Asia Minor Coins - Photo Gallery

Ancient Greek and Roman coins from Asia Minor


image002515B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 500-450) bull - Hemidrachm177 views5th century BC. AR 1/6 Stater - Hemidrachm(?) (11mm, 1.91g). Bull(?) standing right, head reverted / Quadripartite incuse square. Good VF, toned, a little granular. Very rare.
832605B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 500-450) bull - Hemiobol210 viewsca 5th century BC. AR Hemiobol (7mm, 0.42g). Bull standing left, head right / Quadripartite incuse square. gF. Very rare, apparently unpublished.
41803245B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 500-450) bull - Obol194 views5th century BC. AR Obol(?) (8mm, 0.63g). Bull(?) standing right, head reverted / Quadripartite incuse square. Good VF, toned, some porosity. Well centered. Very rare.

The animal on the obverse here appears to be the same creature featured on the obverse of other obscure early issues; see CNG 105, lot 393 (same denomination); CNG E-369, lot 140 and CNG E-321, lot 167 (obols); and CNG E-361, lot 748 (hemiobol). All of these coins have a similar style, and perhaps are from a single mint.
102004395B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 500-450) cow - Hemistater?130 views5th century BC. AR Hemistater (16mm, 5.60g, 1h). Cow standing left, head right; below, calf kneeling right, suckling / Incuse of male head with African features left. VF, toned, porous. Extremely rare, the third known.
8604306_15B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 500-450) cow - Hemistater?415 views5th century BC. AR (6.05g). Cow standing left, head reverted, calf suckling right / Incuse head of African man left. Gemini sale 4, 2008, 195 (these dies). Of the highest rarity, apparently only the second known. Lightly toned, EF.

A mint in Caria or Lycia in the 5th century BC has been suggested, and its weight of 6.05 grams suggests it was intended as a half-stater of the Aeginetan or Samian standard. The most likely influence might have been the electrum sixths of Phocaea attributed by Bodenstedt (Ph24 and Ph54) to before 522 BC and to the period 477-388 BC. This might be especially relevant since the Phocaean sister-coinage of Mytilene of ca 521-455 BC uses for its reverses the heads of animals and the head of Heracles, all of which are rendered incuse.
4768625B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 500-450) Diobol?407 views5th century BC. AR Diobol(?) (9.5mm, 1.07g). Archaic bearded male head left / Quadripartite square. Unpublished in the standard references. Near EF, toned.
33401555B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 500-450) Hemiobol255 viewsca 500-450 BC. AR Hemiobol (8mm, 0.39g). Four-rayed star (or perhaps a bird’s claw?) / Incuse punch. Unpublished in the standard references. VF, lightly toned, granular surfaces.
2212265B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 500-450) Obol?175 viewsca 6th-5th century BC. AR Obol (?) (6mm, 0.43g). Archaic bare male head right / Incuse punch. aVF. Very rare.
36901415B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 500-450) Obol?217 views5th century BC. AR Obol (8mm, 0.84 g). Bearded male head left, wearing torc / Quadripartite incuse square. Apparently unpublished. Good VF, toned, some porosity. Rare.
image00319.jpg
Uncertain (BC 510) Drachm2446 viewsca 510 BC. AR Drachm (3.95g). Head of Gorgon facing / Incuse square divided into four compartments, three containing a pellet and one a crescent. Extremely rare. Nicely toned. Very fine.
4768635B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 510) Obol221 views5th century BC. AR Obol (9mm, 0.98g). Head of Gorgoneion facing / Irregular punch. Milesian standard. Near EF, toned. Good metal. Very rare. Ex Bérend Coll.
105002875B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 510-470) Drachm165 views5th century BC. AR Drachm (14mm, 3.91g). Facing lion’s head or scalp / Quadripartite incuse square with raised central square and pellet. VF, patch of find patina on obverse. Good metal. Extremely rare, perhaps the second known.
940006925B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 510-470) Drachm151 viewsca 5th century BC. AR Drachm (14mm, 3.86g). Facing lion’s head or scalp / Quadripartite incuse square with raised central square and pellet. Unpublished in the standard references. VF, toned.

