Post the most beautiful ancient coins you know of

[AncientCoinnoisseur]

This thread is all about beauty. The best of the best, the top quality ones, the ‘impossible to get’, the ‘only in museums’ ones. Just post whatever you feel like, as long as you look at them and stare in awe. The only rule is: the coin has to be beyond beautiful (at least for you!). It doesn’t have to be one of your coins of course 🙂 

I’ll start with a classic: 

 

Syracuse Tetradrachm by Kimon, sold for 1.700.000 CHF hammer.

And another one (although it’s not properly a coin):

 

Aboukir (Abu Qir) gold Medallions [This is just one, but they are all gorgeous!]

[JayAg47]

I don't usually understand the appeal with extremely expensive coins, but this one is something different. The first time I saw this coin, of course online, I was instantly captivated. Just look at the artistry of Artemis’s facing bust, with that subtle upward gaze. If I suddenly get richie rich, this would be the first coin I’d get, I’d even offer several times its current value to the current owner!

 

I also find these Aboukir Medallions just spectacular! especially the facing bust of Alexander.

 

This is what I got close to a facing bust of Alexander, I read somewhere that the high relief portraits on Greek coins meant to represent the side profile of a person or statue. So, I took a photo of the edge, cropped it, slightly widened the image, and then copied and pasted the mirrored image to create the facing bust. 

Edited September 23 by JayAg47

[Phil Anthos]

If I had an extra 300,000 lying around I might be tempted to give this coin a home...

 

Calabria, Tarentum
Stater circa 325-320, AV 8.56 g. TAPA Veiled and diademed head of Hera r., wearing earring and necklace; below chin, dolphin swimming downwards. Behind neck, E. Rev. TAPANTINΩN Young Taras standing r., raising hands in supplication to Poseidon seated l., leaning forward and holding trident; in field r., star / |-. Below stool, diphros and K. Vlasto 1 (these dies). E.S.G. Robinson, Ancient Greek Coins in the possession of William Harrison Woodward (privately printed, Oxford, 1928), 4 (this coin illustrated). A.J. Evans, The Artistic Engravers of Terina and the Signature of Evaenetos on its later Didrachm Dies, NC 1912, p. 45. de Luynes 241 (these dies). Gulbenkian 29. AMB 89 (these dies). Kraay-Himer pl. X, 315 (this reverse die). SNG France 1777 (these dies). Jenkins Essays Thompson, pl. 10, 13 and 19 (these dies). Fischer-Bossert G5c (this coin). Historia Numorum Italy 901 (these dies).
Extremely rare and possibly the finest specimen in private hands. On the obverse, a wonderful
portrait struck in high relief in the finest style of the period and, on the reverse, one of the
most fascinating and masterly engraved compositions of the entire Western Greek series.
Perfectly struck and centred on a full flan, two minor nicks on obverse and
a minor mark on reverse edge at two o’clock, otherwise extremely fine

Ex Spink 39, 1984, Reverend Arnold Mallinson, 36 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 23 sales. From the Sir Arthur J. Evans and William Harrison Woodward collections.
Of all the coins of Tarentum, this gold stater perhaps elicits the greatest praise for the skill and ingenuity of the engraver. The composition is masterful, and one can only imagine how this would have looked on the grand scale of a statuary group. Beyond the composition, we may revel in the quality of the engraving, which breathes life into a scene that otherwise might appear stiff and formal. The artist treats us to nothing less than an impassioned plea of young Taras to a towering, but caring figure of Poseidon, who considers the proposal. A coin type of such a highly personal nature demands a tie to history. Various opinions have been offered, which help to narrow the possibilities down to the period 342 to 330 B.C. The two events in this era that could have prompted this coinage are interventions in Southern Italy on behalf of the Tarentines by Archidamus of Sparta in 342 and Alexander the Molossian, whose more enduring (but no less disastrous) campaign began in 334. Robinson prefers the former, interpreting the scene as an allusion to the plea of Taras to its mother city Sparta. Other scholars prefer the latter, associating the coinage with Alexander, especially since the thunderbolt symbol is prominent. Robinson argues that the thunderbolt need not be taken as a certain allusion to Alexander, as it is a common symbol, and that the type is more appropriate to the relationship between colony and mother city. Though the obverse generally is not the focal point of this coinage, it is worth noting that the beautiful female head – usually described as Persephone – may actually be Hera. In particular, her stephane is decorated with palmettes in a manner identical to that worn by Hera on the staters of Elis. Also of interest is the fact that the inscription TAPA before her face has generally been missed by researchers: Robinson only hinted at what appeared to be portions of the inscription on the Gulbenkian example, though we are fortunate that Rutter, in his recent Historia Numorum Italy, includes it in his description of the type.

Price realized - 300'000 CHF

Edited September 23 by Phil Anthos

[Al Kowsky]

"The most beautiful ancient coin I know of" today might be different than the coin I choose tomorrow, depending on my mood ☺️. Today it's this gold medallion issued for the Roman Emperor Probus. The artist who engraved the dies for this gem is unequaled in stature for Roman coinage in the 3rd century.

Probus, AD 278-282. AV: 26.05 gm. Obverse: Jugate busts of Probus holding scepter, & Hercules holding club. Reverse: Emperor advancing & crossing the Rhine River; Victory preceding him, Mars in the background, two soldiers holding shields & legionary standards. Below, the river god lying in the waves. Unique & FDC.

