Heritage World Coin Auctions
CICF Signature Sale 3032 10-12 April 2014
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Ancients
Augustus (27 BC-AD 14). AV aureus (20mm, 7.96 gm, 6h). Pergamum, 19-18 BC. AVGVSTVS, bare head of Augustus right / No legend, lactating sphinx seated right. Cf. RIC 512 (obverse misdescribed, but see plate 9). BMCRE 682 (plate 17, 3). Calicó 156a (R3) (this coin illustrated). Cohen 333. Very rare! Well centered on a broad flan. NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 3/5.From The Lexington Collection. Ex Triton XI (8 January 2008), lot 715; Gil Steinberg Collection (Numismatica Ars Classica, 16 November 1994), lot 145.This handsome aureus is usually attributed on stylistic grounds to the important mint city of Pergamum in Asia Minor, circa 19-18 BC, during Augustus' tour of the east. The striking anepigraphic reverse type depicts the sphinx, a mythological Egyptian creature, sometimes winged (as seen here), with a human head and leonine body. This image was initially used by Augustus as his personal signet, but was later replaced with the head of Alexander the Great because of the sphinx's association with Egypt, and hence Cleopatra.
Estimate: 16000-20000 USD
Augustus (27 BC-AD 14). AV aureus (20mm, 7.96 gm, 6h). Pergamum, 19-18 BC. AVGVSTVS, bare head of Augustus right / No legend, lactating sphinx seated right. Cf. RIC 512 (obverse misdescribed, but see plate 9). BMCRE 682 (plate 17, 3). Calicó 156a (R3) (this coin illustrated). Cohen 333. Very rare! Well centered on a broad flan. NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 3/5.From The Lexington Collection. Ex Triton XI (8 January 2008), lot 715; Gil Steinberg Collection (Numismatica Ars Classica, 16 November 1994), lot 145.This handsome aureus is usually attributed on stylistic grounds to the important mint city of Pergamum in Asia Minor, circa 19-18 BC, during Augustus' tour of the east. The striking anepigraphic reverse type depicts the sphinx, a mythological Egyptian creature, sometimes winged (as seen here), with a human head and leonine body. This image was initially used by Augustus as his personal signet, but was later replaced with the head of Alexander the Great because of the sphinx's association with Egypt, and hence Cleopatra.
Estimate: 16000-20000 USD