(BC 120-63) Mithradates VI - AV Stater6436 viewsMithradates VI, 120-63 BC. AV Stater (8.46g). Pergamon mint. Dated year 4 of Pergamene Era (86/85 BC); struck during the First Mithradatic War. Diademed head right, hair tousled and flowing freely / Stag grazing left; pellet below, star and crescent to left, D (date) to right, monogram in exergue; all within Dionysiac wreath of ivy and fruit. Good VF, minor scrape in reverse field. Very rare.
Mithradates' career driven by megalomaniacal ambitions leading to murderous assaults upon family and followers and disastrous foreign adventures against superior forces. His idealized portraiture attempts to mimic the gods with its bold staring gaze and unruly, free-flowing hair. The wreath of ivy on the reverse reinforces Mithradates' link with the gods as well as making a connection with the cistaphoric coinage that formerly circulated in the Asian territory he conquered in his first war with Rome in 88 BC, which witnessed the horrific massacre of the Roman citizens of Asia Minor. The stag probably represents the civic center of Ephesos and the mintmark is of Pergamon, all part of the new Pontic kingdom, symbolized by the star and crescent. 
(34 votes)
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(BC 120-63) Mithdradates VI - Tetradrachm2916 viewsMithradates VI, 120-63 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.31g, 12h). Pergamon mint. Dated month 11 of 202 BE (August 95 BC). Diademed head right, hair neatly tucked under diadem / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΙΘΡΑΔΑΤΟΥ ΕΥΠΑΤΟΡΟΣ, stag grazing left; star and crescent to left, BΣ (year) and monogram to right, IA (month) in exergue; all within Dionysiac wreath of ivy and fruit. Good VF, toned, slight die shift on obverse.
(18 votes)
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(BC 200-169) Pharnakes III - Tetradrachm2417 viewsca 170 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.85g, 12h), Sinope mint. Diademed and bearded head of Pharnakes III to right / Pantheistic male deity standing facing, wearing broad petasos, chiton, chlamys and high boots, holding a cornucopiae and a kerykeion with his left hand and feeding a fawn standing right from a vine branch and grapes held in his right; thunderbolt above his head, star within crescent to left. RRR! Toned, probably the finest known tetradrachm of Pharnakes, and with the most realistic of all Hellenistic portraits. Extremely fine.
From the collection of W. Wahler, Numismatic Fine Arts XXV (11/1990), 119, ex Numismatic Fine Arts V (2/1978), 123, and Monnaies et Medailles 47 (11/1972), 475.
(21 votes)
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(BC 220-200) Mithradates III - Tetradrachm4048 viewsca 220-196/5 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.19g, 12h). Amaseia or Sinope mints. Diademed and draped bust to right / Zeus seated left on throne, holding eagle and scepter; star within crescent to left; monogram below throne. Extremely rare. Toned, EF. Gillet Coll., Bank Leu & Munzen und Medaillen (Kunstfreund) (5/1974), 243; Rothschild coll., SWH (5/1900), 304; Carfrae coll., SWH (5/1894), 187; Dupree Coll., Hoffmann (4/1867), 240.
(31 votes)
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