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Lot 425

A SERENITE AND DIAMOND SILVER BRACELET, having a cushion cut serenite is 4.33 carats, measures approx 12 mm by 12 mm with approx 15.48g of sterling silver

Lot 429

A GENTS ANTIQUE SILVER FUSEE POCKET WATCH AND KEY

Lot 430

A VINTAGE SILVER ALBERT WATCH CHAIN

Lot 432

A GENTS ANTIQUE SILVER POCKET WATCH ON LEATHER STRAP

Lot 432A

A HALLMARKED SILVER HALF HUNTER POCKET WATCH A/F

Lot 437

A GENTS HALLMARKED SILVER ID BRACELET

Lot 438

A BOXED VINTAGE SILVER RING SET WITH BLUE AND CLEAR STONES

Lot 441

A BAG OF ASSORTED SILVER AND COSTUME JEWELLERY AND WRISTWATCHES

Lot 459

A BAG OF VINTAGE JEWELLERY ETC. TO INCLUDE SILVER EXAMPLES

Lot 465

A CASED SET OF SILVER HANDLED KNIVES

Lot 469

A HALLMARKED SILVER BUD VASE, PLATED BELT ETC

Lot 472

A LARGE SILVER AND MARCASITE DOUBLE CLIP BROOCH

Lot 475

A TIFFANY & CO SILVER TREBLE CLEF BALL POINT PEN, coming with storage pouch and gift box, L 13.5 cm

Lot 481

AN UNUSUAL HALLMARKED SILVER MULTI STONE SNUFF BOX

Lot 488

A BOX OF COSTUME JEWELLERY TO INCLUDE SILVER EXAMPLES

Lot 501

A MID 19TH CENTURY SERBIAN JELEK, with elaborate metallic silver thread and woollen embellishment to the front panels

Lot 376

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 Unpublished in the standard references; for the epigraphy cf.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 Unique, unpublished, and of great numismatic interest.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.

Lot 19

Etruria, Populonia AR Diobol (?). Late 4th - 3rd century BC. Head of Silenus facing / Blank. Cf. EC I, 123. 1-3; HN Italy 232; SNG ANS 23. 0.64g, 10mm. Extremely Fine. Unique and unpublished. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist, and outside of Italy prior to December 1992. An important addition to the corpus of Etruscan numismatics, the die for this previously unknown silver fraction was engraved in an elegant style, evidently by an artist who was no stranger to facing portrait design - as well we might expect of Populonia.

Lot 733

Antoninus Pius AV Quinarius. Rome, AD 150-151. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XIIII, bare head right / COS IIII, Liberalitas standing left, holding account board and vexillum, LIB-VI across fields. RIC 198a. 3.57g, 15mm, 6h. Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare. Ex Ambrose Collection. Attested by the Historia Augusta (Life of Antonius Pius, IV, 9) as having been a generous and munificent emperor, Antoninus Pius is known to have given liberalities to coincide with major events in the Roman calendar such as the ninth centenary of the founding of the city of Rome in AD 148-149, and his third quinquennalia in 151-152. However the sixth largesse that he gave, which is celebrated in this reverse type, appears not to have been for a specific event save perhaps being given at the same time as a donative to the army; the first appearance of the vexillum as an attribute of Liberalitas in this series might have been intended to signify the coupling of the civilian largesse and army donative into one. It is somewhat ironic to note that Antoninus Pius, while so generous with his largesse to the people and the games and events held to mark the ninth centenary of the city, did in fact devalue the Roman currency concurrently: the silver purity of the denarius was decreased from 89% to 83.5%, the actual silver weight dropping from 2.88 grams to 2.68 grams. Reverse types such as this one, associating the traditional Roman Virtues such as Liberalitas with the emperor, are therefore cast in a different light.

Lot 91

Etruscan Silver Scarab. Circa 5th century BC. Inlaid gold eyes; base engraved with leaping antelope design. 18.77g, 19mm x 14mm x 12mm. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist; Ex Bertolami Fine Arts 25, 24 June 2016, lot 93; Ex English private collection. The scarab gem, carved in the shape of a beetle with the underside flat and engraved with various subject matters, originated in Egypt and was subsequently brought to Italy in the 5th century BC by Greeks and Phoenicians. There it became extremely popular and was produced in large quantities by Etruscan craftsmen, who typical of their love for detail, carved scarabs more elaborate and accurate in the representation of the beetle than their Greek and Phoenician counterparts. Beside the latter’s, the Etruscans’ scarabs are the last major production of such seals in antiquity.

Lot 401

Parthia, Andragoras AR Tetradrachm. Hekatompylos, circa 246/5-239/8 BC. Turreted head of Tyche right, wearing pendant earring and necklace, rosettes on turrets; monogram of Andragoras behind / Athena standing right, wearing helmet, long chiton and peplos, holding owl on extended left hand and with right hand holding transverse spear behind her, shield at side; AN?PA?OPOY to left. Roma XIV, 328; Mitchiner -; BMC -. 17.28g, 26mm, 6h. Near Extremely Fine. Unpublished, only the third known example of this numismatically important type. From the 1960s Andragoras-Sophytes Group, present in Germany in 1975, subsequently exported to the USA. If we accept that the silver coinage of Andragoras was struck by the same individual responsible for the gold staters (BMC Arabia, North East Persia 1), and that this individual was the Andragoras recorded as being the satrap who rebelled against Seleukid rule in the early part of the second half of the third century BC, the types employed on this ruler's coinage now make perfect sense given their context. Andragoras faced a belligerent tribe - the Parni - on his border, and with Seleukos II preoccupied with fighting an increasingly desperate war against Ptolemy III, no assistance would be forthcoming. Thus we find the types of Tyche, wearing her mural crown, who on the obverse is invoked as the goddess governing the fortune and prosperity of the city, and Athena as military protectress on the reverse. The gold staters depicting Zeus, the supreme Greek deity, and a war-chariot guided by Nike the goddess of Victory, likewise hint at production in a war-time setting.

