Extremely Rare Pharnakes Stater

CNG 84, Lot: 574. Estimate $25000. Sold for $21000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPOROS. Pharnakes. Circa 63-46 BC. AV Stater (20mm, 8.08 g, 12h). Pantikapaion mint. Dated Bosporan Era 247 (51/0 BC). Diademed head right / BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN MEΓAΛOY ΦAPNAKOY, Apollo seated left on lion-footed throne, holding branch in extended right hand, left arm resting on kithara; tripod to left; to right, ZMΣ (date) above ivy leaf. Frolova I, dies A/k = G&K 12-3 (dies γ/K); MacDonald 186/2; Anokhin 220 var. (ivy leaf to left); SNG BM Black Sea -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -; BMC -. EF, underlying luster, slight die shift on obverse, light cleaning marks. Extremely rare, only two examples recorded by G&K (one in Vienna, the other missing from the Gotha Herzogliches Münzkabinett).

From the Alex Shubs Collection.

At the time of Golenko & Karyszkowski’s publication of the corpus of known gold coins of Pharnakes, there were 15 known specimens. Over the past 15 years, a number have been found in hoards and excavations, though very few of these have appeared on the market. Nevertheless, the new coins have a variety of new markings and dies that render G&K’s die study obsolete. In the forthcoming study, the authors postulate the these coins were the product of more than one mint, and the present specimen is one of two known from a royal mint at Phanagoreia.

Pharnakes was awarded the Bosporan Kingdom by Pompey, for the betrayal of his father Mithradates VI, King of Pontos. Little is known of his 16-year reign except for its ending. During the Civil War between Pompey and Julius Caesar, Pharnakes tried to recapture his father's former territories in Pontos. He won a victory over Caesar's general, Domitius Calvinus, and ordered Romans in the region castrated or put to the sword. In response, Caesar launched a rapid five day war against Pharnakes in 47 BC, culminating in the battle of Zela. Caesar emerged victorious, prompting him to report back to the Senate with the now famous dictum, "Veni, Vidi, Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered).