Heritage World Coin Auctions
Dallas Signature Sale 3091 6-7 May 2021
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Ancients
PAPHLAGONIA. Amastris. Queen Amastris (ca. 305-285/4 BC). AR stater or didrachm (22mm, 9.73 gm, 12h). NGC Choice XF 4/5 - 4/5. Head of Mên, Amastris or Mithras right, wearing laureate Phrygian cap, bow in bowcase behind / AMAΣTPIOΣ / BAΣIΛIΣΣHΣ, Aphrodite enthroned left, Nike right in extended right hand, transverse scepter cradled in left arm. HGC 7, 353 (R2). De Callataÿ 2004, 11-18.
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, eventually becoming 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-305-285-4-bc-ar-stater-or-didrachm-22mm-973-gm-12h-ngc-ch/a/3091-32085.s?type=CoinArchives3091
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 1000-1500 USD
PAPHLAGONIA. Amastris. Queen Amastris (ca. 305-285/4 BC). AR stater or didrachm (22mm, 9.73 gm, 12h). NGC Choice XF 4/5 - 4/5. Head of Mên, Amastris or Mithras right, wearing laureate Phrygian cap, bow in bowcase behind / AMAΣTPIOΣ / BAΣIΛIΣΣHΣ, Aphrodite enthroned left, Nike right in extended right hand, transverse scepter cradled in left arm. HGC 7, 353 (R2). De Callataÿ 2004, 11-18.
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, eventually becoming 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-305-285-4-bc-ar-stater-or-didrachm-22mm-973-gm-12h-ngc-ch/a/3091-32085.s?type=CoinArchives3091
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 1000-1500 USD