Persia. Achaemenid Empire, Time of Darius II to Artaxerxes II AR Siglos.

Tyre mint. Undated issue, struck circa 274 BC. Diademed head to right, wearing aegis / [ΠΤΟΛEΜΑΙOΥ] ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, eagle with closed wings standing to left on thunderbolt; in left field, civic monogram of TYP above club. CPE 561; Svoronos 644; SNG Copenhagen 482-3. 13.58gr, 25mm, 12h.

Near Very Fine. Banker's mark on obverse, zig-zag graffito on reverse.

From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s. Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Electronic Auction 560, 17 April 2024, lot 274.

Amphipolis mint. Struck circa 307-297 BC. In the name and types of Alexander III. Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress, paws tied beneath chin / ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, Zeus seated to left on backless throne, right leg drawn back, holding long sceptre in his left hand and, in his right, eagle standing to right with closed wings; in left field, Λ above torch; beneath throne, M above star. Price 481; Ehrhardt 22. 16.51gr, 26mm, 5h.

Near Very Fine.

Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.

Uncertain mint. Head to right, wearing bashlyk / ΥΠΑΙoΡo[...], Nike standing facing, head to left, holding long palm in extended right hand. Unrecorded ruler but cf. Roma Numismatics, E-81, 607 ('ΥΠΑΙ' legend on coin of Ariarathes) and HGC 9, 493b (similar reverse of issue of Antiochos III). 5.00gr, 17mm, 11h.

Good Very Fine. Unpublished and unique; of great historical and numismatic importance.

Ex 'V' gentleman's collection, Switzerland. From the property of a North London, UK, gentleman.

It is not rare when a coin can be the only evidence about the existence of a person or city from the past. On this particular coin, it is the inscription of YΠΑΙΟΡΟ that makes it difficult to attribute. No city or ruler is recorded with this name and the only ancillary evidence we have is its similarity to some other types. First of all, the style of the leather helmet (called bashlyk, common for the Cappadocian bronzes) and the lack of the royal title, refer us to the king of Cappadocia, Ariaramnes. The Roma's example is the only other example who bears the abbreviated legend YΠΑΙ but on a coin of Ariarathes. On the other hand, the reverse type and style of legend resemble the bronze coins of Antiochos III struck in Southern Coele-Syria (SC 1100a; HGC 9, 493b). It is not certain whether the name refers to a city or to a ruler. Bronze coins of Ariaramnes can have the name of the mint abbreviated (cf. Simonetta 9a&b), but it is considered unusual in this period to have a bronze coin with a full ethnic and the portrait of the ruler. It is very likely that we are dealing with the name of a Cappadocian ruler who was active for a short period in the second half of the 3rd to the first part of the 2nd century and participated in the recovery of the outlying provinces of the Seleucid Empire from Antiochos III.