Auction Highlights
-
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'.
-
Julia Maesa, Augusta AR Denarius. AD 218-224/5.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Rome mint; struck AD 218-222. IVLIA MAESA AVG, draped bust to right / PVDICITIA, Pudicitia seated to left, drawing veil over face with right and holding transverse sceptre with left hand. RIC IV 268 (Elagabalus); BMCRE 76 (Elagabalus); RSC 36. 2.84gr, 18mm, 2h
Extremely Fine. Toned; some red hard deposits on reverse.
Acquired on the UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman. -
Julia Maesa, Augusta AR Denarius. AD 218-224/5.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Rome mint; struck AD 218-222. IVLIA MAESA AVG, draped bust to right / FECVNDITAS AVG, Fecunditas standing facing, head to left, extending her right hand over child and holding cornucopia with left. RIC IV 249 (Elagabalus); BMCRE 61-5 (Elagabalus); RSC 8. 2.87gr, 19mm, 12h
Near Extremely Fine.
Acquired on the UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman. -
Julia Maesa, Augusta AR Denarius. AD 218-224/5.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £29
Rome mint; struck AD 218-222. IVLIA MAESA AVG, draped bust to right / PIETAS AVG, Pietas standing facing, head to left, raising hands, altar by feet. RIC IV 266 (Elagabalus); BMCRE 75 (Elagabalus); RSC 34a. 2.38gr, 18mm, 5h
Near Extremely Fine.
Acquired on the UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman. -
Julia Maesa, Augusta AR Denarius. AD 218-224/5.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Rome mint; struck AD 218-222. IVLIA MAESA AVG, draped bust to right / FECVNDITAS AVG, Fecunditas standing facing, head to left, extending her right hand over child and holding cornucopia with left. RIC IV 249 (Elagabalus); BMCRE 61-5 (Elagabalus); RSC 8. 2.51gr, 19mm, 6h
Near Extremely Fine.
Acquired on the UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman. -
Elagabalus AR Denarius. AD 218-222.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Rome mint; struck AD 221-222. IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, horned and draped bust to right / SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG, emperor standing to left sacrificing over tripod and holding cypress branch; star in left field. RIC 146; BMC 232; RSC 276. 3.02gr, 19mm, 1h
Extremely Fine.
Acquired on the UK art market; Property of a Harrow, UK gentleman. -
Juliae Mamaea, Augusta AE Sestertius. AD 222-235.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Rome mint; struck AD 224. IVLIA MAMA-EA AVGVSTA, diademed and draped bust to right / VENERI FELICI, Venus standing facing, head to right, holding Cupid with left and sceptre with right hand; S C across fields. RIC IV 694 (Severus Alexander); Cohen 62; BMCRE 190 (same). 20.48gr, 30mm, 11h
Very Fine - Good Very Fine. Attractive dark olive green patina.
From a London, UK, collection, 1990s. -
Julia Mamaea, Augusta AE Sestertius. AD 222-235.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Rome mint; struck AD 224. IVLIA MAMAEA AVGVSTA, diademed and draped bust to right / VENERI FELICI, Venus standing facing, head to right, holding Cupid with left hand and sceptre with right; S C across fields. RIC IV 694 (Alexander); Cohen 62; Banti 16. 14.37gr, 29mm, 12h
Good Very Fine. Black patina; pitting to reverse.
Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman; Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd, E-Sale 114, 23 November 2023, lot 1028. -
Severus Alexander AR Denarius. AD 222-235.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Rome mint; struck AD 222. IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / P M TR P COS P P, Jupiter standing facing, head to left, holding thunderbolt with right hand and long sceptre with left. RIC IV 5; BMCRE 13-15; RSC 204a. 2.76gr, 18mm, 1h
Near Extremely Fine.
Acquired on the UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman. -
Maximinus I AE Sestertius. AD 235-238.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Rome mint; struck AD 235. IMP MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right, seen from rear / P M TR P P P, emperor in military dress, standing to left, holding sceptre and raising right hand, four standards behind him; S C across fields. RIC VI 24; Cohen 48. 23.38gr, 31mm, 12h
Very Fine. Very rare.
Property of a Cambridgeshire, UK, gentleman. -
Diva Paulina AE Sestertius. Died before AD 235.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
Rome mint; 2nd emission of Maximinus I, AD 236. Consecration issue. DIVA PAVLINA, veiled and draped bust to right / CONSECRATIO, Paulina, raising her right hand and holding sceptre in left, seated to left on peacock flying to right; S C in fields. RIC IV 3 (Maximinus); Banti 1; BMCRE 132 (Maximinus). 21.01gr, 32mm, 12h
Good Very Fine. Tooled; beautiful olive green patina.
Ex German art market, 2000s; Acquired from an EU collector living in London; From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman. -
Balbinus AR Denarius. AD 238.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £598
Rome mint; struck April - June AD 238. IMP C D CAEL BALBINVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / PROVIDENTIA DEORVM, Providentia standing to left, holding wand over globe in her right hand and cornucopiae with her left. RIC IV 7; Cohen 23; BMC 33. 2.69gr, 20mm, 6h
Extremely Fine. Toned.
Ex Gorny & Mosch 56, 7 October 1991, 588; Ex Nomos AG, Auction 21, 21 November 2020, lot 340 (dealer's ticket included). -
Gordian III AR Antoninianus. AD 238-244.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Rome mint. Struck AD 239-240. IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust to right, seen from rear / LIBERALITAS AVG III, Liberalitas standing facing, head to left, holding abacus with right hand and cornucopia with left. RIC IV 67; RSC 142. 3.54gr, 22mm, 6h
Good Very Fine.
From a London, UK, collection, 1990s.