20150612

Greece/Cappadocian Tetradrachm in name of Antiochus VII ex Carathéodory Paşa collection


Kings of Cappadocia; Ariarathes VIII Epiphanes circa BCE 101/100-96/5, AR Tetradrachm, 16.27 g,   27 mm,  1h. Ariaratheia or Eusebia-Tyana mint(?). possibly c. BCE 99/98? 


SC 2150.1, Series 3, Control Linked to Drachms of Mørkholm’s “Mint B”

O: Diademed hd of Antiochus VII r. fillet border.
R: BAΣIΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOV ΕYEPΓETOV, on outer left monogram ΔI above A, T on inner left and Λ on inner right fields. Athene stg. left holding Nike with rt hand who crowns royal epithet, spear with left arm and resting left hand on shield depicting Gorgon.

Ex: CNG 351 portion lot 892 (20 May 2015)

Ex: Collection of Alexandre Carathéodory Paşa (1833-1906)

CNG write up re the selection of coins sold from this collection:

CNG is pleased to present selections from the collection of Alexandre Carathéodory Pasha, a leading statesman in the Ottoman Empire, whose interest in collecting ancient coins was inspired by his meeting with the French diplomat and numismatist William-Henri Waddington at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Twenty Greek coins of the Eastern Aegean and Western Asia Minor are being offered in CNG 99, and the majority of the collection is being offered in CNG Electronic Auction 351, which runs concurrently with CNG 99 and closes on 20 May 2015.

Alexandre Carathéodory Pasha (or Karatheodory; in Greek: Αλέξανδρος Καραθεοδωρή; 1833–1906) was a prominent Greek scholar, diplomat, and statesman in the Ottoman Empire. Carathéodory was born in Constantinople to an eminent Constantinople Phanariot family. His father, Stefanos Carathéodory, was the personal physician to Sultans Mahmud II and Abdul-Aziz. His mother’s ancestors, the Mavrocordatos and Mourousis, had for centuries served as Princes of Moldavia and Wallachia.

After obtaining a doctoral degree from the Paris Faculty of Law, Carathéodory pursued a career in the public service of the Ottoman Empire. In 1874, he was appointed ambassador to Rome. In 1878, as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, he participated in the preliminary negotiations with Russia that led to the Treaty of San Stefano, ending the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). Later that same year, Sultan Abdul-Hamid II dispatched Carathéodory to Germany as head of the Ottoman delegation to the Congress of Berlin. His skillful negotiations with various European statesmen, including Bismarck, Disraeli, Salisbury, and Gorchakov, resulted in the revision of the San Stefano peace terms in favor of the Ottoman Empire (Treaty of Berlin, 1878). Disraeli characterized Carathéodory as “full of finesse and yet calm and plausible.” During the Berlin negotiations, he had the opportunity to discover in his French counterpart, William-Henri Waddington, a common interest in ancient Greek culture and civilization. Waddington told Carathéodory of his archaeological pursuits and the collection of ancient coins he had assembled in Asia Minor.


Upon his return to Turkey, Carathéodory was appointed Governor-General of Crete with the task of calming the escalating tensions between the island’s Christian and Muslim inhabitants in a situation that was approaching civil war. Soon, however, he was called back to Constantinople, where he became Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Ottoman Empire (1878-1879). He was the only Greek to ever occupy such a prominent position. In 1884, the Sultan appointed him Prince of the autonomous Greek island of Samos (1885-1894). It is during those nine years, and inspired by Waddington’s enthusiasm for ancient coins, that he took up coin collecting and amassed the present collection.


In addition to his political career and historical pursuits, Carathéodory translated from Arabic to French the Traité du Quadrilatère, attribué à Nassiruddin-El-Tussin, a seminal work on the mathematics of the 13th-century Persian astronomer. He also authored research papers and scholarly essays on Aristotle’s Meteorology, Homeric studies, as well as a series of mathematics theses that are still in use. Their shared interest in mathematics forged a bond with his nephew, Constantine Carathéodory, a professor of mathematics at the University of Munich, who contributed to the research of thermodynamics and the development of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity (videEncyclopaedia Britannica).


