 314 BC. Yet it is ironic that the obverse of this coinage bears the head of Herakles so obviously copied from the coins of Alexander the Great.
Lot 10
Island off Thrace, Thasos, gold drachm, c. 380 BC, bearded head of Dionysos left, crowned with ivy, rev., ΘΑΣΙΟΝ, Herakles wearing lion-skin headdress and chiton, in attitude of kneeling to right, shooting with bow; in right field, Κ, 3.93g, die axis 3.00, virtually as struck, very rare. References: Hunt collection, part 3, Sotheby’s, 4 December 1990, lot 33, same dies; Münzen und Medaillen 41, 1970, 49, same dies; Hess Leu 45, 1970, 107, same dies; West pl. 4, 30 var. (with Θ on reverse). Provenance: Gerald Hoberman Collection; DNW, London, 27 September 2011, lot 2005 (where catalogued with incorrect earlier provenances). Note: Although Herodotus’s (2.44 and 6.47) suggestion that the Thasian gold mines were first worked by the Phoenicians had long been questioned, recent scholarship seems to support his account (Graham, p. 88). The reverse type of a kneeling archaic figure of Herakles as an archer, is “one of the very few instances in classical times when we can be quite sure that a coin design is taken from large-scale art.” (Jenkins, 1972, p. 114). The sculpture which served as the model, now in the Archaeological Museum, Istanbul (Mendel no. 518), was discovered in 1866 in the gate of the city’s west wall; it was also adopted as the motif on amphora seals of Thasian wine. The “famous vineyards of Thasos” are reason enough to understand the head of Dionysos on the coin’s obverse.
Lot 13
Thraco-Macedonian Tribes, the Derrones, silver decadrachm, c. 500-480 BC, ΔΕΡΟΝΙΚ, pair of yoked bulls wearing fillets around necks standing left on double exergual line, rev., quadripartite incuse square, 33.57g, several punch marks to the reverse, otherwise very fine and very rare. This coin published: SNG Rosen 119. References: cf. Asyut 33-37; Svoronos pl. 1, 7; SNG ANS 928; ACGC 487. Provenance: Jonathan P Rosen Collection; Münzen und Medaillen 72, Basel, 6 October 1987, lot 380; NFA XXIX, Los Angeles, 13 August 1992, lot 68; Sotheby’s Zurich, Athena Fund sale, 27 October 1993, lot 320; Bank Leu 77, Zurich, 11 May 2000, lot 150; William and Louise Fielder Collection; Triton VIII, New York, 11 January 2005, lot 221; MIT Collection; CNG 87, Lancaster PA, 18 May 2011, lot 20; Daniel Koppersmith Collection, CNG 94, Lancaster PA, 18 September 2013, lot 182. Note: As Kraay has commented: “the tribes of Macedonia and Thrace are for the most part shadowy entities…” (ACGC p. 138). The Derrones tribe typifies this remark and its location remains unclear although hoard evidence points to the general area of ancient Paeonia; two hoards of exclusively Derrones dodecadrachms were discovered, one at Veličkovo in 1937 (IGCH 690) and the other at Ishtib (Stip) in 1912 (IGCH 355). That five examples of the decadrachm, as here, were found in the famous Asyut hoard points to a date of c. 500-480 BC but the heavier dodecadrachms, missing from Asyut, ought then to be dated somewhat later, probably around 470.
Lot 20
Cycladic Islands, Melos, silver stater, c. 420-416 BC, apple with stem, rev., ΜΑΛ – ΙΟΝ, ram’s head facing right, 14.12g, die axis 7.00, some pitting and punch mark on obverse, very fine to extremely fine, extremely rare. This coin published: Jameson, R., La Trouvaille de Milo, Revue Numismatique 1909, p. 193, 21 and pl. 6, 21; Kraay, C.M., The Melos Hoard of 1907 Re-examined, NC 1964, 26 (a); Traité 1378. Other references: Jameson 1296, same dies; Kraay/Hirmer 531. Provenance: The Melos Hoard, 1907 (IGCH 27); S. Pozzi Collection, Paris; Naville I, Lucerne, 14 March 1921, lot 2039; H. de Nanteuil Collection, Paris; Bank Leu 15, Zurich, 4 May 1976, lot 254; Münzen und Medaillen 76, Basel, 19 September 1991, lot 740; Gerhard Hirsch 275, Munich, 22 September 2011, lot 3641. Note: From one of the best-known, well-published and important finds of the early 20th century: “one of those dramatic hoards which at a stroke has restored to us a large group of issues wholly unknown from any other source.” (Kraay, NC, 1964, p.1). Discovered on the island by two children in the autumn of 1907, R. Jameson published eight coins in 1908 and a year later accounted for and published seventy-nine coins. Approximately half the hoard went into the collections of Jameson himself and Pozzi. Apart from this find, few Melian coins have subsequently been discovered and, of the ram’s head type Kraay listed four examples, two of which are in London and Munich.
