Collection of Greek Coins to Be Sold to Benefit the Ashmolean Museum

A phenomenal collection of 254 gold and silver coins that span the whole of the Greek World, many of which have not been on the market for 80 years, are to be sold at Noonans Mayfair on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, at 12 noon (UK).

The collection is estimated to fetch £1million and is being sold to benefit the Heberden Coin Room in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University’s Museum of Art and Archaeology which houses approximately 50,000 Greek and Roman Provincial coins and is the leading Coin Room in the world.

Dr Alexander Sturgis, Director Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology comments: “The money generated from the sale will endow the post of the curator of Greek coins at the Heberden Coin Room. This will ensure the long-term future of Greek numismatics at the University of Oxford, where the subject has a long and illustrious tradition.”

As Bradley Hopper, Coin Specialist at Noonans explains: “The collection stands as a testament to the greatest achievements of classical numismatics and the 254 specimens span many geographical areas of the Greek World, from Italy to Bactria and represent the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. Known as the Phillips Family Collection of Ancient Greek Coins, it was formed over a period of some 90 years by father and son, however it is the family’s request that their anonymity be retained, and thus the title used throughout is a pseudonym.”

Lot 117: Carthaginian Issues. Sicily. Dekadrachm, struck ‘in the land’, c. 264-60 BC, during the First Punic War. Extremely fine, perfectly centered and of superb style; beautiful grey tone with traces of red-green patination. Ex Glendining Auction (1963). Estimate: £20,000-£26,000.

Among the many highlights of the collection is the magnificent Dekadrachm of Carthage which was given from father to son on Christmas Day in 1963 and is estimated at £20,000-26,000 [lot 117].

Lot 118: Pantikapaion. Stater, c. 350-340 BC. Centrally struck on a broad from dies of high artistry; minute mark in the obverse field, otherwise extremely fine, residually lustrous and attractive. Ex SNC July 1940, Bt Spink, April 1941. Estimate: £40,000-£50,000.

While from the Ancient Greek city of Pantikapaion is a gold Stater that was struck c. 350-340 and decorated with a bearded head of Pan which is estimated at £40,000-£50,000 [lot 118] and from Crete is a stater that was struck between c. 425-400.

Lot 214: Crete. Knossos. Stater, struck c. 425-400 BC. Good very fine, well centred and dark toned; with an especially evocative pedigree. Ex Sir Arthur J. Evans Collection Naville Auction XII (1926), E.G. Spencer-Churchill Collection SNC February 1944. Estimate: £40,000-£50,000.

Showing the head of a Minatour, the coin was once part of the Sir Arthur J. Evans Collection – the archaeologist who discovered the palace at Knossos – and was Exhibited as part of the Burlington Fine Arts Club’s Exhibition of Ancient Greek Art in 1903. It is estimated at £40,000-£50,000 [lot 214].

Lot 94: Sicily. Syracuse. Dekadrachm, struck under the tyrant Dionysios I, c. 400-395 BC; signed work of Kimon. Good very fine, the portrait better, of superb style and struck in high relief; grey tone with some light iridescence. Ex W.H. Woodward Collection SNC October 1943. Estimate: £40,000-£50,000.

Like the Ashmolean’s own collection, there is a particular focus in the collection on Archaic and Classical coins from Italy and Sicily. These coins are famous for their artistic quality and beauty, as is evident in the three Sicilian decadrachms in the sale. Included are two examples that were struck at Syracuse under the tyrant Dionysios I, c. 400-380. Both depict a galloping charioteer and is each estimated at £40,000-£50,000 [lots 94 & 96].