Numismatica Genevensis Auction 6

Strictly speaking, it has become standard procedure for Numismatica Genevensis to set superlatives with their auctions. In 2008, a gold stater from Athens sold for 950,000 Francs; a sestertius of Hadrian even set the world record for an ancient coin with its price of 2 million Francs! Two exciting days are to be expected this year as well in the auction room in the Hotel Beau-Rivage in Geneva. 1,060 coins with a total estimate of more than 10 million Francs will be auctioned off including 224 coins with a five figure and 19 lots with a six figure estimate!

Lot 41 Panticapaeu Gold stater, ca 340-325 9.11g

The significant series of approximately 120 Greek coins instantly raises problems as to which pieces to single out of the great number of magnificent objects – for example, the splendid gold stater from Panticapeum (41 / CHF 100,000), the early Classical decadrachm from Athens (65 / CHF 750,000) or the enchanting stater from the Cretan city of Gortyn, the electrum stater from Cyzicus with its vigorous depiction of a lion killing a bull (81 / CHF 300,000), the unique and hitherto unpublished gold stater from Abydos with its adorable full face portrait of Artemis (84 / CHF 350,000) or the enigmatic electrum stater from the earliest stage of coin minting, this time not with a deer but with a massive bull on its obverse (87 / CHF 300,000).These are only the highlights! Every coin presented at Numismatica Genevensis is selected and impresses with rarity, good die cut and extraordinary grade. The same holds true for the approximately 120 Roman coins.

Lot 154 Augustus 27 BC - 14 AD Sestertius refund struck under Nerva, Rome, 98 AD. 26.20g

Here as well the connoisseur finds bronze coins that aim at setting a record such as a restitution coin of Divus Augustus minted under Nerva with a unparalleled veristic older portrait of the first princeps (154 / CHF 125,000) and a sestertius of Galba with a portrait that surely was made by one of the greatest artists ever working in a Roman mint (158 / CHF 200,000). A unique gold medallion of the emperor Constans with a weight of 3 solidi should not be omitted here (201 / CHF 175,000), such as a silver medallion with the weight of 4 siliqua or argentei of the very emperor (203 / CHF 75,000) and a solidus of the Late Roman emperor Zenon’s wife, Ariadne (241 / CHF 50,000).

Complete auction information is available at www.ngsa.ch

The thoughts and opinions in the piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.