Collection Sans Pareille: Highly Important Collection of Greek Fractions

Welcome to Nomos 26! More than twenty years ago – how time flies! - I had the chance to help the late Silvia Hurter write the catalogue of what we called “Greek Coins - An Exceptional Private Collection” (Leu Numismatics 76, 27 October 1999); and exceptional it certainly was! Built up over a generation it contained wonderful gold and electrum, as well as silver coins ranging from hemidrachms to dekadrachms. Collected with passion and with an unerring eye for style and quality, this sale did very well, indeed. But who was the owner? A friend and colleague to a select group of collectors, dealers and scholars – well-known for her enthusiasm, kindness and support for things numismatic – her background was one of culture and intellectual stimulation combined with comfortable economic circumstances. Her life was, nevertheless, an adventurous, twentieth century one – first forced to flee from the nazis and then the communists, those experiences gave her a strength and determination that belied her gentle appearance. Those of us who knew her, and had the chance to visit her in the lovely house she shared with her husband, surrounded by books and art – their interests were wide ranging, from Attic pots and pre-Columbian statuettes to paintings and drawings – will never forget the hospitality they received. And she knew everyone – just to mention a few, there were Kenneth Jenkins, Georges Le Rider and Margaret Thompson; Serge Boutin, Herbert Cahn, Silvia Hurter, Leo Mildenberg, Pierre Strauss and Jean Vinchon; Georges Abecassis, Sheikh al-Thani and Harald Salvesen. She helped some of them with their research, was a loyal customer of some, and was a friendly competitor to others. But what many did not know is that there was another collection of Greek coins that remained, and even expanded, after the higher denominations were sold in 1999: the Greek fractions. Amassed over more than a generation, the Collection sans Pareille is the biggest collection ever formed of Greek fractions. Ranging from the early coins of Massalia in the West, through Magna Graecia and Sicily; then into northern Greece, Thrace and the Greek mainland; and ending with Asia Minor, ancient Syria and Palestine, and, finally, Kyrenaica: the 550 single lots of Nomos 26 provide a spectacular selection from this collection. The responsibility for their choice is mine, and I hope that everyone using this catalogue will greet them with enthusiasm! Further selections will appear in forthcoming Obolos and Nomos sales. In fact, Nomos 26 seems to be the first auction ever to be devoted solely to Greek fractions, which makes its catalogue quite an exceptional one. Its only parallels are the famous FPLs from M & M, which occasionally featured whole sections devoted to Greek fractions, or the rare auction, like NAC’s sale of the Falm coins (Auction 82), which had a considerable number, albeit as part of a larger collection. Here we have decided to illustrate every coin in an enlargement with its description and, in natural size, on plates at the end of the catalogue. We do not know the sources for all the coins, but we do know that they were all acquired between the late 1960s and 2010. They were bought privately from the stock of dealers, from price lists (like those of M&M mentioned above), and from auctions. A significant number came from the private collection of Leo Mildenberg, which he sold to our collector en bloc in the late 1970s. The auction begins with a nice group of coins from Massalia (lots 1-12); then an octopus from Pisae in Etruria (lot 12). This is followed by 73 coins from Magna Graecia (lots 13-85, of which no fewer than 29 are from Tarentum) and 111 coins from Sicily (lots 86-196). From northern Greece (including Moesia, the Cimmerian Bosporos, Thrace and Macedon) are 77 coins (lots 197-273); central Greece, from Thessaly through Megara, includes 72 pieces (lots 274-345) , and from the Peloponnesos and the Islands are a further 44 (lots 346-390). From Trapezos in Pontos through Cyprus there are 139 coins (lots 391-529); as for the rest – the Seleukids, Phoenicia, Samaria, Philistia and Kyrenaica – we have 21 coins (lots 530-550). Pointing out individual pieces, for their beauty, their interest, their preservation or their rarity, would make this introduction into a book (!), so look through them and see for yourself!