Gold. One of the highest Greek coin sales over spot price ever for a drachm or smaller?

[Deinomenid]

Early Greek gold  is often an indicator of great distress, as emergency  issuance, but  by the 4th century it was settling  down to a  more usual though rare form of issuance, often of course related to financing war. Kyrene had a fairly large series of issues, especially around the  time of the extraordinary general of Alexander, Ophellas, who followed Ptolemy to Egypt, and conquered Kyrenaica, at the time  in a state of civil war. (This same man went down the Indus with Alexander!)

At the risk  of fast-forwarding (I mentioned the bisque etc) Ophellas played a key role in Agathokles of Syracuse's  daring counterattack on Carthage. Agathokles promised Ophellas control over all captured North African territories, ie African Carthage in return for troops & after a difficult 2 month journey over land linked up with the Sicilian who - of course- had  Ophellas killed with the Kyrenian troops going over to Agathokles.  Magas then became governor and later king of Kyrene - there are plenty of available silver coins from this time, many from a recently found hoard.

In this constant  fighting, the following coin was  issued, though Nomos for whatever unclear reason  choose to place it towards the end of the period. 3.44g, or $250 of gold value sold for $60,000 yesterday, 8th of June.

 

 

Seller's verbage (note "apparently" and "seemingly"...) -

KYRENAICA. Kyrene. Circa 308-277 BC. Drachm (Gold, 7 mm, 3.44 g, 2 h). Head of Zeus Ammon facing, turned very slightly to his left - our right - with curly hair and a neat beard. Rev. [KYP]AIN Silphium plant with four leaves (two on each side), and five flowers (one at the top and one above each pair of leaves). Apparently unpublished. Seemingly unique. With an astoundingly finely made head of Zeus....

"Astounding" is a matter of opinion so I'll leave that bit at that.  I don't think many have sold at that price to spot  premium. There's the one in my avatar (a Sicilian tetralitron), a Gela diltron, a Megalopolis quarter stater, an early Kumae,  probably more, but it's unusual!

 

One good thing about the Nomos auctions - to help  cope with their hour-long breaks mid-auction - is Walker (esteemed auctioneer)  finds it difficult to control himself when a coin sells  for "too much", reports on audience  sniggering when a certain well-known overbidder (just an opinion!) is in action, and occasionally berates his (excellent) book runner, and this  coin certainly got  its fair share of surprised reaction.  The good news though is that small Kyrene gold can be acquired for  $500. Not unique but often with as  good  eye appeal as this  quite beaten up Nomos coin. 

Here's one, bought not long ago literally for 1.05% of the price of the astounding  coin. It's  only a 1/10th stater, but I like it.

KYRENAICA, Kyrene. Circa 331-322 BC. AV Tenth Stater (7.5mm, 0.81 g, 9h). Cydis, magistrate. Head of Apollo Karneios left; KYΔ to left, star behind neck / Head of Kyrene right.

This one  is also astounding,  though possibly for the wrong reasons.

KYRENAICA, Kyrene. temp. Magas. Circa 294-275 BC. AR Didrachm (19mm, 7.58 g, 12h). Head of Zeus Karneios right / Silphion plant; stars across upper fields.

 

 

Please feel free to post anything from Kyrenaica or Greek gold! It's  not all silphium though that's naturally a favourite.

 

PS There's a very readable ode by Pindar, Pythian 9, on the nymph Kyrene et al, starting -

With the help of the deep-waisted Graces I want to shout aloud proclaiming the Pythian victory with the bronze shield of Telesicrates, a prosperous man, the crowning glory of chariot-driving Cyrene;  the long-haired son of Leto once snatched her from the wind-echoing glens of Mt. Pelion, and carried the girl of the wilds in his golden chariot to a place where he made her mistress of a land rich in flocks and most rich in fruits, to live and flourish on the root of the third continent.

[kirispupis]

Nice writeup.

I don't have any gold from Kyrene (or a single gold coin from any period), but I do have this bronze from Ophellas.

Kyrenaica. Kyrene. Ptolemaic Governor Ophellas First Reign
322-313 BCE
18.58mm 7.26 grams
Obverse: Youth on horseback right
Reverse: Wheel with four spokes and hub, silphium plant between left spokes
SNG Copenhagen 1221

 

I also have this one from Magas, which I conveniently purchased before the market was flooded.

Kyrene, Magas
Ptolemaic governor, c. 300-282/75 BC
AR Didrachm 20mm, 7.30g, 12h
Head of Karneios r. R/ Silphion plant; ZE monogram to upper l., crab to upper r., KY-PA across lower field.
BMC 256; cf. SNG Copenhagen 1243

 

[Ryro]

Astounding little coin... seemingly😉

CYRENAICA. CYRENE.

Bronze, 4th century B.C. Chr.

Obv: head of Carneios with ram's horn r., name of official (ΑΝΔΡ?)

Rev. silphion tree.

SNG Cop. 1216 cf.

Thick flan.

Nice

14.83g, 22mm, 11h. Rare

Ex. Collection Münzgalerie Viktor Hruby, Vienna. Purchased from Fitz March 2023

[AncientJoe]

I just did the calculation for my smallest piece of Greek gold: it'd be worth $105 in gold today which means I paid 800x spot. I don't think I'll melt it even though gold has increased since I bought it.

ATTICA. Athens. AV Diobol (1.43 gms), ca. 407/6 B.C. Svoronos-pl. 15#7. Head of Athena facing right wearing crested Attic helmet adorned with palmette and olive leaves; Reverse: Two owls standing confronted, olive branch between, ethnic in exergue. From the John Whitney Walter Collection.

As the Peloponnesian War dragged on, Athens found itself facing a monetary crisis. It attempted to rectify this situation by producing its first gold coinage. Around 413 B.C. Athens found herself cut off from its main source of silver at Laurion and after four years the need for additional funds prompted the melting down of seven golden statues of Nike. This action produced fourteen talents of gold, which was minted into six denominations from Staters to Hemiobols. Once the mintage was finished, the dies were hidden away in an alabaster box in the Parthenon to prevent misuse. This is one of only two examples which is not in a museum collection, and only six known.

 

And, to keep on the topic of Kyrene, here's my facing stater. It lacks a depiction of silphium but is still a notable coin for its art. Clearly the engravers at Kyrene were interested in front-facing experimentation:

 

Edited June 9 by AncientJoe

[Deinomenid]

On 6/9/2024 at 1:02 PM, AncientJoe said:

Clearly the engravers at Kyrene were interested in front-facing experimentation

Experimentation with front-facing worked with rather more spectacular success on your coin than  mine.

Kyrene  1/10 Stater. Circa 331-322 BC. Aristagoras, magistrate. Horned head of Zeus Ammon to right; API behind / Mangled head of Kyrene facing slightly to right.

 

This 19th century  image of her is a little nicer.

 

It's a  slight shame Kyrenaica is so  caught  up in the imagination with silphium, truly interesting though it is. It was a  major producer of cumin and  wheat,  and  could use to its advantage a wheat harvest that came a full month ahead of its main  markets to the north. There's an excellent analysis of it in The  Corrupting Sea, where Kyrene itself is called the Green Mountain and indeed its location is quite surprising  -

photos Wikipedia

- a long way from the sea and several  major  rises in  land above it. It's also managed to get itself all caught up in arguments about the nature of civilisation, ongoing since  James Hamilton (Wanderings in North Africa) in 1856 contrasted "the  monumental industry of fallen civilisation with the slothful hut of victorious barbarism."