Lot 553

M. Plaetorius M. f. Cestianus AR Denarius. Rome, 69 BC. Draped female bust left, wearing winged diadem; control-mark behind / Pediment of temple within which an anguipede monster holding cornucopiae; M•PLAETORI on entablature, CEST•S•C• in exergue. Crawford 405/1b; RSC Plaetoria 9b. 3.89g, 21mm, 9h. Near Mint State. Very Rare. Ex private Spanish collection. This type may have been issued on the occasion of the celebration of the Ludi Florales, which were games arranged in honour of the goddess Flora to invoke the seasonable appearance of the flowers. They were celebrated on the 29th April in Rome, under the direction of the curule aediles. The obverse bust may be that of Fortuna, and the reverse a view of the tympanum of her celebrated temple at Praeneste. The gens Plaetoria was of Sabine origin, and of the Cestianus family there are fifty seven varieties of coins engraved by Morell, all silver, amongst which there are pieces struck in honour of Brutus, including the celebrated EID MAR denarius.

Lot 696

Vespasian Æ Sestertius. Judaea Capta series. Rome, AD 71. IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TR P P P COS III, laureate head right / IVDAEA CAPTA, Vespasian standing right, holding spear and parazonium, foot on helmet; before him, Jewess in attitude of mourning seated to right on cuirass beneath palm tree. RIC 167; BMCRE 543-4; BN 497-8; Hendin 1504. 19.71g, 31mm. Extremely Fine. Privately purchased from B&H Kreindler; Ex Brody Family Collection, The New York Sale XXXIX, 10 January 2017, lot 236 (cover coin); Ex Abraham Bromberg Collection Part II, Superior Galleries, 10 December 1992, lot 611. Struck for 25 years by Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian, the Judaea Capta coins were issued in bronze, silver and gold by mints in Rome, throughout the Roman Empire, and in Judaea itself. They were issued in every denomination, and at least 48 different types are known. The present piece proudly displays imagery of this significant Roman victory, after which Vespasian boldly closed the gates of the Temple of Janus to signify that all of Rome's wars were ended, and that the Pax Romana again prevailed. The obverse portrait of Vespasian shows him as strong, robust and in the prime of life; the reverse celebrates Rome and Vespasian's triumph over the Jewish revolt in Judaea, which Titus had brought to a close the previous year with the capture of Jerusalem after a seven month siege and the destruction of the Second Temple. It had been a costly and devastating war which had cost the lives of twenty five thousand Roman soldiers and somewhere between two hundred and fifty thousand and one million Jewish civilians. The reverse design is simple, but contains powerful imagery: a Jewish woman is seated in an attitude of mourning beside a date palm; behind her looms large the figure of the victorious emperor. It has been occasionally suggested that the female figure represents Jerusalem, and it is sometimes noted that the reverse of this coin can be interpreted to reflect the prophecy of Isaiah 3:8, 25-26: 'For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen... Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground'. It is also possible that the reverse is symbolic of the general enslavement of the Jewish population; Josephus reports that one of Titus' freedmen "selected the tallest and most handsome of the youth and reserved each of them for the triumph; of the rest, those over seventeen years of age he sent in chains to the mines in Egypt, while multitudes were presented by Titus to the various provinces, to be destroyed in the theatres by the sword or by wild beasts; those under seventeen were sold". The Arch of Titus in Rome, completed by his brother Domitian shortly after his death and in commemoration of this victory, depicts the Roman army carrying off the treasures from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah, after the siege of the city had ended. The spoils were used to fund the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre, more commonly known as the Colosseum, the great lasting monument of the Flavian dynasty.

Lot 296

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.

Lot 847

Justinian I AR Half Miliaresion or Siliqua. Constantinople or Sicily, circa AD 527-565. D N IVSTININIANVS P P AVG, helmeted, diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right / GLORI ROMANORVM, Justinian in military dress standing facing, head left, holding spear and globus cruciger; SILOI in exergue. A.U. Sommer, ‘Nueue Münzen des Byzantinischen Reiches I’, in NBB 10/16, pp. 401-2; otherwise unpublished - for type cf. MIB 49 and Sear 150. 2.06g, 19mm, 5h. Good Very Fine. Of the greatest rarity; the second (and finest) known example. From a private British collection. The only other recorded specimen was published by A. U. Sommer (Nueue Münzen des Byzantinischen Reiches I’, in NBB 10/16, pp. 401-2), where it was considered as a possible new issue of Sicily during the reconquest period of the island by Justinian's great general Belisarius from AD 541. The exergual legend SILOI almost certainly implies that the new silver denomination, which we call a half-miliaresion, was the equivalent of a siliqua of gold (1/24 of a gold solidus).

Lot 132

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.

