CLASSICAL NUMISMATIC GROUP SALE 114 ANNOUNCED

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V23 2020 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 15, April 12, 2020, Article 32

Here's the press release for the CNG spring sale. Some amazing coins here. -Editor

Classical Numismatic Group is proud to present CNG Feature Auction 114, a Public and Online Sale closing Wednesday & Thursday, 13-14 May 2020. CNG 114 will be held at the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square, 25 South Queen Street, Lancaster, PA 17603 in the Independence Room (2nd Floor). This sale offers 1405 lots with a presale estimate of $2.54 million.

Our annual spring sale features Greek, Celtic, Oriental Greek, Central Asian, Roman Provincial, Roman Republican, Commercial weights, Roman Republican and Imperatorial, and Roman Imperial coinage. Additionally, there are featured selections of Byzantine, Early Medieval and Islamic, World coinage and medals, British coinage and medals.

CNG 114 is highlighted by a number of collections and individual rarities, which make up the majority of coins on offer:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the developing situation regarding the novel coronavirus COVID-19, governments are continually placing restrictions upon public gatherings and travel. It is therefore likely that all of the information in our catalog, regarding venue, lot viewing, and lot pickup, as well as the terms of sale listed on our website, will change.

CNG will communicate any changes via email and social media (Facebook and Twitter).

Catalogs for CNG 114 have been mailed to our active mailing list and bidding is open on the site. Some of the individual highlights from CNG 114 are:

Lot 3 – CALABRIA, Tarentum. Circa 281-276 BC. AV Stater (18.5mm, 8.28 g, 5h). Youthful head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Taras, holding reins in right hand, trident in left, driving fast biga right; star above; below horses, dolphin downward. Fischer-Bossert G21 (V18/R21); Vlasto, Or Type O 1 [b]; Vlasto 16 = Gulbenkian 34 (same dies); HN Italy 955; BMC 13 (same dies). Lustrous. Choice EF. Well centered and struck on a broad flan, in high relief. A choice example of this very rare issue.
Estimated at $50,000.

This rare and beautiful gold stater type was most likely struck by Pyrrhos of Epeiros during his expedition to southern Italy, at Tarentum's invitation, to fight the expansionist Romans circa 281-276 BC. Struck from dies of extraordinary style in sculptural high relief, the obverse emulates the famous silver coinage of Alexander III the Great of Macedon. The reverse depicts Taras holding a trident and driving a biga, establishing Tarentum as the mint. Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert, citing the support of S. Garraffo and G.K. Jenkins, places the issue during the famous Italian expedition of the Epirote dynast Pyrrhos, whose desire to imitate Alexander's career of conquest was well known. The bloody campaign of Pyrrhos gave us the term "Pyrrhic Victory," meaning a victory won at such terrible cost that it might as well be a defeat.

Lot 68 – SICILY, Syracuse. Dionysios I 405-367 BC. AR Dekadrachm (34.5mm, 42.34 g, 11h). Unsigned dies in the style of Euainetos. Struck circa 405-380/67 BC. Charioteer, holding kentron in extended right hand and reins in left, driving fast quadriga left; above, Nike flying right, crowning charioteer with wreath held in her extended hands; below heavy exergual line, [military harness, shield], greaves, cuirass, and crested Attic helmet, all connected by a horizontal spear; [AT?A below] / Head of Arethousa left, wearing wreath of grain ears, triple-pendant earring, and pearl necklace; [S-????-?-S-?O? behind hair], I below chin, shell behind neck, four dolphins swimming around. Gallatin dies R.XIV/F.VII; Scavino 44 (D13/R25); HGC 2, 1299; SNG ANS 373 (same dies); Hermitage Sale II 351 (this coin); McClean 2735 (same dies). Lovely old cabinet tone, only a hint of die rust on obverse, field smoothed on reverse. Near EF.
Estimated at $25,000.

Ex Münzhandlung Basel 8 (22 March 1937), lot 166; Hermitage Museum Collection (Schlessinger 13, 4 February 1935), lot 351.

Lot 238 – MYSIA, Lampsakos. Circa 394-350 BC. AV Stater (16.5mm, 8.36 g, 1h). Head of female satyr left, wearing wreath of ivy, single-pendant earring, and necklace / Forepart of Pegasos flying right. Baldwin, Lampsakos 32, dies I/a; SNG BN –; BMC 24 (same dies); Prospero 472 (same dies) = Jameson 2579; NAC 116, lot 170 = Gemini VII, lot 472 (same dies). A few light marks, weak strike in center of reverse. Good VF. Extremely rare, only one noted by Baldwin (in the BM), two in CoinArchives.
Estimated at $30,000.