Lot 3
Italy, Bruttium, Terina, silver stater, 420-400 BC, head of the nymph Terina right, her hair bound in sphendone, rev., Nike wearing chiton seated left on square cippus, a dove alighting on her extended right hand, 7.94g, die axis 12.00, toned and extremely fine. This coin published: Holloway & Jenkins 63. Other references: Regling 66-67; SNG ANS 841, same dies; ACGC 713, same dies; cf. Kraay/Hirmer 279-280. Provenance: The “Dove” Collection of Greek Coins, Morton & Eden 49, 9 June 2011, lot 196. Note: In the second half of the 5th century Terina produced a stunning coinage depicting a variety of images of the eponymous nymph on the obverse coupled with a figure of Nike on the reverse generally seated and holding an attribute – here a dove that alights on her hand. Little is known of the history of Terina or indeed its precise site but the coinage stands as testament to her prosperity at this time. As Holloway and Jenkins have written: “The coins of Terina are one of the most admired series of Greek Italy”.
Lot 34
Ionia, Phokaia, electrum hekte, 6th century BC, goat kneeling left; above, small seal, rev., incuse square, 2.59g, extremely fine, very rare. References: Bodenstedt 19, b/α, these dies; Boston 1903, same reverse die. Provenance: Geissener Münzhandlung 38, Munich, 1987, lot 180; Gerhard Hirsch 275, Munich, 22 September 2011, lot 3821. Note: Bodenstedt noted only three examples of this type from two pairs of dies – all in public collections (The Hague, Boston and London). The present coin, more finely preserved than these three, is from a die combination not known to him. He placed the issue within the earliest emissions of Phokaia dating to the period 600-522 BC.
Lot 6
Sicily, Syracuse, silver tetradrachm, c. 478-472 BC, quadriga driven right with Nike flying above to crown horses’ heads; double exergal line, rev., ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙ-ΟΝ, head of Arethusa right wearing diadem of pearls; four dolphins around, 17.31g, die axis 6.00, finely toned and extremely fine. References: Boehinger 274; Randazzo 457, same dies. Provenance: with Tradart, Zurich, 1980s; The Bru Sale, Auction 3, Brussels, 6 May 2011, lot 29. Note: The obverse of this coin reveals diagonal striations across the fields which appear to show that the upper surfaces of the die were filed down – and this is evident too on the example in the Randazzo hoard.
Lot 2
Italy, Bruttium, Rhegion, silver tetradrachm, c. 356-351 BC, ΡΗΓΙΝΟΣ, laureate head of Apollo left, rev., lion’s scalp facing, 17.30g, die axis 2.00, in high relief and virtually as struck, very rare. This coin published: Goldberg, I. & L., Money of the World: Coins That Made History, 2014, 14. Other references: Herzfelder 115; SNG ANS 676, same dies; AMB 229, same dies; ACGC 784; HN Italy 2501. Provenance: The Millennia Collection, Goldberg auction, Beverly Hills, 26 May 2008, lot 6; Dr. Patrick Tan collection; Gemini VII, New York, 9 January 2011, lot 73. Note: With a remarkable portrait of Apollo, this tetradrachm forms part of Rhegion’s last issue of silver coins and, unusually for the city’s tetradrachm series, uses Apollo’s head as the obverse type when it had been the reverse. Although Herzfelder and later authorities (including HN Italy) assigned a date of 356-351 BC to this issue when the city was refounded by Dionysios II of Syracuse, others have seen similarities to the heads of Apollo found on the electrum issues of Agathokles at Syracuse and gold and silver issues of Tauromenium, which date closer to the end of the 4th century BC (see AMB 229-230). However, the strong style of the lion’s head on this coin seems to retain the spirit of earlier emissions, as does the higher relief of the head of Apollo, suggesting not only the traditional mid-century date but the possibility that Apollo’s portrait as depicted here served as the inspiration for the later coinages.
Lot 793
COLLECTION 19TH CENTURY JEWELLERY comprising: silver gilt micro-mosaic ' Roma' hinged bangle, diameter approximately 60mmx53mm; half sovereign 1887 coin mounted on a bangle, diameter approximately 59mm; circular brooch with glazed compartment, applied granulation and wirework; oval agate ring, size O; five stone turquoise ring, size N; knotted peridot brooch (broken pin); tassel pendant; 9 carat circular locket pendant, Birmingham hallmark; and a mussel charm 70gr (excludes silver-gilt) (9)
Lot 131
Royal Mail "Life on board ship in Nelson's Navy, silver ingot No.00466 together with another for the Coronation anniversary No.02557 and The Host Cities of The Olympic Games limited edition commemorative Ingot series, cased, a large gilt Medallion by W Wyon, Coinage of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, other coin sets, The Battle of Waterloo checkers set, cased
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