In 1895, amid renewed religious and social tensions in Crete, Abdul Hamid II appointed Carathéodory as Governor of the island for a second time. Unsuccessful once again in restoring order, Carathéodory resigned the post in December of the same year and was appointed First Translator to H.I.M. the Sultan. In his book,Constantinople, City of the World’s Desire, Philip Mansel notes that Abdul Hamid called Carathéodory “a man with remarkable ability, not only the cleverest diplomat in Turkey, but one of the cleverest in Europe.” In 1901, Carathéodory attended the funeral of Queen Victoria as a member of the Ottoman delegation. This was his last official assignment.

His funeral in 1906, in Constantinople, was officiated by the Patriarch and all the Holy Synod. It marked, according to Mansel, the end of the Phanariot tradition begun by his Mavrocordato ancestors. In 1923 his children and grandchildren left Turkey. Some of them settled in Greece, others in Egypt, Switzerland, and Belgium.

The present coin collection was passed on to Catherine Pilavachi-Carathéodory, who was the daughter of Stefanos A. Carathéodory, the eldest son of Alexandre Carathéodory Pasha. Catherine and her family left Egypt for Lausanne, Switzerland in 1961. The collection was inherited by Catherine’s son and Alexander’s great-grandson, Paul Pilavachi, who is its current owner.


20150601

Greece/Seleucid/Posthumous Philip I Philadelphos Circa 69-57 BCE


AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 15.08 g, 12h). Antioch mint.  possibly Philip II Barypous? BCE 67/66

SC 2488.6 

O: Diademed head right within fillet border 

R:  Zeus Nikephoros seated left; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩ[Σ] ΦΙΛΙΠΠOV in two lines on the r., ΕΠΙΦAΝΟVΣ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦOV in two lines on l. 
inner left control Φ, static control under throne, and T in ex. all within laurel wreath border.

Cf. Petr Vesely's discussion of this type  http://www.seleukidtraces.info/collection/philip_ii.html#p_2


ISLAMIC/Anatolia & al-Jazira (Post-Seljuk) Artuqids of Mardin, Nasir ad-Din Artuq Arslan CE 1201-1239/AH 597-637


Æ Dirham, 7.54 g, 27mm, 11h. AH 620 = CE 1223-1224 no mint.

Album, Checklist 1830.7
S&S Type 43

O: Julio-Claudian-style bare head right. Arabic inscription around al-Malik al-Mansur Nasir-adunya waddin Artuq Arslan 

R: around duriba sannah/’ishrin/wa sittami’yah
 Inner in five lines:  an-Nasir li-din Allah
                            Amir al-Mu’minin
                           Al-Malik al-Kamil
                           Nasiraddin Muhammad
                          Bin Ayyub
(Names and titles of Abbasid caliph and Ayyubid overlord in five lines)

20150523

ISLAMIC/India; Sultans of Delhi; Balban (غیاث الدین بلبن) CE 1266-1287


Bi Jital (Dughani) 3.36 g., NM, ND

Tye 409

O: Balban in Arabic in center, in Hindi around Sri Sulata Gayasundi
R: as-Sultan al-'a/zam Ghiyath ad-dun/ya wad-din in Arabic

for more info cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghiyas_ud_din_Balban

20150407

Into the world of Exonumia....

ENGLAND. Middlesex. London. Wm. Webster (1821-1885)  Brass Farthing (20mm - 3.13 g). WM. WEBSTER / SUCCESSOR TO WM. TILL / 7 Gt. RUSSELL ST. COVt. GARDEN LONDON / DEALER IN ANCIENT AND MODERN COINS, MEDALS, ANTIQUES &c.. BWS 2990; Bell 29; Batty 569. 

His address was actually 17 Gt. Russell St, Covent Garden but this token is an example of a rare error address as reported in a sale of a similar example by DNW 13 Mar 2002. Webster was active as a successful coin and medal dealer from 1851-1885 and this token likely dates from this period.

