Nomos AG
Auction 24 22 May 2022
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BITHYNIA. Kios. Circa 340-330. Stater (Gold, 18 mm, 8.64 g, 12 h), struck under the magistrate Hierokles. Laureate head of Apollo to right, his hair long and falling down the back of his neck. Rev. ΙΕΡΟ - ΚΛΗΣ Prow of war galley to left, with an eye at the front and with the side of the forward fighting platform ornamented with a multi-pointed star; above, club to left; in the field to left, over the ram, eagle with folded wings standing to left. Cf. Gulbenkian 601 (same magistrate but different dies), Traité II, 2, 2852 and pl. CLXXX, 3 (same magistrate), and Waddington, RG, pl. XLIX, 2 (same obverse die) and 3 (same magistrate). Extremely rare. Well-centered and well-struck, of splendid late Classical style, and struck from finely engraved dies. Very minor marks and traces of die rust, obverse struck from a very slightly worn die, otherwise, good extremely fine.
From the Villiers Collection, ex Roma XIV, 20 September 2017, 270.
This coin was struck either by Ariobarzanes II, who ruled Kios between 363 and 337 BC, or by his son or younger brother, Mithridates II (337-302). The reason for its production (it was part of a very small group of gold staters, struck under the magistrates Agathokles, Agnonides, Hierokles and Proxenos, all of which lack an ethnic) is unclear. They could have been struck during a short-lived revolt - thus the lack of either an ethnic or a ruler's name, or, and perhaps more likely, they were struck by Mithridates II at about the time of Alexander's invasion as quasi-anonymous issues: if used to support Alexander and the Persians won, they could be denounced to the Persian authorities as not being Mithridates's fault! And, of course, vice-versa.
From the Villiers Collection, ex Roma XIV, 20 September 2017, 270.
This coin was struck either by Ariobarzanes II, who ruled Kios between 363 and 337 BC, or by his son or younger brother, Mithridates II (337-302). The reason for its production (it was part of a very small group of gold staters, struck under the magistrates Agathokles, Agnonides, Hierokles and Proxenos, all of which lack an ethnic) is unclear. They could have been struck during a short-lived revolt - thus the lack of either an ethnic or a ruler's name, or, and perhaps more likely, they were struck by Mithridates II at about the time of Alexander's invasion as quasi-anonymous issues: if used to support Alexander and the Persians won, they could be denounced to the Persian authorities as not being Mithridates's fault! And, of course, vice-versa.