Lot 547 – Anonymous. Circa 215-212 BC. Æ Aes Grave Tressis (64mm, 254.9 g, 12h). Post-semilibral series. Rome mint. Head of Roma right, wearing griffin-crested helmet; ||| (mark of value) behind; all on a raised disk / Prow of galley left; ||| (mark of value) above; all on a raised disk. Crawford 41/3a; ICC 102; Thurlow & Vecchi 68; RBW –. Dark green patina with some earthen highlights/deposits, surfaces a little rough, bare metal on highpoints. Good VF. Extremely rare, only two complete specimens in CoinArchives, plus one fragment. The most recent sale was the Triton VIII (2005), lot 816, which realized $18,000 hammer.
Estimated at $5,000.

Lot 774 – Galba. AD 68-69. Æ Sestertius (35mm, 25.47 g, 6h). Rome mint, 7th officina. Struck circa December AD 68. SER SVLPI GALBA IMP CAESAR AVG P M TR P, laureate head right, globe at point of neck / ADLOCVTIO/ S C in two lines in exergue, Galba, bareheaded in military dress, standing right on low platform on left, haranguing troops; to left on platform is an officer also standing right; to right on ground line, two soldiers standing left, the one in front holding oblong shield and signum, the one behind an oblong shield and spear; between them are seen the head and front legs of a horse; in the background are two soldiers standing right, carrying two spears and vexillum; to far right, an aquila. RIC I 463; ACG 365 (A122/P – [unlisted rev. die]); cf. BMCRE 249-51; BN 235 var. (bust type). Green patina. Near EF. An amazing reverse composition. Among the finest known.
Estimated at $30,000.

By AD 68, Servius Sulpicius Galba had governed Hispania for nearly eight years with a single Roman legion, VI Victrix, under his command. In April of that year, with Nero's regime crumbling, Galba appeared before his soldiers and proclaimed himself a vir militaris representing the Senate and People of Rome, marking his break with Nero and taking the first steps that would lead to his brief, chaotic reign as emperor. The scene is reproduced on this remarkable sestertius, an artistic tour de force, struck at the mint of Rome in December of 68. Although Adlocutio scenes depicting the emperor addressing soldiers had appeared on Roman coins before, notably on sestertii of Caligula and Nero, this piece represents a sharp departure from prevailing artistic norms. The four visible soldiers and a single horse are arrayed, not as identical units in ordered ranks, but in a variety of individualized postures and kits, along with standards, banners and weaponry, all layered to to suggest a huge mass of restless Roman soldiery. Galba faces them on a raised platform dressed as a soldier himself, his facial features distinctive despite the small scale. The composition has been aptly termed a masterpiece of numismatic art that has seldom, if ever, been equaled in the centuries since.

Lot 844 – Hadrian, with Divus Trajan AD 117-138. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.29 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck August-December AD 117. IMP CAES TRAIAN HADRIANO OPT ?VG G D P?RT, laureate and cuirassed bust of Hadrian right, slight drapery, exposed upper part of breastplate visible, wearing balteus strap / DIVO • TRAIANO PATRI AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Divus Trajan right. RIC II.3 28 (same dies as illustration); Strack 10?; Calicó 1412 (same dies as illustration); BMCRE 44 (same dies); Biaggi 564 (same dies); Jameson –; Mazzini 2 (same dies). Lustrous. Choice EF. Two spectacular portraits in high relief, perfectly struck on a broad flan.
Estimated at $50,000.

From the Jonathan P. Rosen Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 97 (12 December 2016), lot 119 (hammer 75,000 CHF); Palombo 13 (13 December 2014), lot 59 (hammer 130,000 CHF).

