Numismatica Ars Classica Zurich

Auction 116  –  1 October 2019

Numismatica Ars Classica Zurich, Auction 116

A highly important collection of Greek coins

Tu, 01.10.2019, from 2:30 PM CEST
The auction is closed.

Description

Philip V, 221 – 179
Didrachm, Pella or Amphipolis circa 184-179, AR 8.32 g. Diademed head of Philip V r. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ – ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ Club; above, monogram and below, two monograms. All within oak-wreath; in l. field, star. Mamroth 24. Jameson 1012 var. (one different monogram on reverse). SNG Alpha Bank 1053 (this obverse die).
In an exceptional state of preservation, possibly the finest specimen known. A wonderful
portrait in the finest style of the period struck in high relief.
Light iridescent tone and good extremely fine

Ex Kirk Davis 49, 2006, 33 and Freeman & Sear Manhattan II, 2011, 33 sales.
The reverse type depicting a club honors the divine ancestor of the Macedonian kings—Herakles. According to tradition, three sons of Temenos of Argos, a great-great-grandson of Herakles ultimately founded the Argead or Temenid dynasty of Macedon. Although the bloodline of this dynasty actually came to an end with the death of Alexander the Great and the murders of his heirs, Philip III Arrhidaeus and the child Alexander IV, Herakles remained a Macedonian national hero and Alexander the Great a beloved memory of Macedonian imperial power. The losing conflicts of Philip V and his son Perseus against the Romans in the Second and Third Macedonian Wars (200-197 BC and 171-168 BC), respectively, resulted in the destruction of the Macedonian kingdom and its division into four districts (merides) under close Roman control. Nevertheless, the coinage of Philip V exerted a great influence on the development of the new coinages struck for the Macedonian merides and the wider Greek world. Virtually identical club-in-wreath reverses were used for the reverse of tetradrachms struck for the First Meris, but with a legend naming the district instead of a king. The oak wreath border on the coins of Philip V may represent the beginning of a wide fashion for wreathed reverse types that developed in the mid-second century BC.

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Bidding

Price realized 7'000 CHF
Starting price 6'000 CHF
Estimate 7'500 CHF
The auction is closed.
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