Greek Silver & Bronze Coins

Lot 3575    SESSION 17 (9.30AM FRIDAY 24TH NOV)    Greek Silver & Bronze Coins

Estimate $250
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $260

MYSIA, Pergamon, (104-98 B.C.), silver cistophoric tetradrachm, (12.63 g), obv. cista mystica containing serpent, all within ivy wreath, rev. bow in case between two coiled serpents, to left monogram of **PER*, above A**S* to right serpent entwined thyrsus, (cf.S.3948, Carbone, Hidden Power, type XXXI (obv.71, rev. 125a, p.56), No.14 [This Coin illustrated on plate 12], Kleiner [ANSMN 23], No.5). Worn obverse die, good fine/nearly extremely fine and rare.

Ex the 2002 hoard, acquired from CNG in January 20, 2003, lot includes Noble Numismatics retail priced ticket.
Recent scholarship has reframed the Attalid cistophori from a series emblematic of a closed monetary system, a theory proposed by earlier scholars, to a revolutionary coinage that defines an innovation in the structure of the Attalid state. Following the defeat of the Gauls in 166 BC, Eumenes II dramatically reorganized his kingdom. Civic structure now became the backbone of the state, with large amounts of money being spent to more thoroughly incorporate rural areas into the urban Pergamene kingdom. Key to this was the new cistophoric coinage, which was struck at a lower weight than the common Attic standard, to ensure circulation only within the kingdom. Andrew Meadows writes of the cistophoric issues: This was a coinage designed to look federal, rather than royal. The kings image was removed in favour of creating the impression of civic unity across clearly defined and identified space. Since the mintmarks that appear on a number of these coinages do not in fact designate sites of production, we might speculate that their inclusion was at least partly an element of the ideological programme. (The Closed Currency System of the Attalid Kingdom, in Attalid Asia Minor. Ed. Peter Thonemann. Oxford. 2013). (Courtesy of CNG).