CLASSICAL NUMISMATIC GROUP AUCTION 97 HIGHLIGHTS

Classical Numismatic Group of Lancaster, Pennsylvania and London, England is proud to present Auction 97, an Internet and Mail Bid Sale closing electronically on Wednesday, September 17, 2014, from 9 AM ET (U.S.). CNG 97 features 1055 lots of ancient Greek, Celtic, Oriental Greek, Central Asian, Roman Provincial, Roman Republican, and Roman Imperial coinage. Additionally, there are featured selections of Byzantine, Early Medieval, Islamic, World, and British Coinage. The pre-sale estimate total for CNG 97 is $1,465,750.

The Greek section of the sale opens with a hoard of Eastern hacksilber, followed by selections from the Trinacria Collection of Sicilian Bronze, an offering of Judaean coinage from the Patrick H. C. Tan Collection, a pair of rare gold issues of Berenike II, and an exceptional array of early issues from Sidon.

Collectors of Roman coinage will be pleased to browse through further selections from the RBW Collection of Republican Coinage, a group of Judaea Capta issues, and an exceptional and diverse offering of Roman Imperial gold. Following that, the Byzantine and Islamic sections present additional pieces from the Iconodule Collection and new offerings from the Warden Family Collection of Pictorial Islamic Coinage.

Finally, the sale is rounded out with a pair of important British collections: the Collection of an Underwriter, featuring numerous important and rare East Anglian issues from the Anglo-Saxon period; and the D. F. Alder Collection, formed primarily through purchases from Seaby and Spink between the late 1950s and early 1980s.

Some of the individual highlights from CNG 97 are:

Lot 6–CALABRIA, Tarentum. Circa 320 BC. AV Stater (15mm, 8.51 g, 10h). Head of Persephone right, wearing a stephanos ornamented with palmettes, a slight veil, and triple-pendant earring; [E to left]; to right, T[APA] and small dolphin swimming downward / Poseidon, seated left on diphros, bow laying in his lap, cradling trident in his left arm and resting his right hand on his knee, looking down upon the child Taras, who stands right, raising both arms toward him; TAPANTINΩN to left; to right, star above |-; [K below diphros]. Fischer-Bossert G5 (V4’/R5); Vlasto 1 = Jameson 137; HN Italy 901; SNG France 1777–8; ACGC 685; Basel 89; Holloway, Art 8; Kraay & Hirmer 315 = Berlin 1 (all from the same dies). VF, minor die rust. Fine style. Very rare, only twelve examples noted by Fisher-Bossert, at least five of which are in museums (Berlin, Florence, London, Paris [2]); only one other than this in CoinArchives (Prospero). Estimated at $30,000

Ex Nomos 6 (8 May 2012), lot 3; Numismatica Ars Classica 48 (21 October 2008), lot 3.

To view the complete lot description, see: www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=265596

Lot 80–KINGS of MACEDON. Philip II. 359-336 BC. AR Tetradrachm (22mm, 14.48 g, 6h). Amphipolis mint. Struck circa 355-349/8 BC. Head of Zeus right, wearing laurel wreath / ΦIΛIΠΠOY, Philip, wearing kausia, chlamys, tunic, and boots, raising right hand and holding rein in left, on horseback left; bow below raised foreleg, horizontal club below belly. Le Rider 119a (D56/R101) = Lockett 1411 (this coin); SNG ANS 474 (same rev. die); SNG ANS 475 (same obv. die); SNG Berry 114. Superb EF, attractive old collection toning, insignificant die break on obverse. Struck in high relief from exceptionally detailed dies. Estimated at $10,000

Ex Mieza Collection (Nomos 7, 15 May 2013), lot 44; Nomos FPL (Winter-Spring 2009), no. 35; LHS 100 (23 April 2007), lot 216; Richard Cyril Lockett Collection (Greek Part II, Glendining, 12 February 1958), lot 1324.

To view the complete lot description, see: www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=265670

Lot 177–IONIA, Achaemenid Period. Uncertain satrap. Circa 350-333 BC. AR Tetradrachm (23mm, 15.06 g). Persian king, wearing kidaris and kandys, in kneeling-running stance right, holding spear in right hand, bow in left / Incuse rectangle, containing pattern possibly depicting relief map of the hinterland of Ephesos. Johnston, Earliest 5–17; Mildenberg, Münzwesen pp. 25–6 and pl. XII, 110; BMC Ionia p. 324, 3 and 6; Jameson 1787; Pozzi 3138. Near EF, dark toning, a little flat on head of king. Struck from fresh dies. Estimated at $10,000

Johnston has interpreted this remarkable reverse design as a relief map of the hinterland of Ephesos, which would make it the earliest Greek map and first physical relief map known. On the right (north) are the mountains Tmolos and Messogis between the river valleys of the Caÿster and Maeander, to the left of which are three mountain ridges (Madranbaba Dagi, Karincali Dagi, and Akaba Tepesi). Johnston follows Six in suggesting that the coins were probably struck under the Persian general Memnon at Ephesos, circa 336-334 BC, in order to pay his army after he had captured the city, but before his defeat by Alexander at the Battle of Granicus in 334. However, Johnston’s theory has been the subject of some doubt, most recently by Leo Mildenberg.

To view the complete lot description, see: www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=265767

Lot 305–PHOENICIA, Sidon. Abdashtart (Straton) I. Circa 365-352 BC. AR Dishekel (27mm, 25.50 g, 12h). Dated RY 3 (363/2 BC). Phoenician galley left; ||| (date) above, waves below / Persian king and driver in chariot drawn by two horses left; AB in Phoenician above; behind, attendant standing left. E&E-S Group IV.2.1.c, 1246–7 var. (D7/R– [unlisted rev. die]); Betlyon 23 corr. (dates); Rouvier 1103; HGC 10, 242; DCA 849. EF, toned, minor die wear, light deposits on reverse. Exceptional detail for issue. Estimated at $15,000

From the Patrick H. C. Tan Collection. Ex Millennia Collection (Goldberg 46, 26 May 2008), lot 51.

To view the complete lot description, see: www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=265895

Wayne Homren, Editor

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