Publius Aelius Hadrianus, born to an aristocratic family in Roman Spain, lost his biological parents by AD 86 and became the ward of the future emperor Trajan, another Spaniard. As a young man, Hadrian began a career in the Roman government and military, and in about AD 100 married Sabina, a favored great-niece of Trajan. He also cultivated the friendship of Trajan's wife Plotina. Though widely regarded as a favorite for the succession, Hadrian was not formally named Caesar until Trajan fell fatally ill in Cilicia while returning from his great eastern campaign. It was not a universally popular choice and rumors immediately spread that Hadrian's adoption was stage-managed by Plotina after Trajan had already died. Hadrian, serving as governor of Syria, took immediate action to secure the throne, inducing the eastern legions to acclaim him as emperor by means of a hefty bonus. He then wrote to the Senate declaring his accession a fait accompli, but requesting his formal designation as emperor along with the deification of Trajan. With no real alternative, both requests were readily granted. This spectacular aureus, pairing Hadrian's portrait with that of the newly deified Trajan, was struck in Rome during the first months of the reign to mark both the accession of a new emperor and the creation of a new god, who is pointedly named as his father (DIVO TRAIANO PATRI AVG).

Lot 977 – Gallienus. AD 253-268. AR Denarius (21.5mm, 2.68 g, 11h). Rome mint. 8th emission, circa AD 264-265. GALLIENVS P F A VG, bust left, wearing crested Corinthian helmet and cuirass decorated with an aegis on the breast, balteus across chest, holding in right hand a spear over his far shoulder, shield decorated with aegis on left arm / P M T P XIII C VI P P (sic), Mars, holding transverse spear in right hand and round shield in left, descending right through the air to Rhea Silvia, who is reclining, naked to waist, asleep on the ground, hands behind her head. Cf. MIR 36, 945-6 for reverse type with alternate legends; otherwise unpublished. Full silvering, medium cabinet tone, traces of deposits. Choice EF. Struck in high relief with artistic dies. Unique.
Estimated at $20,000.

This denarius, seemingly unique, can be dated to AD 264-265 because of the reverse legend, "Tribunicia Potestate tertium decimum Consul sextum", as it is in AD 264 that Gallienus became Consul for the sixth time (with Saturninus). Roma XIII, lot 890, and XIV, lot 796, and Triton XXI, lot 832 have offered for sale three coins that closely resemble this example, but with a different reverse legend: instead of P M T P XIII C VI P P (on this coin), they bear the legend P M TR P XV C VII P P. The reverse type of this coin has already been studied by Jean-Marc Doyen (Recherches sur la chronologie et la politique monétaire des empereurs Valérien et Gallien, vol. 2a: Etude des émissions monétaires de Milan, PhD thesis, Louvain-la-Neuve 1989, pp. 101-103, available online), and it is copied from a rare series of Antoninus Pius, struck in AD 140 (as ref. RIC III 694a and aureus ref. Calicó 1689), which celebrated with some advance the 900th birthday of Rome. It was first used by Gallienus in 260, with the legend TRIB POT VIII COS III and a laureate bust left, on a coin struck in Mediolanum (Milan) (ref. MIR 36, 945gg = Doyen 49), and again with the legend TRIB POT COS IIII (MIR 36, 946gg = Doyen 71). It shows Mars descending toward Rhea Silvia, daughter of King Numitor and a Vestal virgin who is depicted as sleeping in the forest, just before raping her. This mythological episode (told by Ovid, Fast. III.V.11 and Livy, Ab Urbe Condita I) is of the utmost importance for the story of Rome, as the intercourse led to the conception of the twins Romulus and Remus, legendary founders of Rome. The same iconography can be found on wall paintings from Pompeii and in the baths of Titus (see LIMC II/1 pp. 459-51 and II/2 pls. 415-6), but also on mosaics, reliefs, silverware, and gems.

Lot 1090 – ISLAMIC, Mongols. Great Khans. temp. Töregene Khatun. Regent, AH 639-644 / AD 1241-1246. AR 10 Dirhams (31mm, 28.39 g, 11h). In the name of the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim billah. al-Kurraman mint. Dated AH 641 (AD 1243/4). al-musta'sim/billah al-'amir/al-muminin in Arabic in three lines; all within linear quadrate border within double linear and pelleted border; ornaments in voids / zuriba haza/fi al-balad/al-kurraman in Arabic in three lines; all within linear quadrate border within double linear and pelleted border; sanat ihda wa arba'in wa sittmi'at (date) in Arabic in voids. Nyamaa –; Album –; ICV –; Zeno 148091 = NGSA VIII, lot 289 (same dies); Triton XXIII, lot 949 (same dies); Triton XXII, lot 1234 (same dies). Areas of toning, die break on obverse, test cut. VF. The fourth to appear at auction.
Estimated at $20,000.