It is noted by Forrer that he issued a token in brass that was produced by William Joseph Taylor (1802-1885) cf. http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1239728552


William Webster 1821-1885


The Numismatic Chronicle 1885

20150401

ISLAMIC/'Abbasid Governors of Tabaristan; Hani b. Hani CE 788-790


AR Hemidrachm, 23mm, 1.92 g, 6h, Tabaristan mint PYE 137/AH 172-3/CE 788-789

Album 69

O: stylized bust of Khushro II, with Arabic inscription in front هانى, ("Hani"), Pahlavi inscription to left "may his glory increase" and in margins "excellent" and "good".

R: Fire altar with two attendants Pahlavi date to left and mint name TPRWSTAN to right.

Hani was appointed by Caliph Harun ar-Rashid CE 786-809

20150331

ISLAMIC/Ayyubid; Jazirah Principality al-Muzzafar Ghazi with Kamil & Ashraf AH 618/CE 1221

AE Fals, 6.13 g, 23.5 mm, Khilat mint AH 618/CE 1221

Album 860
Balog 874
Zeno 48299 (this coin)


excerpt related to this coin from Balog.

20150317

ISLAMIC/Malik of Kurzuwan, Complete Set of Mongol Siege Issues of June/July CE 1221

 AE Jital 22 mm, 3.24 g, 6h, Kurzuwan mint Rabi’ath-Thani 618 AH/c. June CE 1221

Album 1971 (S)
Tye 324.1

O: in Arabic  Tarikh rabial-Ukhra sana thaman ‘ashr sittami’ah
تاريخ ربيع الآخرسنة ثمان عشروستمائة


In circle Al-Malik الملك


R: Kurzuwan followed by shahada and then Allah at bottom with annulets on either side. 

 كرزوان 
لا إله إلا الله  
 محمد رسول
   الله      
AE Jital 20 mm, 3.3 g,  4h, Kurzuwan mint Jumada al-Awal 618 AH/c. July CE 1221

Album 1971 (S)
Tye 324.2 

O: in Arabic  Tarikh Jumada al-awal sana thaman ‘ashr sittami’ah

In circle Al-Malik

R: Kurzuwan followed by shahada and then Allah at bottom with annulets on either side.

These issues were minted while the city was under siege by Ghengis Khan. Rabi'a is the more common of the two issues, the subsequent issue of Jumada is rarer as the city fell during that time or shortly thereafter. The Mongols destroyed the city and it’s population. The location was likely situated in Northern Afghanistan. 

20150307

Great Britain/Elizabeth II CE 1952-2022 Bullion Coinage/ and news re New Coin Portrait starting later in 2015

AR ₤2 (nominal denomination) 31.16 g (.999 fine oz.) 38mm. "Britannia", BU mirror finish

cf. Royal Mint unveils 5th Coin Portrait 2 March 2015

20150222

A Comment on the importance of Provenance with a good Provenance

"Far too little attention has hitherto been bestowed upon the provenance of ancient coins. The intervention of the coin dealer between the finder and the purchaser is often quite sufficient to obscure or obliterate entirely all evidence of provenance. Coin collectors have also been too often oblivious of the scientific importance of placing on record the sources of their acquisitions."


Numismatic Chronicle 1906, page 3

This quote was written nearly 110 years ago and the comment is as timely now as it was then. I maintain the provenance of each and every item I acquire whether a pedestrian example of a common coin or a more important example, and on some pieces have even reconstructed the provenance when possible (cf. Bar Kochba Zuz for example or CSE 514 both of which were sold without provenance). 

When it comes to selling these coins one day each will be provided at a minimum with the source of my acquisition, and more information if possible as some dealers are kind and conscientious enough to provide the info when asked. 

Obviously, I cannot control what a future caretaker does with this information but it will be provided and perhaps those who have a concern for posterity will continue the chain of transmissions that began with some of these coins as far back as the early 19th century (cf. Aurangzeb or the Tragilos piece from the Weber Collection as such examples).