The style and fabric of this piece are clearly related to the early drachms of Parion in Mysia.
40002015B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 530-480) Diobol?202 viewsLate 6th-early 5th centuries BC. AR Diobol(?) (9mm, 1.10g). Rosette / Incuse square with windmill pattern. Unpublished in the standard references. Good VF, lightly toned, slightly granular, off center on obverse.
910003445B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 530-480) Diobol?178 views5th century BC. AR Diobol(?) (10mm, 1.41g). Winged figure advancing right, head facing, raising both arms; volutes above and below / Rough incuse punch. Unpublished. Good VF, toned. Extremely rare, possibly unique.
image001415B15D.jpg
Uncertain (BC 530-480) Drachm158 viewsca 600-560 BC. AR Drachm (3.85g, 15mm). Wolf, standing left on base composed of a horizontal row of pearls between two linear borders, eating bunch of grapes from right paw / Quadripartite incuse square.
gVF. Unpublished and apparently only the second known example. Ex Molard Coll., Switzerland.
00331q00.jpg
Uncertain (BC 530-480) Trihemiobol1180 viewsca 530-500 BC. AR Trihemiobol (1.18g). Tunny fish right / Irregular incuse. Ex Rosen Coll.1 comments
2860160.jpg
Uncertain (BC 550-520) 1/6306 viewsca 550-520 BC. AR Sixth Stater (9mm, 1.51g). Head of griffin right / Quadripartite incuse square. VF, toned. Lee Coll.
2860161.jpg
Uncertain (BC 550-520) 1/6473 viewsca 550-520 BC. AR Sixth Stater (9mm, 1.53g). Stylized head of griffin right / Quadripartite incuse square. VF, toned. Lee Coll.
167-AMHemiobol-GN9.jpg
Uncertain (BC 550-520) Hemiobol292 views5th century BC. AR Hemiobol (0.3g, 6mm). Radiate head of lion facing / Incuse punch. EF.
126086.jpg
Uncertain (BC 550-520) Obol696 viewsca 6th century BC. AR Obol (7mm, 0.71g). Grain ear? / Quadripartite incuse. VF. Very rare and unpublished in the standard works.
94000694.jpg
Uncertain (BC 550-520) Obol274 viewsca 5th century BC. AR Obol (7mm, 0.62g). Stylized facing lion’s head wearing four-spiked crown / Incuse square punch with intersecting lines and pellet. VF, toned. Koppersmith coll.; ex Elsen 109 (6/2011), lot 143.
94000693.jpg
Uncertain (BC 550-520) Tetrobol438 viewsca 5th century BC. AR Tetrobol (11mm, 2.86g). Stylized facing lion’s head wearing five-spiked crown / Incuse square punch with intersecting lines and pellet. Good VF, toned. Extremely rare, only the second known tetrobol for the series.
image00183~1.jpg
Uncertain (BC 600-550) EL Hekte2274 viewsca 600-550 BC. EL Hekte (2.73g), probably on the Phokaian weight standard. Scorpion / Irregular incuse square. Apparently unpublished and unknown. Some minor marks, otherwise EF. Ex Gorny & Mosch 190 (10/2010), 245.

This is an extraordinary piece, quite clearly on the Phokaian standard (as is the piece in the Leu sale - there are lighter electrum pieces with scorpions, as Weidauer 170, but they seem to be on the Milesian standard). The possibility that this piece may have been produced in Thrace or Macedon, given the well known bee that is found on uncertain silver coins from that area (CNG Auction 88, 75) is not unlikely, especially given the rather rough incuse square. There is also a very similar scorpion on some slightly later silver coins that are now also attributed to northern Greece since some have been found there (as SNG Copenhagen 377 and SNG con Aulock 6664 - both published as being from Asia Minor).
224 coins on 3 page(s) 3