"Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, Part II

Just last May, on the 21st to be exact, we presented the first part of the Collection sans Pareille of ancient Greek silver fractions as our auction Nomos 26. As anyone who took part in that sale will know, it was an overwhelming success, with results that astonished everyone, including ourselves! So now we have the second part, Nomos 29. Nomos 26 contained lots 1-550 and we have decided to continue on from there with lots 551 through 940 (or 390 individual lots). Perhaps the first thing people will say when they view this auction is, “why didn’t you include these coins in Auction 26??” Well, in some cases they are duplicates of what we already had, in some cases the writer wanted to include more but was told we had too many already (!!), and in some cases we did not realize quite how good the coins actually were! The auction begins, as one would expect, with an interesting group of coins from Massalia (lots 551-555); then comes Magna Graecia with 48 lots (556-603) ranging from Allifae in Campania to Rhegion in Bruttium; there are only 12 from Tarentum, rather than the 29 of last time! Then we come to 64 coins from Sicily (lots 604-668), starting with Abakainon and ending with Thermae Himerenses. As always many of the coins have extensive pedigrees: the litra from Himera, lot 609 previously belonged to both Robert Jameson and Sir Arthur Evans, while the Kamarina litra, lot 614, belonged to Leo Mildenberg, Walter Niggeler, Robert Jameson and G. Philipsen!! Then we move to the Cimmerian Bosporos, Thrace and Macedon (53 coins - lots 669-722). Lots 723-789 include 66 coins ranging from Thessaly through Crete. Then come 135 coins from Asia Minor and Cyprus, lots 790-924: not only are there quite a few coins from uncertain mints, but there are also unknown coins, like the unique diobol from Phokaia (lot 832). Finally, the remaining 16 coins (lots 925-940) are from Phoenicia and ancient Palestine. There are so many exciting coins in this sale! Perhaps of especial interest are many very small fractions – denominations below a hemiobol. Seeing them, and handling them, makes it easy to understand why they were replaced by larger bronze coins beginning in the 5th century BC! As for the remaining coins in this wonderful collection, they will all appear in a forthcoming online-only obolos auction, which will also include the occasional multiple lot.