We found 659568 price guide item(s) matching your search
There are 659568 lots that match your search criteria. Subscribe now to get instant access to the full price guide service.
Click here to subscribe- List
- Grid
-
659568 item(s)/page
Faustus Cornelius Sulla AR Denarius. Rome, 56 BC. Draped bust of Diana right, wearing diadem with crescent; lituus behind, FAVSTVS downwards before / Sulla seated left on platform above kneeling figures of Bocchus, king of Mauretania, on left who offers an olive branch and Jugurtha, king of Numidia, on right, his hands tied behind his back; FELIX downwards to right. Crawford 426/1; RSC Cornelia 59. 3.93g, 20mm, 8h. Extremely Fine; pleasant light tone. Ex private Spanish collection.
Etruria, Vulci AR Didrachm. 5th - 4th century BC. Winged Metus running to left, head facing, holding serpent in each hand / Cartwheel with long crossbar supported by two struts. EC I, 2.4 (O3/R2); HN Italy 207 (Volci?); Fiorelli collection, Naples 1866, p. 15 (= Sambon 12.2) 11.48g, 26mm, 1 or 7h. Good Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; one of five examples known, of which this is the only example in private hands, and the second example recorded of this particular die combination which has never appeared in a public sale, otherwise known only from the Naples example. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist; Ex Italo Vecchi Collection; Privately purchased from a European collector. The only source of information we have for Metus (literally ‘guardian or protectress’), the Etruscan name for the Greek Medusa, is derived from a famous mirror in Chiusi (see illustration below) which depicts her as an attractive winged woman in Hellenistic style, bare to the waist and seated in a posture of lament and apprehension. Other than in her bearing, the depction of Metus is iconographically no different to that of Nike, and indeed the significance of the scene and the mirror itself might be overlooked, but for the fact that Metus is specifically named by an inscription. That Metus is equated with the Greek Medusa is also certain, since she appears on the mirror alongside the other two figures who are also explicitly named: Menvra (Minerva) and Pherse (Perseus), who holds a curved blade and is apparently being instructed to cut off the head of Metus (cf. G. & L. Bonfante, The Etruscan Language, Manchester 2002 p. 159). The name Metus passed into Latin as a noun meaning fear, apprehension or dread - and we may certainly understand why. The depiction of a horrific divine being, rendered as a late archaic style running Gorgon is obviously apotropaic, as we should understand many of the Etruscan types to be. It is furthermore very rare in numismatic iconography. While the head of the gorgon Medusa is a frequently encountered numismatic type, utilised on the coinage of a great many Greek cities for similarly apotropaic reasons, the only other such similar portrayal as employed here in complete form with both wings and body seems to be from an uncertain mint in Caria in the 5th century BC (cf. Traité II 1606, pl. 145, 1 = de Luynes 275) which places the gorgon’s head on a swastika of wings, thus implying a kneeling-running connotation without actually showing one.
Macedon, Akanthos AR Tetradrachm. Circa 470-430 BC. Lion to right, attacking bull crouching to left with head raised; in exergue, tunny fish to left / AKAN?ION in shallow incuse around quadripartite square, the quarters raised and granulated. Cf. Desneux 96ff (unlisted obv. die); SNG ANS -. 17.25g, 30mm, 9h. Extremely Fine; wonderful old cabinet tone. From the Mordecai Medvin Collection; Privately purchased from V. C. Vecchi & Sons, London, 1979. The lion and bull motif, discussed in detail on the previous lot, was apparently adopted early on by Akanthos (c. 530-500 BC), though the lion and the bull were in any case among the earliest figures to appear on coinage - the mid-6th century BC coinage of the Lydian kings Alyattes and Kroisos is the best example of this usage. Already by this time too, the lion attack motif was in popular usage in mainland Greece - see for example the near contemporary Attic black-figure tripod in the manner of the KY Painter (Athens 12688). Persian influence on the design of tetradrachms of Akanthos can perhaps be inferred from an orientalising of style (see for example 201) resulting in an appearance more similar to the reliefs at Persepolis; Herodotos (7.116) records the Akanthians officially welcomed the Persians and willingly helped Xerxes: “Xerxes... declared the Akanthians his guests and friends, and gave them Median clothing, praising them for the zeal with which he saw them furthering his campaign.” Having thus taken part in the Persian campaign against Greece of its own accord, when Xerxes was defeated Akanthos subsequently become a member of the Delian League. It is tempting to see in the re-westernisation of the style of their coinage a reflection of this political volte-face.
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.
Irene AV Solidus. Constantinople, AD 797-802. ?IPI?H ?ASILISSH, crowned facing bust of Irene, wearing loros, holding globus cruciger in right hand, cruciform sceptre in left / •?IPI?H ?ASILISSH ?, crowned facing bust of Irene, wearing loros, holding globus cruciger and cruciform sceptre. DOC 1b; Sear 1599. 4.37g, 21mm, 6h. Near Mint State. From a private Swiss collection. Struck after AD 797, when Irene had had her son Constantine VI deposed and murdered, this solidus depicts Irene on both the obverse and reverse, and marks a distinct shift from the types of her predecessors. Gone is the cross-on-steps reverse type, or figures of deceased members of the dynasty, to be replaced by two facing busts of Irene. Here we have Irene proclaiming herself Empress and sole ruler in the most public way possible. However, after just five years on the throne she herself was deposed and replaced by her Minister of Finance, Nicephorus, and thus ended the first period in the history of the empire during which the throne was occupied by a woman exercising power in her own right. Beginning during the time she ruled as regent for her son, Irene severely depleted the state treasuries with her policy of reducing taxation and making generous gifts to buy popularity, leaving the empire weak and unable to offer effective resistance to foreign aggressors. Having had to accept terms from the Arab Caliphs both in 792 and 798 in order to protect the fragile security, and being harried by the Bulgarians simultaneously, Irene was powerless to stop the formation of a new empire in the west under Charlemagne, who in AD 800 was crowned in Rome by Pope Leo III as Holy Roman Emperor due to his belief that the Imperial position was vacant, as it could not be filled by a woman.
Divus Vespasian AR Denarius. Struck under Titus. Rome, AD 80-81. DIVVS AVGVSTVS VESPASIANVS, laureate head right / Empty quadriga advancing left, car ornamented with figures and surmounted by statuette of quadriga flanked by Victories holding palm fronds and wreaths; EX SC in exergue. RIC 361 (Titus); C. 146; BMCRE 119 (Titus); BN 94 (Titus). 3.40g, 20mm, 5h. Extremely Fine. Rare. Ex Gorny & Mosch 147, 6 March 2006, lot 2047.

-
659568 item(s)/page