Heritage World Coin Auctions
ANA Signature Sale 3066 17 Aug 2018
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Ancients
LESBOS. Mytilene. Ca. 377-326 BC. EL sixth stater or hecte (10mm, 2.54 gm, 1h). NGC XF 4/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Head of bearded male right, possibly the dynast Diogenes of Mytilene or the Athenian adventurer Chares / Head of young male right, possibly prince Paris, wearing Phrygian cap. Bodenstedt 102. Particularly problem-free surfaces with subtle toning and two handsome portraits.
Very rare obverse type, apparently occurring on just this one die, and one of the very few portraits of a living person on a Greek coin struck before the death of Alexander the Great of Macedon. Two identifications of obverse figure seem possible - Diogenes or Chares. Diogenes was leader of the Mytilenean oligarchs, until expelled in 334 BC, but was reinstalled by the Persians as tyrant of Mytilene the next year. Lost to history is whether he was still alive and ruling in 332 BC when Mytilene was occupied by the Macedonian army. Chares of Athens supported Demosthenes' anti-Macedonian party, but then fled Athens to the Persians soon after the battle of Chaeronea. He welcomed Alexander the Great at the city of Ilium but then rejoined the Persians soon thereafter. Occupying Mytilene with 2,000 Persian soldiers, Chares surrendered to a Macedonian general and then disappears from history.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 5000-6500 USD
LESBOS. Mytilene. Ca. 377-326 BC. EL sixth stater or hecte (10mm, 2.54 gm, 1h). NGC XF 4/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Head of bearded male right, possibly the dynast Diogenes of Mytilene or the Athenian adventurer Chares / Head of young male right, possibly prince Paris, wearing Phrygian cap. Bodenstedt 102. Particularly problem-free surfaces with subtle toning and two handsome portraits.
Very rare obverse type, apparently occurring on just this one die, and one of the very few portraits of a living person on a Greek coin struck before the death of Alexander the Great of Macedon. Two identifications of obverse figure seem possible - Diogenes or Chares. Diogenes was leader of the Mytilenean oligarchs, until expelled in 334 BC, but was reinstalled by the Persians as tyrant of Mytilene the next year. Lost to history is whether he was still alive and ruling in 332 BC when Mytilene was occupied by the Macedonian army. Chares of Athens supported Demosthenes' anti-Macedonian party, but then fled Athens to the Persians soon after the battle of Chaeronea. He welcomed Alexander the Great at the city of Ilium but then rejoined the Persians soon thereafter. Occupying Mytilene with 2,000 Persian soldiers, Chares surrendered to a Macedonian general and then disappears from history.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 5000-6500 USD