Sale: Nomos 9, Lot: 146. Estimate CHF2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 20 October 2014.  Sold For CHF3100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PERGAMON. Eumenes I, 263-241 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 28mm, 16.99 g 12), 263-255/250. Diademed head of Philetairos to right. Rev. ΦΙΛΕΤΑΙΡΟΥ Athena seated left on backless throne, holding, by the edge with her right hand, a shield adorned with a gorgoneion, with her spear held downwards over her left shoulder and resting her left elbow on a miniature Nike; to left, below her arm, ivy leaf; on the throne, Α; to right, bow. SNG France 1606-1609. SNG von Aulock 1355. Westermark Group III, obverse die XXV:B. Toned steel gray, with a powerful and dramatic portrait struck in high relief and with an extremely nice reverse. Good extremely fine.

From a collection in the United States.

The portraits of Philetairos on the coinage of Pergamon were almost brutally honest in their portrayal of the powerful eunuch who was the founder of the Pergamine kingdom (Eumenes I was his nephew). This coin, struck relatively soon after the death of Philetairos, is particularly realistic.