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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United States. State of Georgia,The Merchants and Planters Bank One Dollar Note. 1859.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £195
One dollar bill, hand signed, dated, and numbered no.180. The Merchants and Planters Bank State of Georgia, Savannah, July 1st 1859, the center vignette is very nice and the note is enhanced by the red. 0.500gr, 18 x 8cm
Very Fine.
Acquired on the UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, collector. -
Islamic, Artuqids of Mardin. Najm al-Din Alpi AE Dirham. AH 547-572 (AD 1152-1176).
Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Unlisted (Mardin[?]) mint. Undated, but struck AH 566-572 (AD 1170-1176). Two diademed and draped male heads facing slightly away from one another; in margins, Kalima above and below, name and title of Abbasid caliph to right and left / Facing female head, wearing necklace; name, title, and genealogy of Najm al-Din Alpi in outer margin. Album 1827.5; Whelan Type IV, 44-5; S&S Type 30.1; ICV 1203. 12.59gr, 32mm, 3h
Very Fine.
From an old UK collection; From the collection of a London antiquarian. -
Abbasid Caliphate AV DInar. Time of Al-Mansur, AH 136-158 (AD 754-775).
Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
No mint. Dated AH 147 (AD 765). Kalima in three lines; Qur'an IX, 33 in outer margin / Continuation of kalima in three lines; date formula in outer margin. Album 212. 4.22gr, 19mm, 4h
Very Fine.
From a Swiss private collection, before 2005. -
Abbasid Caliphate AR Hemidrachm. Time of al-Mahdi. AH 158-169 (AD 775-785).
Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Tabaristan mint. Dated PYE 135 = AH 170 (AD 785/6). Stylised crowned Sassanian style bust to right; ‘GDE ʾpzwt (may his glory increase) in Pahlavi to right and left; in outer margin, star-in-crescents, 'pd (excellent) in Pahlavi to lower right, nwk' (good) in Pahlavi to lower left / Fire altar flanked by attendants; pellets flanking flames, date to left, mint to right; alternating triple pellets and star-in-crescents in outer margin. Malek 167.2-4; Album 73A; ICV 120. 1.85gr, 24mm, 4h
Extremely Fine.
From a London, UK, collection, 1990s. -
Abbasid governor of Tabaristan AR Hemidrachm. Dated PYE 135 = AH 170 (AD 786/7).
Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Tabaristan mint. Anonymous type. Crowned and draped bust to right; behind head, GDH ('kingship' in Pahlavi); before head, 'AFZUT' ('may increase' in Pahlavi); in outer margin, APD and NWKW ('excellent' and 'good' in Pahlavi) and 'bakh bakh' ('very fine' in Arabic) / Sasanian fire altar set on three steps, flanked by two attending priests standing facing; to left, date; to right, mint. Album 73A; SICA I, -; Walker, Arab-Sassanian, p. 156, 307. 1.95gr, 24mm, 8h
Near Extremely Fine. Scarce.
From a private collection, UK. -
Abbasid Caliphate AR Hemidrachm. Time of al-Rashid. AH 170-193 (AD 786-809).
Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Tabaristan mint. Dated PYE 136 = AH 171 (AD 787/8). Stylised crowned Sassanian style bust to right; ‘GDE ʾpzwt (may his glory increase) in Pahlavi to right and left; in outer margin, star-in-crescents, 'pd (excellent) in Pahlavi to lower right, nwk' (good) in Pahlavi to lower left / Fire altar flanked by attendants; pellets flanking flames, date to left, mint to right; alternating triple pellets and star-in-crescents in outer margin. Malek 174.1-8; Album 73; ICV -. 1.96gr, 24mm, 10h
Extremely Fine. Some green deposits in fields; delamination on edge of reverse.
From a London, UK, collection, 1990s. -
Arab-Byzantine, Umayyad Caliphate AE Fals. Time of 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, AH 65-86 (AD 685-705).
Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Halab mint. 'Standing Caliph' type. Caliph standing facing, placing his right hand on the pommel of his sword, girdle band hanging from his right elbow; around, 'for the servant of God, Abd al-Malik, Commander of the Faithful' in Kufic / Transformed cross standing on three steps; in left field, 'full weight' in Kufic; in right field, mint halab in Kufic; around, part of the first Kalima in Kufic. DOCAB 118; Goodwin & Gyselen p. 54, 43. 4.03gr, 19mm, 11h
Near Very Fine.
From a Swiss private collection, before 2005. -
Umayyad Caliphate AE Fals. Post-reform AH 77-132 (AD 697-750).
Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Iliya (Jerusalem) mint. Candlestick with five branches; 'There is no god but Allah alone' in Kufic around / 'Muhammad is the messenger of Allah' in three lines in Kufic. Cf. D. Barag, "The Islamic Candlestick Coins of Jerusalem" in INJ 10, type 4; cf. Walker 605; cf. Album 163.2. 2.71gr, 16mm, 11h
Very Fine.
Acquired from Hassam Zurqieh, February 2016, no. AA824. -
Abbasid Governors of Tabaristan. AR Hemidrachms [6]. AD 786-809.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
Six silver Hemidrachms of the Abbasid governors of Tabaristan. 12.76gr total
From a private collection, UK. -
Abbasid Governors of Tabaristan. AR Hemidrachms [6]. AD 786-809.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
Six silver Hemidrachms of the Abbasid governors of Tabaristan. 12.34gr total
From a private collection, UK. -
Abbasid Governors of Tabaristan. AR Hemidrachms [6]. AD 786-809.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Six silver Hemidrachms of the Abbasid governors of Tabaristan. 12.40gr total
From a private collection, UK. -
Islamic, Abbasid Dynasty. AR Dirham Group [10]. 8th-12th century AD.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £124
Ten silver Dirhams of the Abbasid dynasty. 29.03gr total
Acquired on the UK market before 2000; Property of a London, UK, gentleman.