Be it an ox hide ingot, a unique silver medallion of Trajan, the largest collection of religious amulets and medals the market has ever seen or a nicely assorted collection of numisnautics: Gorny & Mosch has spectacular offers for its October sale.
Make sure to keep the week from 13 to 17 October, 2014, free! For there will be something spectacular at Gorny & Mosch’s agenda. Auction sale #224 offers magnificent rarities dating from ancient times, including sensations like a silver medallion of Trajan. In auction sale #225 the collector of ancient coins who is either not willing or not able to spend a fortune finds something to his liking. And apart from single highlights, there are two very special collections on offer in auction sale 226: The Jaggi Collection ‘Pledges of Divine Protection’ and the ‘Collection of a Numisnautic’.
Auction sale 224 – High-quality ancient coins
They are the icons of pre-monetary money, these copper ingots in the shape of an animal hide, made after 1600 B. C. With one of these pieces the auction sale kicks off on 13 October, 2014. The object with its weight of 26.6kg is estimated at 25,000 euros.
And that is only the beginning. It is really hard to take one’s pick here from the rarities included in the ample offer. But how about the posthumous gold stater of the Macedonian king Philip II, whose obverse depiction is often interpreted as a portrait of Alexander (126, EF, estimate: 5,000 euros), or the double stater of Alexander the Great, minted during his lifetime at Aigai (139, EF, estimate: 15,000 euros). Another suitable candidate would be the stater of the Delphic Amphictiony, a perfect example of the issue that was used to finance the building of the new Temple of Apollo after the fire (177A, about EF, estimate: 30,000 euros). Next is a comprehensive series of more than 20 Athenian owls, including some gorgeous pieces dating from archaic times (185-188, all good VF, estimate: from 1,000 to 2,500 euros). Another highlight is the archaizing stater from Knossos that depicts the Minotaur on its obverse and the maze on its reverse (220A, VF, estimate: 30,000 euros). Be it an electrum stater from Lampsakos (227, EF, estimate: 12,000 euros), a tetradrachm from Rhodes (252, EF, estimate: 15,000 euros) or an extraordinarily well preserved tetradrachm of Seleucus I (276, EF, estimate: 15,000 euros) – the admirer of Greek coins has pretty much to choose from. Naturally, this also holds true for the ones who love more exotic things. A case in point is the tetradrachm of Baydad from the 3rd cent. B. C. (309, VF, estimate: 5,500 euros).
The Roman Republic likewise is well represented by rarities and many splendidly preserved specimens. The unchallenged highlight of this section is the famous denarius of M. Iunius Brutus, celebrating the assassination of Caesar with its depiction of daggers and the liberty cap (413, good VF, estimate: 35,000 euros).
This takes us right to the coinage of Roman imperial times where there are even more rarities to be found. A small series of aurei of Tiberius (446-450, EF and Proof, estimate: 3,000 to 7,500 euros) is followed up by two aurei of Otho, the first being extremely fine with lustre (470, estimate: 50,000 euros), the other one very fine (471, estimate: 15,000 euros), as well as an aureus of Vitellius (473, VF-EF, estimate: 15,000 euros).
The gem of this auction sale is a unique medallion of Trajan depicting an adventus scene on the reverse. The marvelous piece was minted to be distributed on the occasion of the return of Trajan from the campaigns against the Dacians (511, about EF, estimate: 150,000 euros).
Only a third of that estimate is the sum that a collector is expected to pay which intends to enrich his collection by the extremely fine bronze medallion of Antoninus Pius, minted with a slightly elevated edge and graced by Apollo as Citharede.
That of course is not yet the end of the sale’s rarities. Let us only have one concluding look at an aureus of Trajanus Decius (652, Proof, estimate: 10,000 euros) and its counterpart in its ancient setting (653, EF, estimate: 8,000 euros).
Auction sale 225 – Ancient coins and multiple lots
Strictly speaking, this preview focusing on the most expensive items is not appropriate since one does not have to have lots of money to acquire some attractive pieces as an addition to one’s collection. If you find that hard to believe, please browse through auction sale catalog #225. It includes, with estimates that are not that high, artistically and historically interesting coins that were produced by cities that are difficult to locate even for the expert. A case in point is the trihemiobol from the Thessalian city of Kierion that depicts the nymph Arne on the reverse giving prophecies with astragals (1393, about EF, estimate: 500 euros).
A small series of Armenian coins no doubt will attract fans for it entails some rarities, too, like a bronze chalkos of Tigranes IV, struck in Artashat in A. D. 2 (1689, VF, estimate: 500 euros).
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