05-06-2016 – 01-01-1970
Auction 162: Numismatic Rarities
Numismatic Rarities at Numismatik Lanz
570 lots comprising coins and medals from all around the world will come under the hammer at long-standing coin house Numismatik Lanz on June 6, 2016. Chronologically speaking, the sale focuses on the coins from ancient times. From this department a large electrum series and an almost complete collection of consecration coins of Trajan Decius, including many variants, stand out. The world coins likewise feature much fascinating material, for example a number of historical talers of Louis I in quite appealing grades.
Lot 68: Mithradates III, 220-196 (Pontos). Tetradrachm, around 200, Amasia or Sinope. Ex Ambassador William Eagleton Collection. Extremely fine. Estimate: 40,000 euros. Starting price: 24,000 euros.
Sometimes and rather unexpectedly, you get a second chance in life: in this case, the chance to purchase one of the most beautiful portraits of Hellenistic times. Having been based on an estimate of 20,000 euros, a tetradrachm, made around 200 BC and displaying incredibly finely observed facial features, had been offered at Lanz Auction 161 and sold for two times the sum. The victorious bidder participated by telephone – but did not pay the bill afterwards. That is why one of the most spectacular items of the Hellenistic era is being offered again, this time starting with a starting price of 24,000 euros.
Lot 41: Akanthos (Macedonia). Tetradrachm, 480-424. Extremely fine / about extremely fine. Estimate: 10,000 euros. Starting price: 6,000 euros.
Nothing less than a small series of tetradrachms from the Macedonian city of Akanthos will come under the hammer. Ranging from a stylized Archaic coin to a realistic depiction dating from Classical times, the artistic scope of this emission becomes apparent. The realistic representations remind us of the fact that the Pangaion Hills served as the natural habitat of the lion until he became extinct in all of Europe during the 1st century AD.
Lot 62: Philip VI Andriskos, 150-148 (Macedonia). Drachm, ca. 149-148. Extremely fine. Estimate: 20,000 euros. Starting price: 12,000 euros.
A coin for connoisseurs of Greek history is the drachm of Andriskos, who – as Philip VI and with the assistance of Thracian rulers – utilized the Macedonians’ dissatisfaction with the Roman reign of violence to establish a short-lived empire of his own.
As is common, this drachm, too, exhibits traces of being overstruck since Andriskos used already circulating coins as blanks for his own coinage.
Lot 112: Phokaia (Ionia). Electrum hekte, 625-522. Very rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 5,000 euros. Starting price: 3,000 euros.
A comprehensive series comprising electrum coins will be auctioned off at Auction Numismatik Lanz 162. The series include several specimens from Kyzikos, Mytilene and Phokaia. Earlier examples made in unknown mints in Ionia and coins of the Lydian kings are also on offer for sale. A very rare coin stems from Phokaia. It is a perfect and fully centered electrum hekte featuring a boar’s head to the left. Of this type, Bodenstedt knows only two obverse and reverse dies with a total of four specimens.
Lot 156: Xanthos (Lycia). Stater, ca. 450-430. Extremely fine. Estimate: 5,000 euros. Starting price: 3,000 euros.
The connoisseur will be pleased to find a large batch of Lycian coins, including many minor issues, from the hemiobol to the drachm. Amongst the few staters is the extremely fine piece from Xanthos with the satrap’s portrait on the obverse and the head of Apollo on the reverse.
Lot 178: Kamnaskires III, ca. 82-74 (Elymais). Tetradrachm, Seleucia-on-the-Hedyphon. Extremely fine. Estimate: 15,000 euros. Starting price: 9,000 euros.
Several coins from the Persian Empire and its seceding states conclude the section of Greek coins. We would like to highlight an unusual gold stater of Demetrios I, made in an undetermined Eastern mint and featuring slightly barbarized facial features, a perfect gold dinar of Shapur I from Ctesiphon, as well as a tetradrachm of Kamnaskires that was minted in Seleucia-on-the-Hedyphon.
Lot 215: Caligula, 37-41. Sestertius, 37-38. Slightly smoothed, otherwise about extremely fine. Estimate: 3,000 euros. Starting price: 1,800 euros.
Some coins dating from the Roman Republic are followed up by coins from Roman Imperial times. A comprehensive old collection of Roman bronze coins will be called out. As usual with such collections, some specimens are slightly smoothed which, however, does no harm to their attractive appearance. The first century is particularly well-represented, with coins of
Diva Livia, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and of all their relatives, for example, Agrippina – both the Elder and the Younger –, and Drusus.
