Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3051 8-9 January 2017
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Ancients
PONTIC KINGDOM. Time of Mithradates VI (120-63 BC). AV stater (19mm, 8.33 gm, 1h). NGC Choice MS 5/5 - 5/5. Types of Lysimachus of Thrace. Callatis or Chalcedon, ca. 88-86 B.C. Head of the deified Alexander the Great right wearing diadem and horn of Ammon / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛYΣΙΜΑΧΟY, Athena enthroned left, holding Nike, HP (ligate) O below arm, KAΛ on throne, trident in exergue. Callataÿ p. 140, dies D6/R-. AMNG I 258. Sharply struck from unusually clean dies and fully lustrous. A superlative example, far superior to most staters from this series!
During the ascendency of Mithradates VI, the popular coin types of Lysimachus of Thrace, originally struck nearly two centuries earlier, were restored and cranked out in great numbers by mints along the Black Sea, notably Istrus, Tomis, Callatis and Chalcedon, surely to pay the immense mercenary armies raised by the Pontic dynasts. The dies for these coins are generally hastily engraved in indifferent style and used to the point of exhaustion, with many coins showing heavy die rust and wear. This present example shows far better workmanship, strike and die state than usually encountered for this type.
Estimate: 2500-3000 USD
PONTIC KINGDOM. Time of Mithradates VI (120-63 BC). AV stater (19mm, 8.33 gm, 1h). NGC Choice MS 5/5 - 5/5. Types of Lysimachus of Thrace. Callatis or Chalcedon, ca. 88-86 B.C. Head of the deified Alexander the Great right wearing diadem and horn of Ammon / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛYΣΙΜΑΧΟY, Athena enthroned left, holding Nike, HP (ligate) O below arm, KAΛ on throne, trident in exergue. Callataÿ p. 140, dies D6/R-. AMNG I 258. Sharply struck from unusually clean dies and fully lustrous. A superlative example, far superior to most staters from this series!
During the ascendency of Mithradates VI, the popular coin types of Lysimachus of Thrace, originally struck nearly two centuries earlier, were restored and cranked out in great numbers by mints along the Black Sea, notably Istrus, Tomis, Callatis and Chalcedon, surely to pay the immense mercenary armies raised by the Pontic dynasts. The dies for these coins are generally hastily engraved in indifferent style and used to the point of exhaustion, with many coins showing heavy die rust and wear. This present example shows far better workmanship, strike and die state than usually encountered for this type.
Estimate: 2500-3000 USD