.jpg "Nabataea, Aretas IV PB Tessera or Token.")
LOT 3029
Nabataea, Aretas IV PB Tessera or Token. Struck circa 9/8–6/5 BC. Petra mint.
Laureate head of Zeus to right / Bull butting to left, legend(?) above. Cf. CN Category II, Group K, fig. 11.10; cf. Younis Al-Qatanani, Nabataean Coins, p. 141, 250, t1. Condition as seen.(1.96gr, 13mm, 2h.).
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.
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AUCTIONS:
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Seleukid Empire, Cleopatra Thea & Antiochos VIII AE 19mm. Dated SE 190 (123/2 BC). Antioch on the Orontes mint.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £78
Radiate and diademed head to right / Owl standing to right, head facing, on overturned amphora; BAΣIΛIΣΣHΣ KΛEOΠATPAΣ in two lines to right, KAI BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOY in three lines to left; IE to inner right; below, ꟼP (date) and dolphin to right. SC 2263.3c var. (IE to outer right); SNG Spaer 2448 var. (same). 6.11gr, 19mm, 12h.
Very Fine. Extremely rare; apparently unpublished variant.
Property of a Cambridgeshire, UK, gentleman. -
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. -
Pisidia, Antioch AE 19mm. 1st century BC. ΘΕΟΦΡΑΣΤΟΣ (Theophrastos), magistrate.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Draped bust of Mên to right, wearing Phrygian cap, set on upturned crescent; uncertain countermark before / ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕωΝ ΘΕΟΦΡΑC[...], Zebu bull standing to right. Unpublished in the standard references. 5.33gr, 19mm, 11h.
Very Fine. Exceedingly rare; apparently unpublished and possibly unique with this magistrate's name.
Ex CNG. Property of a Middlesex, UK, antiquarian.
