Asia Minor Coins - Photo Gallery

Ancient Greek and Roman coins from Asia Minor


Coin ID #9225

Paphos (BC 325-309) Distater - Nikokles

Nikokles, ca 325-309 BC. AR Distater (26mm, 21.29g, 12h). Persic standard, struck ca late 320s BC or ca 310 BC. Head of Aphrodite left, wearing elaborate tiara composed of mural crown with four towers enclosing a polos ornamented with palmettes and annulets, disc earring with a triple pendant and a pearl necklace; Π-ΒΑ behind / ΝΙΚΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ / ΠΑΦΙΟΝ, Apollo, wearing laurel wreath and nude but for cloak over shoulders, seated left on omphalos, holding arrow and bow; laurel branch to left. Extremely rare. EF.

Only 4 genuine examples are known, including this piece. That only 2 obverse and 2 reverse dies are known makes it clear that it was meant to be a special issue (or perhaps an originally large issue cut short). It must have been struck after the Alexander-type tetradrachms (Price 3118-3123), which were minted in the late 320s, and it is possible that these distaters were produced shortly after. However, a date in the years shortly before Nikokles’ suicide might fit the evidence better.

File information
Filename:89001018.jpg
City/Mint name:Paphos
Keywords:silver / hellenistic
References:BMC pl. XXII, 11 = Traité II, 1326 (Florence, same dies); A.-P. C. Weiss, “The Persic Distaters of Nikokles Revisited,” Studies BCD, O2/R2 b (this coin)
Valuation:CNG Triton XV (1/2007), lot 1018 ($600,000 + comm)
Photo courtesy of:Classical Numismatic Group - www.cngcoins.com
Filesize:95 KiB
Date added:Jul 05, 2012
Dimensions:800 x 383 pixels
Displayed:1503 times
URL:http://www.asiaminorcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=9225
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Dimitry   [Jul 05, 2012 at 04:08 AM]
Π[αφου] ΒΑ[σιλισσα] = Queen of Paphos. The denomination of this coin, a Persic double stater, is rare, and it must have been produced as a prestige object in answer to the lighter Attic weight tetradrachms that had become prevalent in the east.

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