Lot 3

Etruria, Lucca(?) AR 5 Units. Circa 325-300 BC. Bearded and laureate head left, [? behind] / Blank. Cf. EC I, 3; HN Italy 96; SNG France 84 (Ateliers incertains). 9.80g, 21mm. Very Fine. Extremely Rare, from a previously unrecorded die. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist, and outside of Italy prior to December 1992. This issue conforms stylistically with EC I, 3 which is attributed to Lucca on the basis of 2.1 and 3.3-4 having been found ‘sopra i monti lucchesi’ as reported by Ciampi in 1813. Though by weight it would be the lightest of the six known examples at 9.8g (as compared to a range of 10.96-11.37g, averaging at 11.19g), the condition of the metal is such that a higher original weight seems probable. Given that only five other specimens of EC I, 3 are known (of which four are in Museum collections - London [2], Milan and Paris) an unrecorded die is unsurprising. Following on from the highly successful sale of the VCV Collection in Auction X, Roma Numismatics Ltd. is proud to present herein the Collection of a Swiss Etruscologist. Formed slowly over the past three decades, like the VCV Collection many of the constituent coins were purchased privately - necessarily so, since few Etruscan coins have traditionally been offered at auction. Some of the coins have been purchased from the ADM collection (sold in Numismatica Ars Classica sales 7 in 1994 and 13 in 1998), and the aforementioned VCV collection, which it joins along with ‘An Important Etruscan Collection’ sold in Spink sale 81, 27 March 1991, as an important reference for Etruscan coinage. In terms of its size and scope it is comparable not only to these collections, but also those of major museums. Indeed few collections (public or private) can boast a single running-Metus didrachm of Vulci, let alone two. Of course, what is most exciting about cataloguing such a collection in a field that is still relatively not well understood and of which many if not most types remain very rare is not limited to the chance to hold and appreciate certain classic rarities, such as the iconic octopus-amphora 20 units and boar tridrachm of Populonia and the running-Metus didrachm of Vulci. It is also the number of previously unrecorded examples of very scarce types, previously unrecorded dies, and even entirely unrecorded types that come to light, having never been included in a scholarly census but which may now be rightly added to the corpus of Etruscan numismatics to enhance our understanding and that of collectors, scholars and art historians yet to come. Among these significant nova are two unique and unpublished coins worthy of note: an amphora silver ‘unit’ of Populonia (lot 9) and a diobol bearing a facing Silenus (lot 19); the addition of new specimens of known types to the existing corpus is no less important, particularly when considering such an extreme raritiy as the aforementioned Vulci didrachm (lot 87), or the lion-scalp diobol (lot 13). Despite the great age and grandeur of Etruscan civilisation, its coinage is mainly late and has been thoroughly reappraised by Italo Vecchi in Italian Cast Coinage, A descriptive catalogue of the cast coinage of Rome and Italy, 2013, and in his monumental study: Etruscan Coinage Part 1, A corpus of the struck coinage of the Rasna, 2012, in which a good many of these coins are published. We gratefully thank Italo Vecchi for his invaluable assistance in cataloguing this collection and presenting it herein for sale. It is the hope of the collector, whose patience over long years of careful collecting has yielded such an important assemblage, that by the publication and dispersal of these coins into the numismatic collecting community some new sparks may be struck that will continue in years to come the appreciation of these fragments of an ancient culture of whom so much has been irretrievably lost, and of whom despite the ongoing hard work of dedicated Etruscologists we still know so little.

Lot 221

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.

Lot 339

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.

Lot 782

Carausius AR Denarius. London, circa AD 289-290. IMP CARAVSIVS P F AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / VIRTVS SAEC C, radiate lion walking to left with thunderbolt held in mouth; RSR in exergue. PAS HAMP-2E6A12 (this coin); RIC -, cf. 591-2 for type with different rev. legend; Shiel -; Webb -; RSC -; cf. PAS BM-B49CF4 (obv. bust type var.) = Timeline Auctions, 30 May 2015, lot 2221 (sold for £17,360). 3.66g, 22mm, 7h. Good Extremely Fine; attractive original tone, as excavated. One of the very finest denarii of Carausius in private hands. Unique. Found in the parish of Itchen Stoke and Ovington near Winchester, Hampshire, United Kingdom, on Sunday 5 November 2017 and registered with the Portable Antiquities Scheme: HAMP-2E6A12. When Carausius settled in Britain in 286 the Roman currency was in a degenerate state, made up almost exclusively of base-metal issues; he saw an opportunity to use the platform of coinage as a means to present himself, his regime and his new ideology for the breakaway 'British Empire', and gold and silver issues superior to those made by the legitimate empire were the principal manifestation of his traditional standards and virtues. It is in the exergual mark of RSR that Carausius' use of classical allusion as propaganda can be seen: G. de la Bédoyère, in his paper for the Numismatic Chronicle (158, 1998, 79-88), made a strong case for a Virgilian reading of the RSR mark, based on its use on a bronze medallion of Carausius (BM 1972-7-17-1), very similar in style to a second bronze medallion with the exergual mark of INPCDA (BM 1967 9-1-1), and the reverse legend employed by Carausius of EXPECTATE VENI, 'Come, long awaited one' (cf. RIC 554-8, 439-40 and Aeneid ii, 283), which usually appears on the silver coinage. He suggests that the RSR mark is an abbreviation of "redeunt Saturnia regna" (the Saturnian kingdoms return), from Virgil's Eclogues IV, from which the following line is "iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto" (INPCDA, now a generation is let down from heaven above). Virgil's Eclogues text is entirely appropriate for the image that Carausius was trying to promote of the 'British Empire' as a haven of traditional Roman values, and the Saturnian age was a commonly used theme of Roman literature to symbolise a lost paradise, both of which are employed here to legitimise Carausius' rule and appeal to the Romano-British inhabitants of his new empire to support him in his desire to uphold the Roman ideal. The device of a lion bearing a thunderbolt currently defies logical explanation. As a type, it was previously used under the emperors Caracalla, Philip I, Aurelian and Probus who all variously claimed mastery over the East, however in the context of Carausius' reign its significance cannot be the same unless we allow for gross hubris on Carausius' part, having 'defeated' an invasion fleet of Maximianus' in 289 (a panegyric delivered to Constantius Chlorus attributes this failure to bad weather, but notes that Carausius claimed a military victory). The type may be in reference to one of Carausius' military units, Legio IIII Flavia Felix (or a detachment thereof), whose lion insignia was depicted on other contemporary issues.

Lot 622

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.

Lot 5

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.

Lot 9

Etruria, Populonia AR Unit. 4th century BC. Amphora / Large I. Unpublished and unique, for obverse type cf. EC I, 129. 0.66g, 9mm. Good Very Fine. Unique. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist, and outside of Italy prior to December 1992. This newly discovered series with a clear mark of value seems to be on a similar silver unit weight standard to series EC I, 12-16 and 17-19. The use of an amphora as the principal design should of course not surprise us conisdering its appearance on EC I, 129 and of course (albeit in more elaborate form) on EC I, series 1-3 formerly attributed to Pisae.

