Lelouch Posted January 11 · Member Posted January 11 With the final sale of the Collection Sans Pareille of Greek fractions now complete (and the shipments having been sent and received), I thought it would be a good time to post a thread about it. Admittedly, this is also because I have several wins from the final sales, and they’ve arrived in record time. By record time, I mean literally two days: shipped Wednesday at 7:21 AM EST from Zurich and received Friday at 4:22 PM EST in NYC. I’m 100% certain this is because the package didn’t go through JFK customs. It went from Zurich to Cologne to Memphis to NYC, whereas the usual route from Switzerland or Germany goes Zurich → Cologne → Charles de Gaulle → JFK → NYC. This is the only time I have been ever impressed by shipping speed, FedEx often claims "2-day" service, but it’s never happened for me before. This was also my most expensive shipment by far, so I thought it was doomed to get stuck in customs for several weeks. A Brief Background on the Collection Sans Pareille Many of you may already know this, but for those who don’t, the seller of the Collection Sans Pareille is Denyse Berend. You may not know her by name, but she authored Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum: The Collection of the American Numismatic Society / Part 5. Sicily 3 (Syracuse-Siceliotes) better known as SNG ANS 5, one of the most useful resources for Syracusan and overall Sicilian coin enthusiasts. As a Syracusan collector, it has been by far one of the most useful resources, especially as it is available freely at numismatics.org. Additionally, she was a big fan of octopuses! She wrote an essay called Histoire de poulpes in Kraay-Mørkholm Essays, detailing the history of octopuses in Greek coinage. Admittedly, I haven’t read it (I don’t own KME or speak French), but this is the single most relevant piece of literature to me. She beat me at a game I thought only I was playing, and did so nearly 50 years ago. She collected and recorded all of the octopus litra, and she undoubtedly had the finest examples of many of the types, as seen in the earlier Nomos sales. Also,, just like me, the only Etruscan coin she had was an octopus from Populonia. I’m very happy to have acquired five of her octopuses in Obolos 35 (Part III). Unfortunately, I missed out on Parts I and II, as I wasn’t collecting back then and couldn’t have afforded many of the exceptional examples anyway. Hopefully, I’ll track down some of them along with her other coins because honestly, the Collection Sans Pareille is my dream collection. I’m a huge fan of Greek fractions, not just octopuses, and her collection was by far the best. If I were a billionaire, I would have bought her entire collection. Now onto my coins Obolos 35 - Lot 1019, Tripod / Octopus BRUTTIUM. Kroton. Circa 425-350 BC. Triobol (Silver, 11 mm, 0.98 g, 1 h). ϘPO Tripod. Rev. Octopus. HN III 2128. SNG ANS 330-3321. Toned. Porosity, otherwise, good very fine. From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, and from the collection of Leo Mildenberg, assembled between 1950s and 1970s. This piece features a tripod on the obverse and an octopus on the reverse, rendered in the unique Bruttium style. For some reason, Nomos attributed this incorrectly, listing the same references as the next coin, but it should indeed be HN Italy #2128; SNG ANS 3 #330-331. Correct references are on my website Obolos 35 - Lot 1020, Tripod / Octopus BRUTTIUM. Kroton. Circa 425-350 BC. Triobol (Silver, 12 mm, 1.11 g, 10 h). ϘPO Tripod; to right, grain ear. Rev. Octopus. HN III 2154. SNG ANS 414-415. Light toning. Very fine. From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, acquired in 1975. Like the first, this coin features a tripod obverse and octopus reverse. However, the reverse is clearly in the style of Syracuse—specifically, the later Second Democracy style, with two limbs crossed in the front. I’m not the first to notice this; the authors of HN Italy discuss how Bruttium produced several triobol homages to various Sicilian cities. There were several such coins in Obolos 35, including homages to Akragas and Messana. Interestingly, there’s no clear explanation for why Bruttium created this series of Sicilian homages, especially for what could be considered minor Sicilian cities. Obolos 35 - Lot 1106, Arethusa / Octopus SICILY. Syracuse. Dionysios I, 405-367 BC. Litra (Silver, 10.5 mm, 0.59 g, 10 h). ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ Head of Arethusa to right, wearing simple pendant earring and with her hair in an ampyx; behind her head, dolphin swimming downwards to right. Rev. Octopus. Bérend, KME pl. VI, 16. Buceti 545. HGC 2, -. Kreutzer, Kleinsilbermünzen, 8.4. Rizzo pl. XLVII, 14. SNG ANS 282. Very rare and darkly toned. Slightly porous and with a few marks, otherwise, very fine. From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, and from the collection of L. Mildenberg, assembled between 1950s and 1970s. This coin showcases one of the more beautiful Arethusa designs, in my opinion. Not much more to add, just a lovely design I didn’t already have. Obolos 35 - Lot 1111, Arethusa / Octopus SICILY. Syracuse. Timoleon and the Third Democracy, 344-317 BC. Litra (Silver, 11 mm, 0.69 g, 12 h), Obverse die signed by Eu..., circa 344-339/8. Head of Arethusa to left, wearing pendant earring; to right, EY and head of lion to left. Rev. [ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ] Octopus. HGC 2, 1382. SNG ANS 523 and 1383. Rare. Some roughness, otherwise, very fine. From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, acquired in 1996. This coin, attributed to Timoleon and/or the Third Democracy, is fascinating. Both the Arethusa and the octopus are quite different from earlier designs, seemingly created by the