Sale: Nomos 6, Lot: 84. Estimate CHF2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 May 2012.  Sold For CHF2200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PAPHLAGONIA, Sinope. Circa 410-350 BC. Drachm (Silver, 6.09 g 6). Head of a nymph to left, her hair bound in a sakkos; behind, ΝΙ. Rev. ΣΙΝΩ Sea eagle, with open wings standing left on dolphin swimming to left; above eagle to right, ΕΚΑ. SNG BM Black Sea 1392. SNG Copenhagen Suppl. 293. Very rare. Of unusually fine style and attractively toned. Nearly extremely fine.

Ex Triton VIII, 11 January 2005, 357 and Peus 372, 30 October 2002, 257, and from the collection of the writer G. Hauptmann (1862-1946) Auctiones 23, 17 June 1993, 114 .

The first known owner of this coin was Gerhart Hauptmann, a German writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1912. He seems to have adored Greek coins - his small collection was sold by his family long after his death (more information can be found in the extensive introduction to the Auctiones 23 catalogue). He certainly had a good eye: while he owned very few coins in superb condition, virtually all of them were artistically on a very high level. This piece is one of the most beautiful of all the 4th century BC drachms of Sinope.