Lot 241: Vespasian, 69-79, with Titus and Domitian. Denarius, 71, Ephesus. Very rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 3,000 euros. Starting price: 1,800 euros.
Be it a well-preserved aureus, a rare denarius or a bronze coin with a historically interesting reverse depiction – admirers of Roman coins will discover a wide range of appealing coins in Auction Numismatik Lanz 162.
Lot 365: Trajan Decius, 249-251. Consecration coin for Divus Titus. Antoninianus, 250-251, Mediolanum. Unedited variant. Rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 350 euros. Starting price: 210 euros.
Part of this range is also an almost complete series of consecration coins issued by Trajan Decius, including many variants.
Lot 403: Aelia Eudoxia, + 404. Solidus, 400-402. Rare. FDC. Estimate: 20,000 euros. Starting price: 12,000 euros.
Coins from Late Roman times and Byzantium follow suit. In this department, the connoisseur will find coins of not too often encountered emperors and empresses, like Aelia Eudoxia or Leo VI the Wise. Of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos a 1/8 savraton also forms part of this auction sale.
Lot 449: Odoacer, 476-493. Solidus in the name of Zeno, Milan 476-493. Extremely rare. Extremely fine. From the Marc Poncin Collection. Estimate: 7,000 euros. Starting price: 4,200 euros.
An interesting selection of coins stemming from the Migration Period comprise issues of both the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths, the Gepids and Burgundians, as well as the Merovingians.
Lot 457: Charlemagne, 768-814. Denarius, Soissons. Extremely rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 10,000 euros. Starting price: 6,000 euros.
After the Carolingian coins, world coins and medals will be next. The most important item is a denarius which, as the first testimony ever, proves the existence of a Soissons-based mint under Charlemagne.
Lot 506: Bavaria. Maximilian II, 1848-1864. Historical double taler 1849, Munich. Extremely fine. Estimate: 1,500 euros. Starting price: 900 euros.
Next in line are the coins from the Holy Roman Empire, under which Numismatik Lanz also subsumes those coins which are usually listed under ‘Germany’. Here, we would like to highlight a notable series of Bavarian historical talers and historical double talers, issued under Louis I and his son Maximilian II. Spanning the range from Australia to the Vatican, world coins will conclude the auction.
Lot 564: Transylvania. Achatius Barcsay, 1659-1660. Ducat 1660, Hermannstadt (Sibiu). Extremely rare. Very fine. Estimate: 40,000 euros. Starting price: 24,000 euros.
An extremely rare ducat of Achatius Barcsay, Prince of Transsylvania for only two years, likewise deserves special mentioning. As a rival candidate of George II Rakoczy, Barcsay had been appointed by the Turks in 1658. He could not assert his rule, however. With his army, Rakoczy invaded Transsylvania, and Barcsay fled to the Pasha of Temesvar. This was the time the ducat Lanz is offering was made, minted during the siege of Hermannstadt.
When Rakoczy died in June 1660, Janos Kemeny, as the next pretender to the throne, arrested Barcsay – his voluntary abdication notwithstanding – and had him killed.
Lot 568: Valentin Jamerai Duval, Monnaie en or, qui composent une des differentes parties du cabinet de S. M. Empereur. Printed at Jean Thomas Trattner in Vienna in 1769. From the Lambach Abbey library. Estimate: 5,000 euros. Starting price: 3,000 euros.
Let us conclude this preview with some bibliophilic rarities as they are only rarely found on the market. Numismatik Lanz offers the two works of Jamerai Duval Valentin on the Imperial Coin Cabinet, better known to numismatists under the name of the printer, Trattner. Produced for the Lambach Abbot Amandus, the two leather-bound treasures were very likely sold for financial reasons already many decades ago.
Please remember! Only a customer attending the Numismatik Lanz Auction directly – sending a bid by letter or phone, over the internet or participating in person – is entitled to the preferential starting price of 60%! Please make sure to plan ahead: The auction sale catalog can be viewed online. You may as well request a printed copy for a nominal charge of 15 euros at Numismatik Lanz, Maximiliansplatz 10, D-80333 Munich, by email or phone: +49 / 89 / 29 90 70, fax: +49 / 89 / 22 07 62