Auction Highlights
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Egyptian Granite Head of a Dignitary
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
Carved with soft facial features and carefully executed cosmetic lines around the eye, earring, and carefully detailed duplex wig with gently wavy curls; likely from the Ramesside Period; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Etruscan Bronze Statuette of Herakles
Sold for (Inc. bp): £18,200
Modelled in the round with a muscular nude body, his club resting on his shoulder and the hair dressed in rows of tight, close-set curls underneath the Nemean lionskin hood with cloak billowing over his left arm, the paws tied across his chest; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Roman Marble Portrait of a Boy as Worshipper of Isis
Sold for (Inc. bp): £17,550
Carved head of a prepubescent worshipper of Isis, with soft facial features, long nose, small downturned mouth, heavy-lidded eyes, the whole giving the face a sombre or mournful appearance; the hair textured to indicate a short cut and combed forward across the scalp, sidelock above the right ear; mounted on a 16th century carved breccia upper body with leather cuirass and pteruges to right shoulder, cloak draped across the shoulders and fastened at the clavicle on the right side with a disc-brooch; socle base; some restoration. -
Larger Than Life-Size Roman Bronze Sandaled Foot
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39,000
Modelled in the round and originally part of a monumental statue, the naturalistic right foot encased in a trochades leather sandal with median reversed tongue secured with side straps and thick looped laces; the thick platform sole slightly curved, toes and nails well defined; mounted on a substantial custom-made display stand. -
Life-Size Roman Marble Sleeping Girl from a Sarcophagus Lid
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20,800
Modelled in the half-round, nude with eyelids half-closed in sleep; a drapery partly covering the head and wrapping around the lower body under the hips; the hairstyle similar to those of the Antonine Dynasty, the peaceful face supported by the hands and the ear pierced to accept an earring; iron reinforcing rod to the feet and the right arm's armilla a later replacement; upper head restored in Parian marble. -
Byzantine Porphyry Relief with Cross Surrounded by Two Birds
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
An imposing panel divided to four sections by a central cross on a stepped pedestal, the lower and upper arm with branch-like extensions; the upper quadrants with a circlet surrounding a palm tree-shaped motif; each lower quadrant with a bird in profile facing back; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Carved Marble Memento Mori Skull
Sold for (Inc. bp): £16,900
Carved skull on a short neck with musculature and blood vessels; mandible in place with some teeth in sockets, wisps of hair adhering to the dome of the skull; one zygomatic bone partly absent; square-section socle base. -
'The Kelton' Gandharan Head of a Bodhisattva
Sold for (Inc. bp): £24,700
Carved in the half-round head of a Bodhisattva (probably Maitreya) with fine detailing to the arched brow, aquiline nose, neat moustache and full lips; the eyes heavily lidded, urna to the forehead, long open lobes to the ears; the hair in multi-stranded curling locks gathered into an ushnisha with brow-band below; heavily cleaned, conserved, and mounted on a custom-made stand; supplied with original old wooden base with collector's label: 'Head of Bodhisattva / Fine grain schist / Gandhara, Northwest Pakistan / 4th century'.
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Nabataea, Aretas IV, with Shaqilat, AE 18mm. 9 BC-AD 40.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Petra mint. Jugate busts of Aretas and Shaqilat to right; letter(?) before / Crossed cornucopiae; legend between and below. Cf. Meshorer, Nabataea 114; cf. SNG ANS 1438-43; cf. Sofaer 67-9. 4.14gr, 18mm, 11h
Near Very Fine.
Property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Nabataea, Aretas IV AE 13mm. Circa 9/8 BC-AD 40.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Petra mint; struck circa 9/8 BC. Laureate head to right / Two cornucopiae; palm frond to right, ḥēth to left. Cf. Meshorer, Nabataea 63A. 2.41gr, 13mm, 12h
Near Very Fine.
