Heritage World Coin Auctions
January Signature Sale 3089 21-22 Jan 2021
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Ancients
PAPHLAGONIA. Amastris. Queen Amastris (ca. 285-250 BC). AR stater or didrachm (23mm, 9.39 gm, 12h). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 3/5. Persic standard. Head of Mên, Amastris or Mithras right, wearing laureate Phrygian cap decorated with star with eight points / AMAΣTPIEΩN, Aphrodite enthroned left, Nike right on extended right arm, transverse scepter surmounted by lotus in left hand; rose in left field. HGC 7, 356. SNG von Aulock 6800. Eye appealing example of this rare issue.
Amastris was the niece of the last Achaemenid King of Persia, Darius III, and was married off to several of Alexander's generals in succession in the years after the Macedonian conquest. After being "set aside" by Lysimachus in about 302 BC, Amastris decided to found her own city on the coast of Paphlagonia, and gave it her name. She served as its queen for the first years of its existence, and the city grew steadily in prosperity and importance in the decades and centuries that followed The city eventually became incorporated into the Roman province of Bithynia-Pontus. The city's coinage is both rare and intriguing, the obverse portrait wearing a laureate Phrygian cap being variously described as the head of Queen Amastris herself, the Persian hero Mithras, or an Amazon warrior.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-paphlagonia-amastris-queen-amastris-ca-285-250-bc-ar-stater-or-didrachm-23mm-939-gm-12h-ngc-choi/a/3089-32091.s?type=CoinArchives3089
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 1000-1500 USD
PAPHLAGONIA. Amastris. Queen Amastris (ca. 285-250 BC). AR stater or didrachm (23mm, 9.39 gm, 12h). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 3/5. Persic standard. Head of Mên, Amastris or Mithras right, wearing laureate Phrygian cap decorated with star with eight points / AMAΣTPIEΩN, Aphrodite enthroned left, Nike right on extended right arm, transverse scepter surmounted by lotus in left hand; rose in left field. HGC 7, 356. SNG von Aulock 6800. Eye appealing example of this rare issue.
Amastris was the niece of the last Achaemenid King of Persia, Darius III, and was married off to several of Alexander's generals in succession in the years after the Macedonian conquest. After being "set aside" by Lysimachus in about 302 BC, Amastris decided to found her own city on the coast of Paphlagonia, and gave it her name. She served as its queen for the first years of its existence, and the city grew steadily in prosperity and importance in the decades and centuries that followed The city eventually became incorporated into the Roman province of Bithynia-Pontus. The city's coinage is both rare and intriguing, the obverse portrait wearing a laureate Phrygian cap being variously described as the head of Queen Amastris herself, the Persian hero Mithras, or an Amazon warrior.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-paphlagonia-amastris-queen-amastris-ca-285-250-bc-ar-stater-or-didrachm-23mm-939-gm-12h-ngc-choi/a/3089-32091.s?type=CoinArchives3089
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 1000-1500 USD