Themistocles, Athenian Statesman & General

297, Lot: 168. Estimate $200. Sold for $450. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ (32mm, 18.98 g, 7h). Dioskourides Gratos Metro–, grammateus. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Statue of Themistocles, nude, standing left, holding patera over lighted altar and scabbard of sword in sheath at waist; at feet to left, forepart of humpbacked bull lying left. Schultz 103 (V2/R5); Hill, Historical Greek Coins 47 (same dies). Fine, tan patina. Extremely rare with only two specimens recorded by Schultz.

Ex Hirsch 272 (4 May 2011), lot 585.

This highly interesting coin depicts the Athenian Themistocles, who after years of serving Athens as a successful general and politician, fell from grace by a combination of his own hubris and the political maneuverings of the Spartans. Themistocles fled to Anatolia and entered the service of the Persian King Artaxerxes I, who appointed him governor of Magnesia.