Lot 687

Galba AV Aureus. Tarraco, April-late AD 68. IMP GALBA, laureate head right, with globe at point of bust / DIVA AVGVSTA, Livia standing left, draped, holding patera and leaning on sceptre. C -, cf. 43 (denarius); BMCRE -, cf. 167 (denarius); RIC -, cf. 14 (denarius); BN -, cf. 8 (denarius); Calicó 470 = Biaggi 252 = Hess-Divo 320, 326 (hammer CHF 14,000). 7.61g, 18mm, 6h. Very Fine; faint hairline in rev. field. Extremely Rare - apparently only the third known example. This type was known only in silver until as late as 1953, when part I of the Rashleigh collection (14-16 January, lot 19) was put up for auction. The type remained known only by that single example, which passed into the Biaggi collection, until 2009 when a further specimen came to light at NAC 52 (7 October, lot 357). The type remains an extremely rare example of Galba's early coinage produced in the capital of his province and power base, Hispania Tarraconensis. The reverse advertises Galba's association with the early Julio-Claudians, and Livia in particular - Galba had been a close personal friend of the imperial family, and Livia had made him her principal heir in her will, though Tiberius largely cancelled the generous bequests therein.

Lot 24

Etruria, Populonia AR 20 Asses. Circa 300-250 BC. Facing head of Metus, hair bound with diadem; X:X below / 'poplv'. EC I, 37 (O1); HN Italy 142. 8.26g, 21mm. Extremely Fine. From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist, and outside of Italy prior to December 1992. The second silver Metus group is the most extensive of all Etruscan groups and consists of denominations similar to the first Metus group, but with value marks of exactly the double: 20, 10, 5, 2.5, 1 and possibly a half unit (series 37-111). The average weight of the 20 unit pieces clusters around 8.4 g, but enough examples weigh over 8.5 g to indicate that their theoretical intended weight may have been a stater of 8.6 grams, close to that of the Corinthian type staters current in southern Italy and Sicily in the early 3rd century. This denomination is divided by 20 units, presumably Roman libral cast asses, dominant throughout central Italy from the 280s BC, rendering a silver unit of about 0.43g, close to the standard of Rome’s earliest 10-as denarii. Although similar in weight standard, they seem only to anticipate the Roman denarius of c. 211 BC, since the chronological evidence from both the Populonia (1939) and Ponte Gini (1986) finds point to a burial date of the first half of the 3rd century BC.

Lot 380

Seleukid Empire, Seleukos I Nikator AV Distater. Uncertain mint in Cappadocia, Syria, or Mesopotamian, after 305 BC. Attic standard. Head of Athena right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet ornamented with serpent on bowl / Nike standing left, holding wreath in right hand and stylis in left, monogram in lower left field; ???????? to left, ?E?EYKOY to right. SC 55 = HGC 9, 1 = Triton IX, 2065; WSM 1334 = Leu 20, 157 = M&M XIX, 518; NAC 79, 17 = JDL Collection 33 = SBV 21, 87 = SBV 6, lot 84; Roma IX, 35 (all from the same obverse die). 17.24g, 22mm, 2h. Good Extremely Fine; minor marks. Of the highest rarity, one of only five specimens known, in exceptional state of preservation for the type, and of significant numismatic importance, being struck from a previously unknown reverse die. From the “Triskeles” (Moutin) Collection, formed circa 1995-1998, Santa Barbara, CA. It seems highly probable that the exceedingly rare distaters of Seleukos I were struck for some ceremonial or commemorative purpose rather than for circulation alongside the regular Alexandrine staters - the paucity of surviving specimens would seem to rule this out. That they were struck after 305 BC is certain, since the coins clearly name Seleukos as ‘Basileos’ - a title to which Seleukos did not lay claim until after 306 BC when following the extinction of the old royal line in 309 with the murder of Alexander IV and his mother Roxana at the hands of Kassander, Antigonos (who ruled over all of Asia Minor and Phoenicia) declared himself king. Possible events that would have warranted the striking of such a grand type are the foundation of Seleukeia on the Tigris in 305/4, at which time Seleukos also claimed the title Basileos, or the defeat of Antigonos at the Battle of Ipsos in 301, a victory which seems to have been celebrated on the Seleukid coinage with the tetradrachms of Nike erecting a trophy of Macedonian arms. A later date also remains possible, since Alexandrine type staters continued to be struck into the 280s, and the defeat of Lysimachos at Korupedion in 281 also represents a momentous event for Seleukos’ empire. This last battle of the diadochi gave Seleukos control of nearly every part of Alexander’s former realm except for Ptolemaic Egypt. This reunification of the Macedonian empire was to be short lived however; not long after the battle, after crossing the Hellespont to take control of Lysimachos’ European territories, Seleukos was assassinated by Ptolemy Keraunos. The mint used to strike this issue is uncertain; Houghton & Lorber (SC I, p. 31) note that it must have been “a centre of commercial or strategic importance.” Following Newell (WSM, pp. 236-0), who by a process of elimination assigned various unattributed issues to the north-central portion of Seleukos' realm and favoured an origin in Cappadocia or northern Mesopotamia, consider Tyana and Mazaca as possibilities in Cappadocia, and consider Le Rider’s (Meydancikkale, p. 145) suggestion of Sekeukeia (due to controls on the distater series possibly representing variants of SC 119.9b) as tentative given the lack of an actual die link. Regardless, what is abundantly evident is that this - the only issue of gold distaters of Alexandrine type in the name of Seleukos - should be regarded as an issue of considerable prestige and importance. Outside of Ptolemaic Egypt it was most unusual for any Greek kingdom to produce high denomination gold (or silver) coins, and even Alexander’s distaters are, in comparison to the rest of his coinage, very rare. The discovery of a second reverse die for this issue is most significant - it demonstrates that the number of coins originally struck would have been much greater than we have hitherto thought.