Previously unpublished until the appearance of the Numismatica Genevensis SA coin, this 10 dirhams represents an important period in Mongol history. Following the Mongol conquest of eastern Afghanistan in AH 618 (AD 1221/2), the inhabitants of al-Kurraman, a river district in what are today the tribal borderlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan, showed their allegiance to the Mongols by striking coinage in the name of the Great Khan. Following the death of – the religious and spiritual authority. During this uncertain period among their Mongol overlords, the al-Kurraman mint may have felt it prudent to strike a non-partisan issue in the name of the current 'Abbasid caliph. Whether used as tribute to the caliph in Baghdad, as payment for soldiery employed by Töregene, or to buy the loyalty of the locals, these coins were quickly melted and reused, thus making them exceedingly rare. The last known coinage from this mint was struck in the name of the Great Khan Möngke, after which this mint disappears from the numismatic records.

On this coin, however, neither Töregene's name or title appears. Instead, the Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim is cited as al-'amir al-muminin

Lot 1245 – ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of Northumbria. Eardwulf. First reign, 796-806. AR Sceatt (14mm, 0.93 g, 9h). York mint; Cuthheard, moneyer. + EA·RDVVL·F R, pellet in dotted circle / + CVDHEARD, cross pattée. Pirie, Guide 3.2a = E.J.E. Pirie, "Earduulf: a significant addition to the coinage of Northumbria" in BNJ 65 (1995), pl. 2, 12; Pirie, Guide 3.2b var. = M. Blackburn & A. Gillis, "A second coin of King Eardwulf of Northumbria and the attribution of the moneyer coins of King Ælfwald" in BNJ 67 (1997), pl. 24, 3 var. (rev. legend; same obv. die); Abramson 86.40; EMC 2009.0079 var. (same; same obv. die); North –; SCBC 858. Toned. VF. Extremely rare, none in CoinArchives.
Estimated at $7,500.

From the James & Martha Robertson Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 106 (13 September 2017), lot 1082 (hammer $17,000).

Eardwulf acceded to the Northumbrian throne in the tumultuous period following the assassination of Aethelred I in 796. Eardwulf had helped organize the murder of Aethelred in revenge for Aethelred's earlier, nearly successful, attempt on Eardwulf's life. Eardwulf's reign was characterized by conflict with Coenwulf of Mercia who gave asylum to his enemies. In the late eighth century, close ties existed between the Northumbrian and Frankish courts and it may have been that Eardwulf married an illegitimate daughter of Charlemagne. Eardwulf was deposed in 806 by the shadowy Aelfwald II and went on pilgrimage to Rome and visited the Emperor's court in Nijmegen. Frankish sources suggest he may have reclaimed his kingdom in circa 808 before being succeeded by his son Eanred, possibly around 810. No coins were known of Eardwulf before the Burton Fleming find in 1994 (EMC 1995.6001; Pirie, BNJ 1995, pp. 20-31). This is the only coin of Eardwulf to be offered for sale in a public auction.

Lot 1357 – COMMONWEALTH. Oliver Cromwell. Lord Protector, 1653-1658. Pattern AV Broad (29.5mm, 8.99 g, 6h). Dies by Simon Blondeau's mint, Drury House, London. Dated 1656. OLIVAR · D · G · R · P · ANG · SCO · HIB · &c PRO ·, laureate and draped bust left / · PAX · QVÆRITVR · BELLO · 16 56, crowned coat-of-arms. Lessen A2; W&R 39; Schneider 367; North 2744; SCBC 3225. Light rub on high points, faint hairlines. Toned with traces of luster. Good VF.
Estimated at $10,000.

From the James & Martha Robertson Collection. Ex Marshall Collection (Spink 167, 31 March 2004), lot 154; Spink Numismatic Circular L.6 (June 1942), no. 14750.

In addition to CNG Feature Auction 114, CNG will also feature over 900 lots from many of the same collections listed above in their Electronic Auction 468, closing one week later on Wednesday, 20 May 2020, from 10AM ET (U.S.). Bidding for CNG Electronic Auction 468 will begin on 6 May 2020.

CNG is currently accepting consignments for future auctions sales. Please contact the firm for further details and consignment deadlines.

For further details and any additional information, please contact CNG, LLC at: Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
P.O. Box 479
Lancaster, PA 17608-0479
Telephone: (717) 390-9194
Fax: (717) 390-9978
Email: cng@cngcoins.com