Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3037 Sess. 2-4 5 January 2015
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Ancients
PERGAMENE KINGDOM. Eumenes I (263-241 BC). AR tetradrachm (29mm, 17.04 gm, 12h). Laureate head of Philetairus right / ΦIΛETAIΡOY, Athena seated left, resting elbow on small sphinx, holding shield and transverse spear; monogram on throne, ivy leaf to inner left, and bow to right. SNG France 1606–9. A few marks on cheek, otherwise a powerful, high-relief portrait. NGC AU 4/5 - 3/5.From The California Collection.The eunuch Philetaerus played a canny game of power poker in the years following the death of Alexander the Great. Entrusted with an immense treasure in the fortress city of Pergamum by Lysimachus of Thrace, Philetaerus soon switched his allegience to Lysimachus' rival Seleucus I in return for a promise of autonomy within his own realm. Seleucus defeated and killed Lysimachus at Kauropedion in 281 BC, but was assassinated himself soon thereafter. The Pergamene Kingdom, however, officially broke from the Seleucid realm only a few years later, and the kingdom's coinage honored its founder Philetaerus on its coinage for several reigns thereafter.
Estimate: 1500-2000 USD
PERGAMENE KINGDOM. Eumenes I (263-241 BC). AR tetradrachm (29mm, 17.04 gm, 12h). Laureate head of Philetairus right / ΦIΛETAIΡOY, Athena seated left, resting elbow on small sphinx, holding shield and transverse spear; monogram on throne, ivy leaf to inner left, and bow to right. SNG France 1606–9. A few marks on cheek, otherwise a powerful, high-relief portrait. NGC AU 4/5 - 3/5.From The California Collection.The eunuch Philetaerus played a canny game of power poker in the years following the death of Alexander the Great. Entrusted with an immense treasure in the fortress city of Pergamum by Lysimachus of Thrace, Philetaerus soon switched his allegience to Lysimachus' rival Seleucus I in return for a promise of autonomy within his own realm. Seleucus defeated and killed Lysimachus at Kauropedion in 281 BC, but was assassinated himself soon thereafter. The Pergamene Kingdom, however, officially broke from the Seleucid realm only a few years later, and the kingdom's coinage honored its founder Philetaerus on its coinage for several reigns thereafter.
Estimate: 1500-2000 USD