Lot 284

Kingdom of Pergamon, Philetairos I AR Tetradrachm. Circa 270-265 BC. Diademed head of the deified Seleukos I to right / Athena, helmeted and wearing long robes, seated to left on low throne with lion’s feet, resting her left elbow on support in the form of a sphinx, holding a transverse downward pointing spear in her left hand and resting her right on the edge of a round shield adorned with a gorgoneion standing before her; above, ivy leaf; to right, bow. BMC 28; De Hirsch 1459; Kraay/Hirmer 736; Newell 14, XVI-36a (same dies); SNG Lockett 2718 (same dies); SNG von Aulock 7451 (same dies). 17.03g, 28mm, 12h. Near Extremely Fine. Very Rare. Ex Roma Numismatics XI, 7 April 2016, lot 426. Philetairos began his career serving under Antigonos Monophthalmos, but after the Battle of Ipsos in 301 BC where Antigonos was killed, he shifted his allegiance to Lysimachos, who entrusted him with command of the fortress of Pergamon, and a treasury of nine thousand talents of silver (234 metric tonnes). Philetairos served Lysimachos until 282 BC, when perhaps because of conflicts involving the court intrigues of Arsinoe, Lysimachos' third wife, Philetairos deserted Lysimachos, offering himself and the important fortress of Pergamon, along with its treasury to Seleukos, who subsequently defeated and killed Lysimachos at the Battle of Korupedion in 281 BC. Seleukos himself was murdered by Ptolemy Keraunos, a brother of Arsinoe, a few months later at Lysimacheia. After the death of Seleukos, though he and Pergamon remained nominally under Seleukid dominion, Philetairos had considerable autonomy and with the help of his considerable wealth was able to increase his power and influence beyond Pergamon. His first coinage was struck under the reign of Antiochos I, the son of Seleukos, and though it proclaims his loyalty to Seleukos, the presence of his name upon the reverse must have inevitably raised suspicions about his ambitions. Nevertheless, Philetairos never went so far as to proclaim himself king, and remained loyal to the Seleukids until his death in 263. Having no children of his own, Philetairos passed the rule of Pergamon to his nephew Eumenes, who almost immediately revolted against Antiochos, defeating the Seleukid king near Sardes in 261. Eumenes was thus able to free Pergamon, and greatly increased the territory under his control. In his new possessions, he established garrison posts in the north at the foot of Mount Ida called Philetaireia after his adoptive father, and in the east, north-east of Thyatira near the sources of the river Lykos, called Attaleia after his grandfather, and he extended his control south of the river Caïcus to the Gulf of Kyme as well. Demonstrating his independence, he began to strike coins as his predecessor had done, only now the obverse portrait was that of his uncle and adoptive father Philetairos.

Lot 163

Attica, Athens AR Drachm. Circa 510-490 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing earring and crested Attic helmet ornamented with beaded decorations on crest holder and spiral on bowl / Owl standing to right with head facing, olive branch behind, ??? before; all within incuse square. Svoronos pl. 7, 20-23; cf. Seltman pl. XXII, ? (same rev. die); HGC 4, 1623 (same dies); Gorny & Mosch 232, 207 (same dies); Triton XX, 147 (same dies). 4.17g, 16mm, 4h. Good Extremely Fine; a marvellous example of this extremely desirable type - the earliest issue of Athena-Owl drachms at Athens. Ex Triton XXI, 9 January 2018, lot 415. Athens was one of the few Greek cities with significant silver deposits in their immediate territory, a remarkable stroke of fortune upon which Xenophon reflected: 'The Divine Bounty has bestowed upon us inexhaustible mines of silver, and advantages which we enjoy above all our neighbouring cities, who never yet could discover one vein of silver ore in all their dominions.' The mines at Laurion had been worked since the bronze age, but it would be only later in 483 that a massive new vein of ore would be discovered that enabled Athens to finance grand new schemes such as the construction of a fleet of 200 triremes, a fleet that would later prove decisive in defending Greece at the Battle of Salamis. This coin was produced in the period before the discovery of the new deposits at Laurion, around the time of the Ionian Revolt and the subsequent first Persian invasion of Greece. Athens aided the Ionian Greeks in their rebellion against Persian tyranny with both coin and soldiers, participating in the 498 BC march on Sardes which resulted in the capture and sack of that city – the only significant offensive action taken by the Ionians, who were pushed back onto the defensive and eventually subjugated once more. Vowing to punish Athens for their support of the doomed rebellion, the Persian king Darius launched an invasion of Greece, landing at Marathon in 490 BC. Just twenty five miles from Athens, a vastly outnumbered Athenian hoplite army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Persians, who after suffering horrendous casualties turned to their ships and fled.

Lot 250

Ionia, uncertain mint EL Stater. Circa 650-600 BC. Milesian standard. Striated type. Flattened, irregularly striated surface / Triple incuse punch, with narrow rectangular punch arranged vertically between two roughly square ones. Cf. Weidauer 5 (trite); Traité pl. I, 12 = BMC Ionia pg. 183, 1; for similar irregularly striated stater, cf. Triton VIII, 431. 14.29g, 21mm. Good Very Fine. Extremely Rare, one of very few known irregularly striated staters. From the collection of an antiquarian, Bavaria c. 1960s-90s. According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first to coin and use gold and silver as currency (Histories 1.94). This statement is supported by archaeological evidence as the earliest coins have been found in Asia Minor, in particular in Ionia and Lydia and are dated to circa 650 BC. The material of this early coinage reinforces this geographical origin; electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, naturally occurred in rivers in the region such as the Paktolos and therefore lends credence to this tradition. The earliest electrum coins were blank globules, standardised in weight to indicate value. Later, designs were added such as the striated pattern we see on this coin, in addition to punches of squares, rectangles and swastikas. The denominations of these issues, struck on the Lydo-Milesian standard which was used by most major city-states (except Phokaia and Samos who had their own weight standards), were divisions of a stater weighing about 14.15g on average, going down to a 1/96th stater (about 0.15g). The purpose of this early coinage was probably to transfer large sums of value, such as for the payment of mercenaries or land and property, as even the smallest fraction was of too great a value for everyday commerce. The striated stater is of particular importance for numismatists as it marks the birth of the obverse design. Explanations for the introduction of this type are varied: one theory is that the lines were functional as they stopped the coin from slipping in production. Joseph Linzalone (Electrum and the Invention of Coinage, 2011) somewhat fancifully suggested that the type emulates the effect of rippling water in the rivers of Lydia where electrum was found, while also highlighting that the design must be considered more than merely a result of mechanical efficiency since its use continued even after alternative elements started appearing. It seems likely though that the continued usage of such a simple type could stem from a combination of its aesthetic quality and the ease of producing its dies. Today the striated stater is extremely rare with not very many more than a dozen or so in existence. It is considered by many to be the first true coin.

