HARLAN J. BERK 193RD BUY OR BID SALE

We are pleased to announce the launch of our 193rd Buy or Bid sale. This sale has a 542 ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine coins as well as 21 world coins and 46 antiquities & antique maps. Our Buy or Bid sales just following the New York International Coin Fair are some of our most exciting of the year. At the Fair we have the opportunity to meet with all our colleagues from around the globe, as well as buy exciting inventory for our stock. In addition to the obvious commercial advantages of attending the sale, we have the luxury of meeting many of our customers face-to-face. In our current technology-driven world, meeting customers is a small luxury that we enjoy. Now to the sale….we hope that you will find this sale as exciting as we do.

Lot 6: Uncertain Ionia Electrum Horse stater. This coin symbolizes a few important milestones in the history of coinage. It is among the first types ever minted following the blank and striated coinage from the same area. It also is among the earliest to show imagery on the obverse. Like the coinage of Phanes which reflects a stag, this early coin shows a forepart of a horse and also like the Phanes, a beautifully detailed three-part incuse punch.

Lot 12: Sicily, Syracuse 100 litrae. We have a few coins in our sale that have been part of collections for over 100 years. This coin is one of them. Buying pedigreed coins is more and more sought after not only for tracking one’s collection, but just for the sheer pleasure of knowing that someone a lifetime ago once owned this coin. This lovely Syracuse piece was part of many illustrious collections and auctions. Most notably the Jameson collection, Hess-Leu 1956 and the O’Hagan collection from 1908.

Lot 14: Alexander III, the Great distater. Staters of Alexander and his father Philip II are quite ubiquitous in today’s coin market. Distaters are more elusive. This is a reasonably priced example of a type not found so easily.

Lot 20: Zeugitania, Carthage EL ⅕ stater. This small coin (9mm) is an absolutely pristine example mirroring the imagery found on the staters.

Lot 52: Neapolis nomos. An exceptionally beautiful coin with sharply struck features.

Lot 56: Calabria, Tarentum nomos. Quite frankly we have very rarely come across a coin that embodies such beauty. Iridescent toning and a reverse of the warrior that shows the musculature in sharp detail.

Lot 59: Lucania, Velia didrachm. A beautifully struck example where the details of the crest are sharp. Difficult to find in this state of preservation.

Lot(s)66-68: Three coins from Siculo-Punic. Lot 66 is a wonderfully struck piece with an amazing pedigree to match. From the Niggler collection which was auctioned off by Leu/M&M in 1965.

Lot 70: An archaic stater from Lete or Siris. Among the earliest of staters from Lete or Siris. This coin shows the satyr/nymph duo as standing figures rather than the more common types from Thasos where the satyr is carrying the nymph away.

Lot 109 and 110: Two extremely lovely specimens from Larissa. One is a drachm and the other a stater but both have in common a beautifully sculpted portrait of Larissa.

Lot 112: Akarnarian League stater. This coin is not only a rarity with a more “humanized” head of the man headed bull than say of another counterpart Gela, but also a pedigree going back to a 1905 Hirsch auction.

Lot 113: Aetolia stater. This coin, purchased by our firm in Gemini XII is a stunning example with a blockbuster pedigree to match. Dating back to the 1910 Hirsch auction and part of the Bement and Spencer-Churchill collections.

Lot 117: Athens tetradrachm Starr-Group IIA. This early coin from Athens is wonderfully struck with full crest, unadulterated silver and archaic owl. A beautiful early example of Athenian coinage

Lot 136: An unusually rare stater from the Corinthian colony of Stratus on Acarnania. This piece displays a masculinized image of Athena with a wonderfully struck symbol of a man-headed bull. A beautiful and fascinating type.

Lot(s) 141-148: A wonderful, new to market collection of Cretan coinage. This collection, assembled in the UK over several years, is a group of coins that are very rarely encountered on the market. Coins from Crete are fascinating; many are filled with imagery of famous myths and exotic animals. Lot 107 at first glimpse seems to be a slightly abstract coin from Aegina. This coin was in fact copied by the Cydonians from their Aeginian neighbors. Lot 142 is a seldom seen coin from the city state of Eleutherna. This abstract version of the naked Apollo on the obverse varies greatly from the more common type. Lot 144 is a die engraver error with the crest of Athena missing; a fascinating anomaly. Lot 146 and 147 are two examples from Lyttus with an eagle and a boar. Both archaic and abstract in nature, one is sharply struck and the other shows the eagle in a state of flight, mirroring the lovely coinage of Elis. Finally lot 148 is a coin from Rhaucus which is seldom seen on the market.

Lot(s) 183-193: A pleasant run of Bactrian drachms.

Lot 195: Our cover coin, Cyrenaica, Barca didrachm. An unpublished and quite lovely didrachm from Barca which shows the now extinct silphium plant along with a well-struck ram. This coin is both fascinating and historic.

To read the complete article, see:
193rd Buy or Bid Sale Catalog (http://hjbltd.com/ancientcoins/cncc.asp?inventorygroup=cc)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web