Third Known First Year Issue

Triton XVIII, Lot: 558. Estimate $20000. Sold for $18000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPOROS. Pharnakes II. Circa 63-46 BC. AV Stater (21mm, 8.23 g, 12h). Pantikapaion mint. Dated BE 243 (52/1 BC). Diademed head right / BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN MEΓAΛOY ΦAPNAKOY, Apollo seated left, holding laurel branch in extended right hand, left arm resting on kithara to right; tripod to left, ΓMΣ (date) to right. Frolova & Ireland § 5, dies A/a = G&K 1 = de Luynes 2396 (same dies); Anokhin 1301; MacDonald 182; HGC 7, 198; DCA 446; Triton XII, lot 266 (same dies). EF, a few light marks. Extremely rare first issue of staters, one of only three known, the other two being the de Luynes (BN) and Triton XII pieces.

At the time of Frolova & Ireland’s publication (2002), there were 16 known specimens of Pharnakes’ gold staters (plus three forgeries). Twelve specimens have since appeared at auction, bringing the known population of these very rare pieces to 28, of which about 10 are in museums. The present coin is one of only two examples of the first year of issue available in the marketplace.

Pharnakes was awarded the Bosporan Kingdom by Pompey for the betrayal of Pharnakes’ father Mithradates VI, King of Pontos. Little is known of Pharnakes’ sixteen-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).