Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXIII 24-25 Mar 2022
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Kings of Pontos, Mithradates VI Eupator AV Stater. Dated Bithyno Pontic Era 209 = 89/8 BC. Diademed head to right / Stag grazing to left; BAΣIΛEΩΣ above, MIΘPAΔATOY EYΠATOPOΣ in two lines below; star-in-crescent to left, ΘΣ (date) above AX monogram to right; all within Dionysiac wreath of ivy and fruit. Callataÿ 1997, pl. 1, D5/R8; SNG BM Black Sea 1028; HGC 7, 333.
NGC graded MS 4/5 - 4/5, die shift (#4254697-001). Extremely Rare.
From the GK Collection;
Ex Heritage World Coin Auctions, NYINC Signature Sale 3051, 8 January 2017, lot 34022.
Mithradates VI 'the Great' ranks among the most formidable enemies faced by the Roman Republic. In his almost sixty-year reign he challenged some of the most famous generals of the time, including Sulla, Lucullus and Pompey, attaining a 'bogeyman' status for the children of Rome due to his savage treatment of Roman citizens. These intricate gold staters are highly sought after, in part because they represent the last great series of Hellenistic portraiture in gold.
The first Mithridatic War began around the time this stater was minted in 89 BC, and the following year Mithradates' general Archelaos faced Sulla's legions in a long siege of Athens and the Piraeus. De Callataÿ notes that the timing of this siege matches the cessation of tetradrachm production at the main Pontic mint from August 87 to April 86 and the appearance of a new series which does not follow the usual dating system but instead runs for seven months in year 1 of a new era (see L'histoire des guerres Mithridatiques vue par les monnaies, 1997, p. 41). Further, he highlights that all the examples of that unusual series were struck from the same obverse die which closely resembles the last issues from the main Pontic mint and that these tetradrachms are only found in two published hoards from the Piraeus and the Dipylon. He therefore concludes that the main mint was relocated to Athens until March 86 BC to assist Archelaos and, when Archelaos left the Piraeus, apparently with the mint workers, the main mint resumed its output using the usual Bithyno-Pontic dating.
NGC graded MS 4/5 - 4/5, die shift (#4254697-001). Extremely Rare.
From the GK Collection;
Ex Heritage World Coin Auctions, NYINC Signature Sale 3051, 8 January 2017, lot 34022.
Mithradates VI 'the Great' ranks among the most formidable enemies faced by the Roman Republic. In his almost sixty-year reign he challenged some of the most famous generals of the time, including Sulla, Lucullus and Pompey, attaining a 'bogeyman' status for the children of Rome due to his savage treatment of Roman citizens. These intricate gold staters are highly sought after, in part because they represent the last great series of Hellenistic portraiture in gold.
The first Mithridatic War began around the time this stater was minted in 89 BC, and the following year Mithradates' general Archelaos faced Sulla's legions in a long siege of Athens and the Piraeus. De Callataÿ notes that the timing of this siege matches the cessation of tetradrachm production at the main Pontic mint from August 87 to April 86 and the appearance of a new series which does not follow the usual dating system but instead runs for seven months in year 1 of a new era (see L'histoire des guerres Mithridatiques vue par les monnaies, 1997, p. 41). Further, he highlights that all the examples of that unusual series were struck from the same obverse die which closely resembles the last issues from the main Pontic mint and that these tetradrachms are only found in two published hoards from the Piraeus and the Dipylon. He therefore concludes that the main mint was relocated to Athens until March 86 BC to assist Archelaos and, when Archelaos left the Piraeus, apparently with the mint workers, the main mint resumed its output using the usual Bithyno-Pontic dating.