engraver with the initials EY (either Eukleidas or Euainetos). Similar renditions of Arethusa appear on other coins issued during Timoleon’s time, but the octopus here is especially unusual. Unlike the incredibly lifelike Second Democracy octopi, this one looks almost alien. Obolos 35 - Lot 1294, Bull / Octopus The last is an octopus obol from Ereteria. But this is a unique octopus obol, in that it is likely unique being the only known with 6 limbs instead of the usual 8. Nomos didn't call out it uniqueness, but they gave no references other than itself in its BCD Eubioa sale. However, I am confident this is the only known example. None of the previous owners, including BCD with his extensive documentation, ever mentioned another coin of this type. I myself looked around on BMC, Weber and ascearch as much as I could, but I could find no other. I did email Nomos asking if they knew of more and why they didn't list as unique but they didn't respond. This was probably better for me anyways as if it was listed as unique it might have gone for even more. Again, extremely happy to have gotten all of these coins, and with by far the most relevant provenance to me considering her immensely useful work with SNG ANS 5, and our shared love of octopi. Thank you very much Ms. Berend. Feel free to post your wins from the Collection Sans Pareille. 16 3 1 1 Quote
Phil Anthos Posted January 11 · Member Posted January 11 Nice haul! I won none, but not for lack of trying. Prices exploded during live bidding. 🤨 ~ Peter 3 1 Quote
Deinomenid Posted January 11 · Supporter Posted January 11 44 minutes ago, Lelouch said: Admittedly, I haven’t read it Happy to send it if you like. It's only 5 pages plus this plate, and very easily translatable by the various online ai etc choices.- 4 1 Quote
Deinomenid Posted January 11 · Supporter Posted January 11 Part 1 of that auction was insane. I had 44 bids and got nothing. The infamous Chinese/Californian bidder was hoovering up "everything" - his bidding number was drilled into my head. Bidder 6984. I'm sure there were some bargains but apparently it had one of the longest doofus list suggestions yet. Think he actually featured on the ancient coin podcast for a draw-dropping Corinth win. He won 65% of the lots I was interested in and a higher percentage of some of the Taras and proximate. Free market, not complaining, just commenting! 2 1 Quote
El Cazador Posted January 11 · Member Posted January 11 2 minutes ago, Deinomenid said: Part 1 of that auction was insane. I had 44 bids and got nothing. The infamous Chinese/Californian bidder was hoovering up "everything" - his bidding number was drilled into my head. Bidder 6984. I'm sure there were some bargains but apparently it had one of the longest doofus list suggestions yet. Think he actually featured on the ancient coin podcast for a draw-dropping Corinth win. He won 65% of the lots I was interested in and a higher percentage of some of the Taras and proximate. Free market, not complaining, just commenting! Where there any greek tetras or only tiny coins? 1 Quote
Deinomenid Posted January 11 · Supporter Posted January 11 2 minutes ago, El Cazador said: Where there any greek tetras or only tiny coins? I don't remember any tetradrachms - this was it though - https://nomosag.com/auction/nomos-26 1 1 1 Quote
Lelouch Posted January 11 · Member Author Posted January 11 2 minutes ago, Deinomenid said: Part 1 of that auction was insane. I had 44 bids and got nothing. The infamous Chinese/Californian bidder was hoovering up "everything" - his bidding number was drilled into my head. Bidder 6984. I'm sure there were some bargains but apparently it had one of the longest doofus list suggestions yet. Think he actually featured on the ancient coin podcast for a draw-dropping Corinth win. He won 65% of the lots I was interested in and a higher percentage of some of the Taras and proximate. Free market, not complaining, just commenting! Yeah one thing about Nomos is that they show the winner names which is very interesting. My scourge in this was MailBidder2339 who fought me for these, and won many many other coins. I wonder if I can just write a quick python script or something for these 3 and see who won the most in all of them and how much spent, etc. 1 minute ago, El Cazador said: Where there any greek tetras or only tiny coins? No bronzes in the main auctions Auction 26 or 29. There were some tetras or trionkion ARs, but not any bronze tetrases. There were some other bronzes though in Obolos 35, onkias and hemilitirons. 1 1 Quote
Lelouch Posted January 11 · Member Author Posted January 11 2 minutes ago, Deinomenid said: I don't remember any tetradrachms - this was it though - https://nomosag.com/auction/nomos-26 Oh lol, I thought he meant the tetras denomination, not tetradrachms. There were no tetradrachms only fractions. Just for quick links as well, the auctions are Nomos 26, Nomos 29, Obolos 35. Quote
taja1948 Posted January 11 · Member Posted January 11 My coins from Collection Sans Pareille are listed under the topic What are your favourite Greek fractional coins? 1 Quote
Phil Anthos Posted January 11 · Member Posted January 11 The third part was just fractions. My heart was set on any one of four I bid on. The next day I was left wondering why I thought I could play in the same league as these pockets. 1 1 Quote
panzerman Posted January 11 · Member Posted January 11 High quality coin auctions attract the "big $$$$$" collectors. Quote
Phil Anthos Posted January 11 · Member Posted January 11 The coins I was bidding are were pretty low grade, although rare. I didn't even dare think about them too much in case there were any numismentalists about. 😒 But in the end Natasha ended up with them. ~ Peter Quote
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