Lot 477

Antoninus Pius Æ Drachm of Egypt, Alexandria. Dated RY 5 = AD 141/142. AYT K T AI? A?P ANT?NINOC C?B ?YC, laureate head right / Achilles and the Centaur Chiron walking to right, Chiron with left foreleg raised, head and human torso turned towards Achilles, holding a helmet in his left hand, his right arm across the shoulder of the young Achilles who holds a spear in his right hand and places his left around Chiron; between them billows Achilles' cloak, L? (date) in exergue. Köln 1873 (same dies); Dattari (Savio) 2505 & 8369; K&G -; Emmett 1485.5 (R5); Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 135 (this coin). 23.86g, 34mm, 1h. Very Fine. Wonderful surfaces with a dark brown patina with hints of green and red. Extremely Rare; probably the finest known specimen of the type. Ex Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection, Triton XXI, 9 January 2018, lot 164; Ex Kerry K. Wetterstrom Collection, Classical Numismatic Auctions XIII, 4 December 1990, lot 218. Numismatic artistry flourished at the mint of Alexandria during the early years of Antoninus Pius’ reign with the introduction of an ambitious range of new reverse types. This coin is a rarity of the mythological series, alongside which the Labours of Hercules and the signs of the Zodiac were also produced. The reason for these strikingly different pictorial types has been examined by J.G. Milne, who suggests that a masterful Greek artist was active for a limited time at Alexandria, producing imagery previously unfamiliar to Egypt and later copied in a less expert style (speaking specifically about the Hercules series, see Pictorial Coin-Types at the Roman Mint of Alexandria, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 39, 1943). This artist seemed to work exclusively on bronze drachms which in comparison to smaller silver and bronze denominations were naturally preferable for these new medallic designs.   The childhood of Achilles was only briefly touched upon in the Homeric cycle; it is not until much later that the story is embellished and his early years described at length. That Achilles was tutored by the wise centaur Chiron was mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, not an unusual upbringing for a mythical hero as many other heroes including Herakles, Jason, Perseus and Theseus were also trained by Chiron as youths. The work which is the most descriptive in presenting Achilles' time with Chiron on Mount Pelion is Statius’ unfinished epic, the Achilleid, published in the first century AD, which also covers his time on Skyros where he was hidden by his mother Thetis, disguised as a girl so that he might avoid his fated death should he go to Troy and war. Statius expanded upon the surviving Greek sources for Achilles’ upbringing with Chiron, portraying the centaur as more than a teacher and mentor, adapting his role into that of a loving foster father. Thus Achilles, when later describing what he ate when growing up, refers to Chiron as such: “thus that father [pater] of mine used to feed me” (2.102). Statius may have been following a theme begun by Ovid some years earlier; in Fasti (5.412) Achilles laments at Chiron’s death, saying “Live, I beg you; don’t leave me, dear father [pater]!” It was perhaps with such thoughts in mind that the engraver here portrays Achilles and Chiron: the old centaur drapes his left arm in an affectionate, paternal manner across the youth’s shoulder, a gesture which Achilles reciprocates, as the two walk together. Chiron carries Achilles helmet, while Achilles himself rests his spear across his shoulder, the point of which emerges on the far side of Chiron, behind him. It may be that we are invited to see in this scene the end of a day’s training: “Already at that time weapons were in my hand... Never would he suffer me to follow unwarlike deer through the pathless glens of Ossa, or lay low timid lynxes with my spear, but only to drive angry bears from their resting-places, and boars with lightning thrust; or if anywhere a mighty tiger lurked or a lioness with her cubs in some secret lair upon the mountain-side, he himself, seated in his vast cave, awaited my exploits, if perchance I should return bespattered with dark blood; nor did he admit me to his embrace before he had scanned my weapons” (2.106-128)”.

Lot 360

Kyrenaika, Kyrene AR Tetradrachm. Circa 450-420 BC. Silphium plant with two pairs of leaves and five umbels; at base of stem, two tiny leave to [left] and right / Head of Zeus Ammon to right, hair secured in a plait, with dotted neck truncation; KYP before, all within circular torque-like border. BMC -, cf. 42-43, pl. V, 16-17; Traité III -; SNG Copenhagen -; Delepierre -; McClean -; Boston MFA -; Jameson -. 17.40g, 26mm, 4h. Extremely Fine; wonderful, lustrous metal. Extremely Rare. From the Dr. Albert Potts collection; Acquired privately in Paris, 1967. Kyrene was founded in 631 BC by Dorian settlers from Thera and their leader Battos, as instructed by the Delphic oracle. Around a hundred years later as the city grew in prosperity to rival even Carthage, Kyrene began issuing silver coins of archaic style on small, thick modules. Virtually all of the coins of Kyrene display the badge of the city and the principal source of its wealth - the silphium plant. It was described as having a thick root, a stalk like fennel, large alternating leaves with leaflets like celery, spherical clusters of small yellow flowers at the top and broad leaf-like, heart-shaped fruit called phyllon. The plant was valued in ancient times because of its many uses as a food source, seasoning for food, and, most importantly, as a medication. Perfumes were made from the flowers, the stalk was used for food or fodder while the juice and root were used to make a variety of medical potions. Aside from its uses in Greco-Roman cooking (as in recipes by Apicius), the many medical applications of the plant included use to treat cough, sore throat, fever, indigestion, aches and pains, warts, and it has even been speculated that the plant may also have functioned as a contraceptive, based partly on testimony from Pliny. The plant only grew along a narrow coastal area, about 125 by 35 miles. Much of the speculation about the cause of its extinction rests on a sudden demand for animals that grazed on the plant, for some supposed effect on the quality of the meat. Overgrazing combined with over harvesting and climate change led to its extinction. Pliny reported that the last known stalk of silphium found in Kyrenaika was given to the Emperor Nero as a curiosity. The city never recovered from the extinction of its principal export, and economic decline combined with a series of devastating earthquakes led to the abandonment of the city in the 4th Century AD. The syncretic god Zeus Ammon, depicted on the obverse of this coin, combines the Greek Zeus with the Egyptian king of gods, Amun-Ra, who was often shown in Egyptian art with a ram's head. Zeus Ammon was also especially worshipped in Sparta and Thebes, both of which are recorded by Pausanias as having temples to the god (see his Description of Greece 3.18.3 and 9.16.1). The oracle was famed in later times for being visited by Alexander the Great in 331 BC and later Hannibal.

