LOT 3096
Minor Asia & Levante, PB Trial Strike(?). 2nd-1st century BC.
Incuse of jugate male bearded and wreathed(?) heads / Blank. Cf. Timeline Auctions, Auction 162, lot 3074. Condition as seen.(17.28gr, 23mm.).
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.
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Thessaly, Pharsalos AR Drachm. Late 5th-mid 4th century BC. Signed by the engraver ΤΗΛΕΦΑΝΤΟΣ (Telephantos) and ΙΠ- (Ip-).
Estimate: £3,000 - 4,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,600
Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet with raised cheek pieces; behind neck, ΤΗ above ΙΠ (engravers' initials) in small lettering / Φ-Α-Ρ-Σ clockwise around Thessalian cavalryman riding horse prancing to right, wearing petasos, chlamys and chiton, and holding lagobolon over his right shoulder; in exergue, Τ (engraver's initial). Lavva 86 (O43/R51); BCD Thessaly I 1284 var. (TH in exergue); BCD Thessaly II 639 var. (no ΙΠ); HGC 4, 624. 5.95gr, 18mm, 9h.
Good Extremely Fine. Tiny cut on reverse. Attractive toning with golden iridescence around the devices. Sharply struck and surprisingly detailed.
From a Swiss collection, acquired prior to 2005. Ex Nomos AG, Auction 21, 21 November 2020, lot 145 (company's ticket included).
If the harmony and the aristocratic inner peace of the portraits are the first thing that catches our attention, it is the extremely detailed rendering of the figures, especially on the reverse, that makes the viewer cling more to their admiration for this coin. Each depiction of Athena’s head in these emissions of Pharsalos makes us believe that she has her own character and that no two are the same, even though they share the same characteristics. Athena in our coin looks like a tender girl with a serious but innocent look in her eyes. Her divine power, despite her young age, is not violent; it is simply inherent in the serenity of her gaze. On the other hand, the detailed rendering of the cavalryman’s and horse's face, the texture of his chlamys, the harmonious matching of muscles and joints in the horse's body, and even the pronounced veins in the horse's belly convince us of a talented engraver and a gifted artist. -
Ionia, Ephesos AR Tetradrachm. Circa 150-140 BC. Cistophoric standard.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Basket (cista mystica), with half-open lid, from which snake coils, around, ivy wreath with fruits / Two snakes coiled around a bow case ornamented with aplustre, and containing a strung bow; to left, bee above ΕΦΕ; to right, serpent coiled around altar. Kleiner & Noe Series 28; Pinder 22; SNG von Aulock 7837. 12.62gr, 27mm, 12h.
Near Very Fine. Toned.
From the private collection of a Canadian gentleman living in Essex, UK, formed since the 1920s-circa 1990. Property of an Essex lady until the the late 1990s; thence by descent. From the private collection of an Essex gentleman since the late 1990s. -
Persia. Achaemenid Empire, Time of Darius II to Artaxerxes II AR Siglos. Circa 420-375 BC. Sardes mint or subsidiary mint. Type IV (middle) B.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Lydo-Milesian standard. Persian king or hero, wearing kidaris and kandys, quiver over shoulder, in kneeling-running stance to right, holding dagger in right hand, bow in left / Oblong incuse punch. Carradice Type IV, Group B. 5.57gr, 15mm.
Near Very Fine. Countermark on reverse.
Ex 'V' gentleman's collection, Switzerland. From the property of a North London, UK, gentleman.
