Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3057 7-8 Sep 2017
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Ancients
PONTIC KINGDOM. Mithradates VI the Great (120-63 BC). AV stater (21mm, 8.41 gm, 11h). NGC MS 5/5 - 4/5. Dated Pontic year 209 (89/8 BC). Diademed head of Mithradates right, with wind-blown hair / BAΣIΛEΩΣ MIΘPAΔATOY EYΠATOPOΣ, stag grazing left; star and crescent to left, ΘΣ (date) over AX monogram to right; all within ivy wreath. De Callataÿ pg. 4 (D5/R8). SNG BM Black Sea 1028. Cf. SNG Copenhagen 233 (date). Rare. A stunning example of late Hellenistic portraiture.
Mithradates VI "the Great" was the last Hellenistic ruler to challenge the might of Rome. His long and eventful career spanned a nearly 60-year- reign in which he was a constant thorn in the side of the Romans as they sought to consolidate their conquests. His gold coinage falls into two groups: A mass mintage of gold staters imitating the types of Lysimachus of Thrace from more than two centuries earlier, and a much smaller and more carefully produced issue of dated gold staters with his name and portrait. The imagery deliberately evokes the memory of Alexander the Great, depicting himself as a semi-divine conqueror with flowing, windswept hair. These rare and desirable coins represent the last great example of Hellenistic portraiture in gold, and as such are highly prized.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 20000-30000 USD
PONTIC KINGDOM. Mithradates VI the Great (120-63 BC). AV stater (21mm, 8.41 gm, 11h). NGC MS 5/5 - 4/5. Dated Pontic year 209 (89/8 BC). Diademed head of Mithradates right, with wind-blown hair / BAΣIΛEΩΣ MIΘPAΔATOY EYΠATOPOΣ, stag grazing left; star and crescent to left, ΘΣ (date) over AX monogram to right; all within ivy wreath. De Callataÿ pg. 4 (D5/R8). SNG BM Black Sea 1028. Cf. SNG Copenhagen 233 (date). Rare. A stunning example of late Hellenistic portraiture.
Mithradates VI "the Great" was the last Hellenistic ruler to challenge the might of Rome. His long and eventful career spanned a nearly 60-year- reign in which he was a constant thorn in the side of the Romans as they sought to consolidate their conquests. His gold coinage falls into two groups: A mass mintage of gold staters imitating the types of Lysimachus of Thrace from more than two centuries earlier, and a much smaller and more carefully produced issue of dated gold staters with his name and portrait. The imagery deliberately evokes the memory of Alexander the Great, depicting himself as a semi-divine conqueror with flowing, windswept hair. These rare and desirable coins represent the last great example of Hellenistic portraiture in gold, and as such are highly prized.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 20000-30000 USD