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Electronic Auction 542, 19 July 2023, lot 195; Property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Nabataea, Aretas IV, with Shaqilat, AE 17mm. 9 BC-AD 40.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Petra mint. Aretas in military dress, standing to left, holding spear and scabbard; palm branch to left, ḥēth in Aramaic in upper right field / Shuqailat, veiled and wearing Isis-headdress, standing to left, raising hand, wreath in left field, 'Shuqailat' in Aramaic in two lines in right field. Meshorer, Nabataea 97; CN Type 187a. 2.60gr, 17mm, 11h
Very Fine.
Property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Philistia, Uncertain mint AR Drachm. Circa 450-333 BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £390
Bearded male head to left / Paradise flower or Phoenician palmette with two birds within volutes; dolphin to right below; all in dotted square within incuse square. Gitler & Tal XVII.3D; HGC 10, 604. 2.84gr, 14mm, 2h
Very Fine. Test cut. Rare.
From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s. -
Judaea, Hasmoneans, John Hyrcanus I(?) AE Prutah. 135-104 BCE.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Jerusalem mint. Illegible inscription in Paleo-Hebrew within wreath / Splayed double cornucopiae with pomegranate between the horns. Cf. Sofaer 124-143; cf. HGC 10, 630. 1.61gr, 14mm
Fine.
Property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Judaea, Hasmoneans, Alexander Jannaeus AE Prutah. 104-76 BCE.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Jerusalem mint. Inscription in paleo-Hebrew within wreath / Two cornucopiae splayed outward, adorned with ribbons; pomegranate between. Cf. Hendin 6182; cf. Sofaer 355-369. 1.81gr, 14mm, 6h
Near Very Fine.
Property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Judaea, Herodians, Herod I AE Prutah. 40-4 BCE.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Jerusalem mint. Tripod / Diadem. Meshorer 54; Hendin 6214; HGC 10, 657. 1.31gr, 14mm
Fine.
Property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Judaea, Herod I AE Prutah. 40-4 BCE.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Jerusalem mint. Illegible inscription around small open diadem with no cross / Tripod table within dotted circle. RPC I -; Meshorer 54; Hendin 6214; HGC 10, 657. 1.37gr, 14mm, 8h
Near Very Fine.
From a London, UK, collection, 1990s. -
Judaea, Herodians. Herod II Archelaus AE Prutah. 4 BCE-6 CE.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Jerusalem mint. [EΘNAPΧOY], crested helmet with cheek straps / [HPധΔOY], bunch of grapes on vine with small leaf on left. RPC I 4917; TJC 73; Hendin GBC 6, 6227; Hendin GBC 5, 1196. 2.31gr, 17mm, 11h
Very Fine.
Property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Judaea, Herodians. Herod III Antipas AE Unit. 4 BCE-39 CE.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £845
Tiberias mint. Struck for Roman Emperor Gaius (Caligula); dated RY 43 (39/40 CE). HPധΔHC [TETPAPXHC], palm tree with two date clusters; ETO-[Y]C MΓ (date) flanking / ΓAIΩ KAICAP ΓEPMANIKΩ in four lines within laurel wreath. RPC I 4934; Meshorer 91; Hendin 6246. 12.78gr, 23mm, 12h
Good Very Fine. Black patina with brown highlights.
From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s. -
South Arabia, Himyar AR Unit. Uncertain ruler, after 110 BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Beardless male head to right / Bearded male head to right, Royal Qatanian monogram behind, South Arabian monogram below. Huth 367. 1.88gr, 11mm, 1h
Very Fine.
From an old UK collection; From the collection of a London antiquarian. -
Arabia, Mleiha. Imitative Abi'el BI Drachm. Circa 1st century BC - 2nd century AD.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
In the types of Alexander III of Macedon. Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress / Figure seated to left, holding sceptre with left hand and horse in outstretched right hand; 'b'l in Aramaic to right, palm tree before, Λ or 'cone-like' object in inner left field, trident behind. Van Alfen, Die, 182; Huth -; Potts Class XLIX; HGC 10, 690. 3.94gr, 14mm, 1h
Extremely Fine. Extremely rare; only three examples cited by van Alfen of this type.
From a Swiss private collection, before 2005.