GREECE/Seleucid; Seleucus II Callinicus BCE 246-226

AE 17 mm, 3.44 g, 12h, Sardes mint, before c. 242 BCE

SC 660.5a
WSM 1661
HSC 345

O:  hd of Athena r. in crested Attic helmet dotted border

R: BAΣIΛEΩΣ on r., ΣEΛEYKOY on l., Apollo stg l., testing arrow and resting l. hand on grounded bow. Primary controls outer l and secondary outer r.

Ex: D. Alighieri Collection


GREECE/Seleucid; Seleucus I Nikator BCE 312-281

AE 13 mm, 2.41 g, 12h, Susa mint?, late 280’s BCE

SC 192 type
HSC 107

O: winged hd of Medusa r.

R: BAΣIΛEΩΣ above, ΣEΛEYKOY below, bull butting r.

Ex: D. Alighieri Collection

20150221

USA/Barber Quarter CE 1892-1916, a buried single find

AR Quarter Dollar (24mm, 5.8g) 3,480,450 mintage Philadelphia mint 1915

KM #114

In 1984, I was helping a friend remove a stump from his backyard and while washing off some of the roots that had been about 2-4"(5-10cm) below grade so we could remove them, I noticed a glint in the sunshine. We stopped our work momentarily and washed off what turned out to be a 1915 quarter that based upon wear likely circulated for some time before being lost at the base of his old oak. The property where the coin was found had a house on it that dated from 1848 so it was possibly lost by someone who lived there in the late 1920's or 30's perhaps. My friend told me to keep the piece and I've had it these thirty years as a memento from that day and the oldest coin I've found on purpose or by accident in the USA. The patina is much nicer in hand and is as found.

Saudi Arabia/King Khaled خالد بن عبد العزيز CE 1975-1982



CuNi (30mm. 10g) 100 Halala/1 Rial AH 1396/CE 1976 mintage 250,000

KM  #52   

O: crossed swords and palm tree at center, above Khaled bin 'Abdul'aziz as-Sa'ud. below: Malik al-Mamlakah al-'Arabiyyah as-Sa'udiyyah

R: legend avove inscription in circle dividing value. above: ma'ah halalah center circle riyal wahid





INDO-SCYTHIAN/Azes II c. BCE 58-12

Bi. Drachm; 15mm, 2.1 g, 3h, Taxila mint

O: BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN MEΓAΛOY/AZOY; King mounted on horse r holding whip, Kharoshthi letter “bu” at right field.


R: Zeus stg l, holding Nike aloft in outstretched r hand, holding scepter in l., Nike holding a diadem, monogram at l, Kharoshthi ltr “stra” r. topped with Greek B, Kharoshthi legend around  maharajasa rajarajasa mahatasa/Ayasa

INDIA/Kushans; Vima Kadphises c. CE 113-127

AE 28 mm (Tetradrachm or unit), 16.4 g, 11h

Göbl 762 type

O: King stg facing sacrificing at fire altar at left, club and tamgha in right field and axehd shafted trident in left field. [BACIΛEYC BACIΛEWN CW]THP MEΓAC OOHMO KA[ΔΦICHC]

R: Shiva stg facing holding trident and deerskin, bull Nandi stg behind to right. Kharoshti legend; Maharajasa rajadirajasa sarvaloga isvarasa mahisvarasa Vima Kathphishasa tratara


INDIA/Kushans; Huvishka c. CE 151-190

AE 25mm (Tetradrachm or unit), 15.14 g, 12h

Göbl 881 type

O: King riding elephant to right, holding elephant goad. Bactrian legend around:
“King of Kings Huvishka Kushan”

R: Athsho, God of metals and fire stg l. Bactrian legend to right, tamgha in field to left.


INDIA/Kushans; Vasudeva I c. CE 190-230


AE 23mm (Copper Unit/Tetradrachm) 8.86 g, c. CE 200-225

Göbl 1004 type

O: Crowned diad king stg facing nimbate, holding trident and sacrificings at altar to left.
Second trident above altar, Bactrian legend around: “King of Kings Bazodeo Kushan” nandipada in r. field.

R: two armed Shiva stg facing holding trident and diadem, bull Nandi stg l behind, Bactrian legend left but not legible on this example. Tamgha at right.