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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The Triumvirs, Octavian and Divus Julius Caesar AE Sestertius (or Dupondius?). Circa 38 BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £650
Southern (?) Italian mint. DIVOS IVLIVS, wreathed head of Divus Julius Caesar to right / CAESAR DIVI • F, bare head of Octavian to right, with slight beard. RPC I, 620; Crawford 535/1; CRI 308; BMCRR Gaul 105. 15.64gr, 30mm, 9h
Good Very Fine. Tooled and smoothed.
Property of a Cambridgeshire, UK, gentleman. -
The Triumvirs, Mark Antony AR Denarius. 32-31 BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Military mint moving with Antony; struck autumn 32 - spring 31 BC. Legionary type. ANT AVG III VIR • R • P • C, praetorian galley to right / Legionary aquila between two signa; LEG II across fields. Crawford 544/14; CRI 349; BMCRR East 190; RSC 27. 2.46gr, 16mm, 12h
Good Very Fine.
Property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Augustus AR Denarius. 27 BC-AD 14.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
Uncertain Spanish mint (Colonia Caesaraugusta?); struck 19-18 BC. CAESAR AVGVSTVS, bare head to right / S•P•Q•R CL•V in two lines on round shield (clipeus virtutis). RIC I 42a; BMCRE 333-4 = BMCRR Gaul 128-9; RSC 294; BN 1311. 3.59gr, 21mm, 6h
Near Extremely Fine. Beautifully toned; minor areas of corrosion.
From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman; Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, Spring Sale 2020, 25 May 2020, lot 815 (dealer's ticket included); Ex Auktionshaus H. D. Rauch GmbH, Auction 90, 4 June 2012, lot 323. -
Augustus AE As. 27 BC-AD 14.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
Lugdunum mint; struck 10-6 BC. CAES[AR PONT] MAX, laureate head to right / ROM ET AVG, front elevation of the Altar of Lugdunum, decorated with the corona civica between laurels, flanked by stylised male figures; to left and right, Victories on columns, facing one another. RIC I 230; BMCRE 550. 10.02gr, 26mm, 2h
Near Very Fine.
From an old UK collection; From the collection of a London antiquarian. -
Tiberius AR Denarius. AD 14-37.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £416
Lugdunum mint; struck AD 36-37. "Tribute Penny" type. TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head to right / PONTIF MAXIM, Livia, as Pax, seated to left, holding long vertical sceptre and branch, on chair with ornamented legs above one exergual line. RIC I 30 corr. (ornamented legs); BMCRE 48; RSC 16a. 3.63gr, 18mm, 1h
Extremely Fine. Darkly toned.
From an old UK collection; From the collection of a London antiquarian. -
Tiberius, as Caesar AE As . AD 4-14.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £98
Lugdunum mint, struck AD 12-14. [TI CAESAR] AVGVST F IMPERAT VII, laureate head to right / Front elevation of the Altar of Lugdunum, decorated with the corona civica between laurels and stylised male figures, Victories on columns to left and right facing one another; ROM ET AVG in exergue. RIC I 245 (Augustus); Cohen 37; BMCRE 585 (Augustus). 10.04gr, 25mm, 5h
Near Very Fine.
Acquired on the UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman. -
Electrotype of Tiberius AR Denarius. AD 15-16.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £78
Lugdunum mint. TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head to right / TR POT XVII, Tiberius, laureate and cloaked, standing in slow quadriga to right, holding laurel branch and eagle-tipped sceptre; IMP VII in exergue. For prototype: RIC 4; Lyon 122; BMCRE 7; RSC 48. 4.22gr, 19mm, 9h
Very Fine.
Property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Nero & Drusus Caesar AE Dupondius. Died AD 31 and 33, respectively.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Rome mint; struck AD 37-38. NERO ET DRVSVS CAESARES, Nero and Drusus Caesar on horseback riding to right, cloaks flying behind them / C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT around large S • C. RIC I 34 (Gaius); BMCRE 44. 16.27gr, 28mm, 5h
Very Fine. Smoothed.
Ex German art market, 2000s; Acquired from an EU collector living in London; From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Nero AE As. AD 54-68.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Lugdunum mint. Struck AD 66. IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX TR P P P, bare head to left, small globe at point of bust / GENIO AVGVSTI, Genius standing to left, holding cornucopiae with left hand and sacrificing out of patera over lighted altar with right; S C across fields. RIC I 534; BMCRE 371. 10.64gr, 27mm, 6h
Near Very Fine. Light green patina.
From a London, UK, collection, 1990s. -
Nero AE As. AD 54-68.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Lugdunum mint; struck AD 66. [IMP] NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX TR P P P, bare head to right / Victory alighting to left, holding shield inscribed S P Q R; S C across fields. RIC I 543; Cohen 302; BMCRE 381. 11.13gr, 30mm, 6h
Very Fine. Nice dark olive green patina.
From a 1980s UK collection; Property of a London antiquarian. -
Vespasian AR Denarius. AD 69-79.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
Ephesus mint; struck AD 69-70. IMP CAES VESPAS AVG, laureate head to right / CONCORDIA AVG, Ceres seated to left on throne, holding grain ears and poppy with right hand and cornucopia with left; sideways Φ under throne. RIC II.2 1400 var. (Φ in exergue); BMCRE -, cf. 434; RPC II 809 var. (same); RSC 65c var. (same). 3.19gr, 18mm, 6h
Good Very Fine. Unpublished variant of this very rare type.
Ex German art market, 2000s; Acquired from an EU collector living in London; From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Vespasian AR Hemidrachm of Caesarea-Eusebeia, Cappadocia. AD 69-79.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £78
ΛVTOKP KΛICΛP OVЄCΠΛCIΛNOC CЄBΛ, laureate head to right / Victory standing to right, holding wreath with right hand and palm on left shoulder. RPC II 1659; Sydenham, Caesarea 94; Metcalf 17. 1.45gr, 14mm, 12h
Very Fine.
Ex Reeman Dansie, Colchester; Acquired at UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, collector.