Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3042 17-18 Sep 2015
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Ancients
SICILY. Syracuse. Hieron II (275-215 BC). AR 16 litrae (25mm, 13.19 gm, 1h). In the name of Queen Philistis, 240-216 BC. Diademed, veiled head of Queen Philistis left, torch behind / ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑΣ ΦΙΛΙΣΤΙΔOΣ, Nike driving fast quadriga right, E under horse's forelegs. HGC 2, 1554. Burnett, SNR 62, pl. 3, 47. SNG ANS 884. NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 4/5.The veiled head of Queen Philistis on this lovely coin points to a close relationship, if not an outright alliance, with the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, which employed very similar veiled female portraits on its famed gold coinage. Philistis was the daughter of a leading Syracusan citizen named Leptines. In about 275 BC she was taken to wife by Hieron, a soldier in the company of Pyrrhus of Epirus during his Sicilian campaigns. When Pyrrhus departed, Hieron stayed behind and, through his own evident merits and the influential marriage connection, was proclaimed king of Syracuse.
Estimate: 2500-3500 USD
SICILY. Syracuse. Hieron II (275-215 BC). AR 16 litrae (25mm, 13.19 gm, 1h). In the name of Queen Philistis, 240-216 BC. Diademed, veiled head of Queen Philistis left, torch behind / ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑΣ ΦΙΛΙΣΤΙΔOΣ, Nike driving fast quadriga right, E under horse's forelegs. HGC 2, 1554. Burnett, SNR 62, pl. 3, 47. SNG ANS 884. NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 4/5.The veiled head of Queen Philistis on this lovely coin points to a close relationship, if not an outright alliance, with the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, which employed very similar veiled female portraits on its famed gold coinage. Philistis was the daughter of a leading Syracusan citizen named Leptines. In about 275 BC she was taken to wife by Hieron, a soldier in the company of Pyrrhus of Epirus during his Sicilian campaigns. When Pyrrhus departed, Hieron stayed behind and, through his own evident merits and the influential marriage connection, was proclaimed king of Syracuse.
Estimate: 2500-3500 USD