LOT 2655
Seleukid Empire, Antiochos VIII Epiphanes (Grypos) AR Tetradrachm. 121/0-97/6 BC.
Antioch mint; struck circa 109-96 BC. Diademed head of Antiochos to right within filleted border / ΒAΣΙΛEΩΣ ΑNTIOXOY EΠIΦANOYΣ, Zeus Nikephoros seated to left, holding sceptre; monogram of PE above A in outer left field, control mark beneath throne; all within wreath. SC 2309.2c. Near Extremely Fine. Beautifully toned.(16.06gr, 31mm, 12h.).
ProvenanceAcquired in 1995.
From a private collection in Europe.
The Greeks loved to give nicknames to their kings, a custom that lasted until the late years of the Byzantine empire. An example of this is Antiochοs VIII Epiphanes, the so-called Grypos ('hook-nosed'), a fact confirmed in his iconography.
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LOT 2655
Seleukid Empire, Antiochos VIII Epiphanes (Grypos) AR Tetradrachm.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £520
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Group of Eight [8] AR Sigloi of Achaemenid Empire. 5th - 4th century BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £312
Various types. 44.85gr total.
Fine to Very Fine.
Ex 'V' gentleman's collection, Switzerland. From the property of a North London, UK, gentleman. -
Persia. Achaemenid Empire, Time of Darios II to Artaxerxes II AR Siglos. Circa 420-375 BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Lydo-Milesian standard. Sardes mint or subsidiary mint. Type IV (middle). 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 with uncertain designs in the middle and corner; countermark: similar to 87 & 88 (unlisted). Carradice Type IV, Group B (pl. XIV, 43); BMC Arabia pl. XXVII, 10; Sunrise -. 5.59gr, 16mm.
Near Very Fine. Very rare with this incuse punch.
Ex 'V' gentleman's collection, Switzerland. From the property of a North London, UK, gentleman.
The numbering of countermarks’ varieties has been done according to the chart published in BMC Arabia, p. cxxxvii. -
Kings of Cappadocia, Hypaioros AE 17mm. Circa 250-187 BC.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
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 Unpublished and unique; of great historical and numismatic importance.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.
