Details
LOT 3223
Seleukid Empire, Uncertain Ruler in the name of Antiochos I Soter(?) AE 12mm. 3rd century BC. Uncertain Western mint.
Male head to right, wearing laureate and crested Attic helmet / AN-TI, bull butting to right. Cf. SC 354 (Apollo; perhaps Antioch on the Orontes); Roma Numismatics, e-Sale 112, 529 (hammer: 850 GBP); otherwise unpublished. Good Very Fine. Nice green patina. Exceedingly Rare; the second known example and of considerable numismatic importance.(1.56gr, 12mm, 10h.).
Provenance
Acquired at European coin market.
Property of a Kent, UK, gentleman.
Footnotes
The closest example to our coin is this of SC 354 (=SNG Spaer 216). Although the obverse is described as Apollo, it is nevertheless very worn. Upon closer examination one could see that the two coins share the same type. According to SC 354 note 'The Kritt specimen shows an apparent helmet crest behind Apollo's head, perhaps evidence for overstriking on an earlier variety featuring Athena'.
SC's suggestion of Antioch as a possible mint is repeated from SNG Spaer. The reverse is similar to those from Seleukeia ad Tigrim but the fabric is quite different (cf. Brian Kritt, From Aï Khanoum to Samarqand. Seleucid Coins in Central Asia, pl. 8). Our coin is more reminiscent of western mints, but the identification of a specific mint is still impracticable.
The most interesting feature, however, is the mysterious face depicted on the obverse, whose parallel example cannot be found in the references.
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LOT 3223
Seleukid Empire, Uncertain Ruler in the name of Antiochos I Soter(?) AE 12mm.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
RELATED LOTS
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Ionia, Smyrna AE Homereion. After 190 BC. EΡΜΟΛΑΟΣ ΠΑΡΜΕΝΙΟΝΤΟΣ (Hermolaos, son of Parmenion), magistrate.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Laureate head of Apollo to right / Homer seated to left, holding scroll, transverse sceptre behind; [Z]MYPNAIΩN to right, EPMOΛAOΣ ΠΑΡΜΕΝΙΟ[NΤΟΣ] in three lines to left. BMC -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -; Milne (NC 1927) Pg. 88, No. 302. 8.84gr, 20mm, 12h.
Good Very Fine. Dark green patina. Extremely Rare.
Acquired on the UK market. Property of a London antiquarian.
Strabo mentions specifically this issue of bronze coinage from Smyrna when, discussing the city, he says "there is also a library; and the 'Homereum', a quadrangular portico containing a shrine and wooden statue of Homer; for the Smyrnaeans also lay especial claim to the poet and indeed a bronze coin of theirs is called a Homereum" (Strabo, Geographica XIV, I.37, transl. by H.C. Jones, The Geography of Strabo, VI [Loeb, 1960], pp. 245-247). -
Kings of Thrace, Lysimachos AE Unit. 305-281 BC. Uncertain mint in Thrace (Lysimacheia?).
Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Helmetted head of Athena to right / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ, lion leaping to right; kerykeion, monogram of EM, and spearhead below. Müller 76; HGC 3, 1758. 4.85gr, 19mm, 12h.
Near Very Fine.
Ex Münzzentrum Rheinland. Property of a Kent, UK, gentleman. -
Group of Seven [7] Judaea AE Prutot. 1st century AD.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
Various types. 18.54gr total.
Condition as seen.
Acquired on the UK art market before 2000. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.
