Nomos 15

KINGS OF PAPHLAGONIA. Pylaimenes III Euergetes, Circa 108-89 BC. Chalkous (Orichalcum, 16 mm, 3.79 g, 12 h). Bull’s head facing. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ // ΠYΛΑΙΜΕΝΟΥ / ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ Winged kerykeion. SNG BM 1555. SNG Greece, KIKPE, 733-734. SNG von Aulock 150. A wonderful, sharp and beautifully preserved example with lovely toning. Some very minor marks, otherwise, virtually as struck.

Ex Hess Divo 329, 17 November 2015, 85 and Gemini IV, 8 January 2008, 142.

Greek bronze coins are remarkably hard to find in really good condition. This is certainly true because bronze coins primarily circulated by size (i.e., their diameter told their user what their denomination was) rather than by their intrinsic metal value. Thus, these coins could circulate as long as their size made them acceptable: exceedingly worn bronze coins are found in excavations in contexts proving that they still were in use at the time of their loss, many years after they were originally struck. The issuer of this coin was almost certainly Pylaimenes III Euergetes, son of the Bithynian king Nikomedes III Euergetes (c. 127-94 BC) - as their shared epithet suggests.