 

[Deinomenid]

6 hours ago, AncientCoinnoisseur said:

I’ll start with a classic: 

I saw this gem described as "that ape coin" once, based on the lettering at the top of Arethusa, which is then hard to unsee!  Going for a Winckelmann level of perfection in balance between naturalism and idealism that coin is hard to surpass, though on his view that "“The general and principal characteristic of Greek works, especially the sublime ones, is a noble simplicity and quiet grandeur, both in posture and expression” @Phil Anthos's Taras reverse has to be up there...

@Al Kowsky I think that's the "coin"  on the Aaron Berk podcast that he said is the single most impressive he's ever held. Not sure if that means  beautiful too 🙂

 

My suggestion is a (not my!) coin where,  in the words of Arthur Evans, the earrings allow us to supply the wings.

Syracuse, tetradrachm, c. 405-400 BC, likely Eukleidas.

From an auction description -'[A] very beautiful female head, the full artistic significance of which seems hitherto to have escaped notice...[and whose] features, for purity of outline, are unsurpassed in the Syracusan series.' (A.J. Evans, Syracusan 'Medallions', 1892, pp. 146-7). Evans interpreted the 'head with the waving top-knot ... [as] the head of a flying Nike', and was the first to notice its unorthodox angle. Using her earring as a plumb bob: 'It is the head, and not the pendant ornament that is intended to bend forward.' To Evans, the angle confirmed his identification of the head: 'the earring in fact enables us to supply the wings'.

 

 

[Cordoba]

Baktria has some of the best. not mine:

 

Edited September 23 by Cordoba

[Al Kowsky]

1 hour ago, Deinomenid said:

I saw this gem described as "that ape coin" once, based on the lettering at the top of Arethusa, which is then hard to unsee!  Going for a Winckelmann level of perfection in balance between naturalism and idealism that coin is hard to surpass, though on his view that "“The general and principal characteristic of Greek works, especially the sublime ones, is a noble simplicity and quiet grandeur, both in posture and expression” @Phil Anthos's Taras reverse has to be up there...

@Al Kowsky I think that's the "coin"  on the Aaron Berk podcast that he said is the single most impressive he's ever held. Not sure if that means  beautiful too 🙂

 

My suggestion is a (not my!) coin where,  in the words of Arthur Evans, the earrings allow us to supply the wings.

Syracuse, tetradrachm, c. 405-400 BC, likely Eukleidas.

From an auction description -'[A] very beautiful female head, the full artistic significance of which seems hitherto to have escaped notice...[and whose] features, for purity of outline, are unsurpassed in the Syracusan series.' (A.J. Evans, Syracusan 'Medallions', 1892, pp. 146-7). Evans interpreted the 'head with the waving top-knot ... [as] the head of a flying Nike', and was the first to notice its unorthodox angle. Using her earring as a plumb bob: 'It is the head, and not the pendant ornament that is intended to bend forward.' To Evans, the angle confirmed his identification of the head: 'the earring in fact enables us to supply the wings'.

 

 

Deinomenid, I think you're right 😉. When NAC put the coin up for auction in May 18, 2023 it sold for $2,835,000 😮!

https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=6703&lot=802

[Bonshaw]

For me it is unquestionably the 3/4 facing Pantikapaion AV stater. I don't like to admit it because it was the subject of such hype when it sold for 5,390,000 CHF at Numismatica Ars Classica, but if I happened upon a billion dollars, this is the coin that I would try to pick it up.

There was a later die match that was better centered and was seized in Athens at the Olympic taekwondo facilities, after being smuggled. But for some reason, the photos of that coin don't capture the haunting look in the eyes of the satyr quite as well.

It was this slightly off-centered version that simply captured me. I can't stop looking at the eyes.

I'm not sure where I got this photo with the two sides of the coin on the  backdrop of the obverse, or I would credit it -

 

Edited September 23 by Bonshaw

[Croatian Coin Collector]

2 hours ago, Cordoba said:

Baktria has some of the best. not mine:

 

This one is mine:

[Ryro]

Here's a few from my would that I could afford it:

[Cordoba]

2 hours ago, Croatian Coin Collector said:

This one is mine:

nicely done, one of the finer style eukratides tets

[Di Nomos]

Athenian dekadrachms probably don't jump out to most collectors as beautiful, (most aren't), but this one does to me. It was formally in the collection of Nelson Bunker Hunt, who payed a then world record price for it, and in several notable collections prior to that.

The shape of the coin and completeness, plus Athena's smile make it very desirable.

[AncientJoe]

Some great coins have already been listed in this thread. It also isn't necessary for true art to be the most expensive coins: many coins in the Kraay Hirmer "Greek Coins" book are absolute masterpieces for their types and aren't be dekadrachm-expensive. Waiting for the right pair of dies can take a long time but it's worth pouncing when they come up.

That said, ignoring my point above, here are two of my favorites which are exorbitantly expensive:

The Agrigentum dekadrachm:

 

But I personally prefer this Akragas tetradrachm's style with the incredible skylla:

 

 

[rasiel]

The Greeks win these contests hands down and by a country mile. And that's coming from someone who has no interest in them.

Some of the coins I've seen over the years are just jawdropping. All the more so when you consider the primitive tools they had.

Ps. Sorry Byzantines. You get to sit this thread out.

Rasiel