Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVI 26 Sep 2018
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Southern Arabia (Arabia Felix), imitative Alexander type AV Stater. Late 3rd - 2nd centuries BC. Head of Athena right, wearing triple crested Corinthian helmet / Stylised figure of Nike standing to left, wearing helmet and long chiton, holding a serpent; Southern Arabian imitative characters around. Unpublished in the standard references; for the epigraphy cf. S. Munro-Hay, Coinage of Arabia Felix: The Pre-Islamic Coinage of the Yemen, Nomismata 5, Milan 2003, pp. 33 and passim. 5.49g, 23mm, 12h.
Extremely Fine. Unique, unpublished, and of great numismatic interest.
From a private British collection;
Privately purchased from the collection of the late Manzoor Mirza.
The convexity of the flan, artistic imitative style and Southern Arabian epigraphy all indicate a southern Arabian origin, the region known to the Romans as Arabia Felix and which now forms part of the territory of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman. Most of the extensive coinage is made up of silver copying the old and new style issues of Athens, but there are also three rare issues imitating Alexander III tetradrachms (Munro-Hay p. 131, 1.10.4, pl. 11, 367-9).
Curiously, the wreath and stylis normally carried by Nike are on this coin replaced by a serpent, which the standing figure (who is clearly helmeted here) grips with both hands. This departure from the prototype cannot be mere error; even on the most worn of Alexander staters the position of Nike's arms is clear. The depiction of a serpent thus suggests a deliberate change of iconography.
Extremely Fine. Unique, unpublished, and of great numismatic interest.
From a private British collection;
Privately purchased from the collection of the late Manzoor Mirza.
The convexity of the flan, artistic imitative style and Southern Arabian epigraphy all indicate a southern Arabian origin, the region known to the Romans as Arabia Felix and which now forms part of the territory of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman. Most of the extensive coinage is made up of silver copying the old and new style issues of Athens, but there are also three rare issues imitating Alexander III tetradrachms (Munro-Hay p. 131, 1.10.4, pl. 11, 367-9).
Curiously, the wreath and stylis normally carried by Nike are on this coin replaced by a serpent, which the standing figure (who is clearly helmeted here) grips with both hands. This departure from the prototype cannot be mere error; even on the most worn of Alexander staters the position of Nike's arms is clear. The depiction of a serpent thus suggests a deliberate change of iconography.