Lot 274

Mysia, Kyzikos EL Stater. Circa 500-450 BC. Head of Silenos facing; tunny fish upward to either side / Quadripartite incuse square. CNG 75, 23 May 2007, lot 336; cf. Von Fritze 77 (fractions only); SNG France -, cf. 208 (hekte); Hurter & Liewald I, 77; BMC -; Gillet -; Gulbenkian -; Jameson -; Weber -. 16.13g, 19mm. Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; one of only a dozen or so known examples. From the collection of an antiquarian, Bavaria c. 1960s-90s. The teacher and faithful companion of the wine-god Dionysos, Silenos was described as the oldest, wisest and most drunken of the followers of Dionysos, and was said in Orphic hymns to be the young god's tutor. Originally a folkloric man of the forest with the ears of a horse (and sometimes also the tail and legs of a horse), Silenos was often depicted with thick lips and a squat nose, as is the case here, fat, and most often bald – though our Silenos may consider himself fortunate in that he sports a full head of hair. Unusual consideration has been given to symmetry in the composition of this type: though symmetrical designs do occur, as in the case of two eagles perched on an omphalos (v. Fritze 220) or the double bodied sphinx (v. Fritze 138) to name but two, this is one of a tiny minority of designs that incorporates two tunny fish for balance. Interestingly, it has been suggested that the head of Silenos on this coin very possibly served as the model for a silver issue of the slightly later Lykian dynast Teththiveibi (see BMC 88 and SNG Berry 1164). One of the principal myths concerning Silenos has him lost and wandering in Phrygia, rescued by peasants and taken to the Phrygian King Midas, who treated him kindly. In return for Midas' hospitality Silenos regaled him with tales and Midas, enchanted by Silenos' fictions, entertained him for five days and nights. When the god Dionysos found his wayward friend, he offered Midas a reward for his kindness towards Silenos, a blessing which the avaricious Midas squandered by choosing the power of turning everything he touched into gold. How fitting then, that we should see in this beautiful coin a faint reflection of that classic myth of the drunken but sage Silenos looking out at us across the millennia through this window of golden metal.

Lot 472

Caligula Æ Tetrassarion of Aegeae, Cilicia. Mi-, magistrate. Dated year 87 = AD 40/41. Diademed and draped bust of Alexander the Great to right / AI?AI?N TH? IE?A? KAI A?TONOMO?, bare head of Julius Caesar to right; Z? (date) over MI behind. RPC I 4036; SNG Levante 1691. 13.43g, 29mm, 1h. Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; one of only four examples on CoinArchives, and in excellent condition for the type. Ex Obolos 5, 26 June 2016, lot 540. The Cilician city of Aegeae (Greek: city of goats) was apparently of Macedonian foundation. A fictitious letter of Alexander to his mother from (The Alexander Romance, 23) composed in the third century AD attributes the city’s origin to Alexander having beaten the Persians at Issos by means of fastening torches to the horns of goats so that by night his forces seemed greater than they were, and having thus won, founded a city on that spot. In any case, cities in Cilicia were the first to depict Alexander on their civic coins, often claiming to have been founded by the great conqueror whether or not there was any truth to the matter. Certainly in Aegeae’s case, the legend stuck – the city portrayed Alexander on its coinage for a period of nearly 300 years, its name recalling the capital of the Kingdom of Macedonia, and from the time of Caracalla onwards it bore the title of ‘Makedonike’ and in AD 228/9, ‘Alexandroupolis’. The city appears to have lost its autonomy in the mid first century BC, probably at the hands of Pompey during the civil war, since as Kent J. Rigsby (Asylia: Territorial Inviolability in the Hellenistic World, 1997) notes: “it is after Caesar that Aegeae is seen to enjoy both a new era and the right to strike silver”. That he should be depicted on the city’s coinage as a second founder is telling, and must argue against his having been the cause of the city’s loss of its old right (Hansjörg Bloesch, Hellenistic Coins of Aegeae in ANSMN 27, 1982). This refoundation must be assumed to have taken place in 47 BC, when Caesar reorganised the province.

Lot 392

Seleukid Empire, Antiochos II Theos AV Stater. Aï Khanoum, 261-246 BC. Diademed head of Antiochos I right / Apollo Delphinios seated to left on omphalos, holding arrow and resting left hand upon bow set on ground; ???????? to right, ???????? to left, monogram in left field. SC 435.1; ESM 695. 8.50g, 18mm, 5h. Good Very Fine, minor scuff on neck. Extremely Rare. Ex private German collection. Recent scholarship has reattributed a series of gold, silver and bronze coins with the mint mark of a delta within a circle, or close variants, from the ancient capital of Baktria, Baktra to previously unknown the city of Aï Khanoum in northeast Afghanistan. The history of this Hellenistic city is unclear - it was possibly founded by Alexander the Great as one of the military settlements left in this region, and could have been the settlement of Alexandeia Oxeiana. Another theory is that it was founded by Antiochos I in the early third century BC as a royal residence while Baktria was under Seleukid rule. Either way, the archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates that during the Hellenistic era Aï Khanoum was a major city. The excavations reveal that the city had a palace complex as well as a treasury, gymnasium, mausoleums and temples in addition to the discovery of unstruck bronze flans, highly suggestive that a mint was active here, although its dates of operation are not clear. Baktra had been suggested as the mint location only because, as Newell (Newell The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints. From Seleucus I to Antiochus III. 1938 pp. 229) wrote, the “only logical location for a large and active royal mint…[was] at Baktra, the political, commercial and geographical centre of the entire province.” However, a variant of the mintmark seen on this coin was found on bricks at one of the oldest parts of the ancient city of Aï Khanoum, a factor which led Kritt in his 2016 work ‘The Seleucid Mint of Aï Khanoum’ (Classical Numismatic Studies No. 9) to reattribute coins bearing this mintmark to this city. This was supported by Houghton and Lorber in ‘Seleukid Coins: a Comprehensive Catalogue’ who reassigned this whole series to Aï Khanoum and further argue that Baktra could not have issued these coins as a newly discovered bronze coin (catalogue number 283A) depicted the river god of the Oxus, which flowed by the city of Aï Khanoum, not Baktra.

