January 16-18, 2012 - New York
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Attica, Athens (ca. 350-294 BC), AR Tetradrachm, 17.15gms, helmeted head of Athena right, rev. AΘE, owl standing right, in hunched fashion, head facing, olive sprig and crescent behind (Kroll 15, SNG Copenhagen 64), well-struck types on a pleasing flan, lightly toned with champagne highlights, near extremely fine. (photo) Est. 300-400
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Crete, Knossos (Ca. 2nd Century BC), AR Tetradrachm, 16.25gms, laureate head of Zeus (or Minos) left, rev. KNΩ-Σ-I-ΩN, square labyrinth (Svornos 97, pl.VI, 19; BMC 44), pale lavender-gray over slight porosity, near extremely fine and rare. (photo) Est. 1,800-2,200 Very Rare Tetradrachm of Sinope
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Attica, Athens, New Style Tetradrachm, 128/127 BC, Achaios, Eli and Apollod - magistrates, 16.08gms, helmeted head of Athena right, rev. AE, owl standing, facing, atop an amphora, magistrates’ names left and right AXAIOΣ HΛI AΠOΛΛOΔ, cornucopiae with grain lower left, K on amphora, ME below (Thompson 426f), lightly toned over slight graininess, good very fine. (photo) Est. 300-400
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Attica, Athens, New Style Tetradrachm, 94/93 BC, Nikogenis, Kallimachos and Nikitis - magistrates, 16.76gms, helmeted head of Athena right, rev. AΘE, owl standing, facing, atop an amphora, magistrates’ names left and right NIKOΓENHΣ KAΛΛIMAXOΣ NIKHTHΣ, I on amphora, below (Thompson 1045a), attractive soft violet-gray toning with iridescent hues, very fine. (photo) Est. 300-400
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Paphlagonia, Sinope (ca. 330-300 BC), AR Tetradrachm, Attic standard, 15.62gms, head of the city-goddess right, wearing mural crown, rev. ΣINΩΠEΩN, Apollo seated right on omphalos, holding lyre and plektron, A-M-T in right field, small countermark “M” above the “T” (cf.SNG v. Aulock 6861), lightly toned over some old pinscratches in field, overall a decent example of a very rare and important issue of Sinope seldom offered in public sale, very fine. Originally a Hittite port, Sinope became the wealthiest emporium on the southern Euxine coast. Between 780 and 756 BC, Milesian Greeks founded a settlement there, while the area came under Phrygian contol in 700 BC. Sinope was laid waste by the Cimmerians in 677 BC, only to be refounded as a Milesian colony in ca. 630 BC. It later came under the yoke of the Persian empire. Following the defeat of the Persians at the hands of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian ruler told Sinope’s ambassador that the city should keep its old independence. After Alexander’s death, Sinope was able to remain independent both of the Seleukids and the Pontic kings. Syrian influence, though, was clear and this tetradrachm emulates Seleukid types of Antiochos III, albeit in distinctive Sinopan fashion. The obverse depicts Sinope, daughter of Asopus, who, according to the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, bore Apollo (depicted on the reverse) a son, Syrus, the eponymous first king of the Syrians. (photo) Est. 3,000-4,000
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