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ANA Signature Sale 3056 3 Aug 2017
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IONIA. Magnesia ad Meandrum. Ca. 155-145 BC. AV stater (19mm, 8.46 gm, 12h). NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 4/5. Euphemus and Pausianius, magistrates. Draped bust of Artemis right, wearing stephane, hair gathered into knot at back of head, quiver and bow over shoulder / ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩΝ above Nike standing in car of biga right, holding kentron in right hand and reins in left, both horses prancing right; ΕΥΘΗΜΟΣ below horses, ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΟΥ bellow ground line. BMC Ionia --. SNG Von Aulock --. SNG Copenhagen --. Unique. A completely unrecorded denomination and type for this city, and of immense numismatic importance! Struck from a somewhat rusty obverse die and displaying corresponding granularity, otherwise a highly attractive type from dies of fine style.
Here we have that most singular of rarities, a completely unrecorded coin type and denomination from a major Greek city of the late Hellenistic era. Magnesia was founded on the banks of the Lecathus, a tributary of the Meander river, in south-western Ionia icirca the mid-700s BC by a tribe from Thessaly known as the Magnetes, plus some colonists from Crete. The local farmland was rich and the city soon grew enough in prominence and prosperity to challenge nearby Ephesus for dominance in the region. Sometime between 726 and 660 BC, the Cimmerians swept into the region, destroyed Magesia and enslaved the original populace; however the site was rebuilt within a few years by colonists from Miletus and Ephesus, who retained the original name. At first paying tribute to the Lydian Kingdom, Magnesia came under Persian control in the 540s BC and was given by King Artaxerxes I to the Athenian exile Themistocles to govern from 470 BC to his death 11 years later. Themisticles struck the first coin attributed to Magnesia, a didrachm, now extremely rare, in the 460s BC. During the Hellenistic period, Magnesia came under control of the Pergamene Kingdom, along with nearby Ephesus. In the mid-2nd century BC, Magnesia was among the cities that enjoyed a Renaissance of classical Greek coinage, issuing large and beautiful stephanophoric ("wreath bearing") silver tetradrachms bearing a lovely head of the city's patron goddess, Artemis, with a reverse depicting her brother Apollo standing atop a meander pattern. These coins carried the names of a series of magistrates (or, as suggested by Nicholas F. Jones, wealthy civic patrons who financed the coinage), including probably the same Euphemos and Pausanius named on our unique gold stater, allowing us to date this remarkable piece to the same era as the stephanophoric tetradrachms, circa 155-145 BC. While Artemis graces the obverse, the reverse depiction of Nike driving a biga is otherwise unknown on any coinage of Magnesia and suggests that the issuance of our stater was in honor of a military victory of some kind.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 30000-40000 USD
IONIA. Magnesia ad Meandrum. Ca. 155-145 BC. AV stater (19mm, 8.46 gm, 12h). NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 4/5. Euphemus and Pausianius, magistrates. Draped bust of Artemis right, wearing stephane, hair gathered into knot at back of head, quiver and bow over shoulder / ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩΝ above Nike standing in car of biga right, holding kentron in right hand and reins in left, both horses prancing right; ΕΥΘΗΜΟΣ below horses, ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΟΥ bellow ground line. BMC Ionia --. SNG Von Aulock --. SNG Copenhagen --. Unique. A completely unrecorded denomination and type for this city, and of immense numismatic importance! Struck from a somewhat rusty obverse die and displaying corresponding granularity, otherwise a highly attractive type from dies of fine style.
Here we have that most singular of rarities, a completely unrecorded coin type and denomination from a major Greek city of the late Hellenistic era. Magnesia was founded on the banks of the Lecathus, a tributary of the Meander river, in south-western Ionia icirca the mid-700s BC by a tribe from Thessaly known as the Magnetes, plus some colonists from Crete. The local farmland was rich and the city soon grew enough in prominence and prosperity to challenge nearby Ephesus for dominance in the region. Sometime between 726 and 660 BC, the Cimmerians swept into the region, destroyed Magesia and enslaved the original populace; however the site was rebuilt within a few years by colonists from Miletus and Ephesus, who retained the original name. At first paying tribute to the Lydian Kingdom, Magnesia came under Persian control in the 540s BC and was given by King Artaxerxes I to the Athenian exile Themistocles to govern from 470 BC to his death 11 years later. Themisticles struck the first coin attributed to Magnesia, a didrachm, now extremely rare, in the 460s BC. During the Hellenistic period, Magnesia came under control of the Pergamene Kingdom, along with nearby Ephesus. In the mid-2nd century BC, Magnesia was among the cities that enjoyed a Renaissance of classical Greek coinage, issuing large and beautiful stephanophoric ("wreath bearing") silver tetradrachms bearing a lovely head of the city's patron goddess, Artemis, with a reverse depicting her brother Apollo standing atop a meander pattern. These coins carried the names of a series of magistrates (or, as suggested by Nicholas F. Jones, wealthy civic patrons who financed the coinage), including probably the same Euphemos and Pausanius named on our unique gold stater, allowing us to date this remarkable piece to the same era as the stephanophoric tetradrachms, circa 155-145 BC. While Artemis graces the obverse, the reverse depiction of Nike driving a biga is otherwise unknown on any coinage of Magnesia and suggests that the issuance of our stater was in honor of a military victory of some kind.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 30000-40000 USD