Lot 259

Ionia, Magnesia ad Maeandrum AV Stater. Circa 155-140 BC. Euphemos, son of Pausanias, magistrate. Draped bust of Artemis to right, wearing stephane, and with bow and quiver over shoulder / Nike, holding kentron and reins, driving fast biga to right; MA?NHT?N (of the Magnesians) above, EY?HMO? ?AY?ANIOY below. Heritage 3056, 30066 (same dies); unpublished in the standard references, but for the magistrate Euphemos son of Pausanias and dating of the stephanophoric tetradrachms of Magnesia, cf. N. F. Jones, The Autonomous Wreathed Tetradrachms of Magnesia-on-Maeander", ANSMN 24, 1979, pp. 63-109, especially nos. 8-25; for the obverse Artemis bust type cf. B. Head, History of the Coinage of Ephesus, London 1880, p. 69, 1-7, pl. 5 and Mørkholm, Early Hellenistic Coinage, Cambridge 1991, 657 = Gulbenkian 985. 8.43g, 19mm, 12h. Extremely Fine. A coin of extreme rarity and great numismatic importance. From the A.F. Collection, Germany. The discovery of this totally new reverse type for a gold stater on the Attic weight standard of about 8.5g, fortunately signed by a very well known Magnesian magistrate, solves two long standing numismatic problems. Firstly, it allows for the dating of the Ephesian gold staters with which it is associated, and it confirms the mid second century dating of the Ionian stephanophoric coinage. Euphemos, son of Pausanias, was one of the eight magistrates who were responsible for the substantial silver stephanophoric 'wreath-bearer' tetradrachm issues, beautifully engraved and struck on broad flans on the Attic silver standard of about 17.2 grams. It is notable that Magnesia had in the late 4th and early 3rd centuries produced very high quality Attic standard gold staters with polished dies in the names of Philip, Alexander and Lysimachos. The obverse bust of Artemis is of exactly the same style as the well known Ephesos gold staters which depict on their reverse the Ephesian cult figure of Artemis. Until now those Ephesian staters have defied proper dating, having been given a chronological range by various authors from 150 to 88 BC (cf. Gilbert K. Jenkins, 'Hellenistic gold coins of Ephesus', in Festschrift E. Akurgal, Anadolu-Anatolia 21, 1978/80, Ankara, 1987, pp. 183-8, pls. A-B). Though of course it does not preclude the possibility that they were struck over an extended period of time, we may now at least say with some certainty that they were already being struck by around 150-140 BC. The evidence from the seven extant stephanophoric tetradrachm hoards from the contemporary territory of the Seleukid Empire, found together with dated Seleukid coins, points to a secure narrow chronological range for all these issues of 150-138 BC. Significantly the Magnesian coinage has often been found in close association with similar wreathed issues from Aigai, Kyme, Myrina, Herakleia, Lebedos and Smyrna in what must have been an unattested 'entente' by cities that had been guaranteed their autonomy following the imposition by Rome of the Treaty of Apameia between the Republic and Antiochos III in 188 BC - an attempt to stop the constant quarrelling between the Greeks. For the numismatic history of the period cf. Jones 1979, pp. 90-100 and Ch. Boehringer, Zur Chronologie Mittelhellenistischer Münzserien 220-160 v. Chr., Berlin 1972, pp. 49f."

Lot 1015

A George III style mahogany silver table, 82 x 50 x 75cms.

Lot 544

An oil painting, by Terence Evans - "Silver Birch & Pool", signed.

Lot 545

A Victorian silver sauce boat, by Walker & Hall, Sheffield, 1897, with scrolling acanthus leaf handle and shaped rim, raised on hoof feet, 8.9oz.

Lot 546

A George V silver sugar sifter, by Mappin & Webb, Birmingham 1912, 4.3oz.

Lot 547

A George V silver sauce boat, by Ellis & Son Co., Birmingham 1920, raised on hoof feet; together with a George V silver tankard, by Northern Goldsmiths Co., Birmingham 1925, 10oz.

Lot 548

A George V silver sugar bowl, by S.W. Smith & Co., Birmingham 1920; together with a silver dish, 9.3oz.

Lot 549

A George V silver mustard pot and table salt, by John Round & Son Ltd., Sheffield 1920, with blue glass liner; a silver pepperette and mustard pot and silver mustard spoons, 8.8oz.

Lot 550

A George V silver covered pot, by Lee & Wigfull (Henry Wigfull); together with a silver mounted cut glass dressing table pot, 7.7oz. of weighable silver. (3)

Lot 551

A set of six Victorian silver teaspoons, by Josiah Williams & Co., London 1893, with cream pattern finials; together with a set of six silver coffee spoons; and a pickle fork, 10.1oz.

Lot 552

A George III and later sugar tongs and silver scoop spoon, 3.4oz. (4)

Lot 553

A George V silver bowl, by E.S. Barnsley & Co., Birmingham 1913, 5.9oz.

Lot 554

A George V silver sugar sifter, by John Collard Vickery, Birmingham 1925, with domed pierced cover; together with a silver mounted in wood wine coaster and silver condiments, 7.5oz. of weighable silver.

Lot 555

A George VI silver mounted and wood cigarette box, by Walker & Hall, Sheffield 1940, with engine turned decoration to top and engraved inscription 'FTH HMS Cabbala 20 VI 42' and signatures; together with another silver mounted cigarette box. (2)

Lot 556

A George VI silver and glass flask, by G. & J.W. Hawksley, Sheffield 1939, with detachable base and leather mounted top.

Lot 557

A set of six silver and coloured enamel teaspoons, by David Andersen, Norway, stamped 925, in original fitted presentation case.

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