Selections from the Michel Prieur Collection
Ex Levante Collection

436, Lot: 332. Estimate $300. Sold for $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CILICIA, Aegeae. Hadrian. AD 117-138. AR Tetradrachm (25mm, 12.11 g, 12h). Dated year 164 of the Caesarean Era (AD 117/8). AVTOKP KAIC TPAIANOC AΔPIANOC CЄB, laureate and cuirassed bust of Hadrian right, slight drapery / AIΓЄAIΩN ЄTOVC ΔΞP (date), bareheaded and draped bust of Perseus right, with harpa over shoulder; below, goat kneeling right. F. Haymann, “Hadrianic silver coinage of Aegeae (Cilicia),” AJN 26 (2014), Type 3 (dies O2/R5 – this coin cited); Prieur 717 = SNG Levante 1717 = RPC III 3334.2 (this coin). VF, toned, some porosity. Rare, only 1 known to Prieur at the time of his publication, 10 additional cited by Haymann.

From the Michel Prieur Collection. Ex Edoardo Levante Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 64, 24 September 2003), lot 614; Sternberg XII (18 November 1982), lot 599.

Michel Prieur (1955-2014) was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, and spent much of his childhood in Africa and the Middle East. In 1988, he founded Compagnie Générale de Bourse (cgb.fr), the largest numismatic firm in France. Michel combined a scholarly approach to numismatics with a passion for promoting the hobby. He was a pioneer in ushering numismatics into the digital age, and was extremely proud of his website, which is available in a staggering seven languages and offers a wealth of information for collectors through its archives, blog, and monthly online newsletter Le Bulletin Numismatique. Michel authored numerous articles on French coins and banknotes, and was co-author of Le Franc, a popular reference modeled on Whitman’s “Red Book.”

To collectors of ancient coins, Michel is best known for his publication of A type corpus of the Syro-Phoenician tetradrachms and their fractions from 57 BC to AD 253 (Lancaster, PA, 2000), which he co-authored with Karin Prieur. This corpus built on decades of active research and careful recording of the series, and will long remain the standard reference on this often-complex series. Michel was always extraordinarily generous with his time and knowledge of this series, and personally assisted this cataloger on a number of occasions.

Bidders will take notice that many of the following lots from the collection have been cited and/or illustrated in publications, not only in Prieur’s own book but in Roman Provincial Coinage Vol. III and Richard McAlee’s Coinage of Roman Antioch, among others.