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Published By Regling in 1931 – Ex 1901–4 Mestia/Lantehki raion, Georgia (“Kutais”) Hoard

5620349. Sold For $125000

CIMMERIAN BOSPOROS, Pantikapaion. Circa 340-325 BC. AV Stater (21.5mm, 9.09 g, 11h). Head of Pan left, wearing ivy wreath / Griffin, holding spear in its mouth, standing left, head facing, forepaw raised, on grain ear; Π-A-N around. Prinkipo p. 37, dies υ/XII, Kutais 21 (this coin); Frolova, Catalogue, Group V, dies З/– (unlisted rev. die); Anokhin 1021; MacDonald 54; HGC 7, 20; SNG BM Black Sea 864; Gulbenkian 588–90; Hunt I 95 (same obv. die); Jameson 1361; Pozzi 1150; Sartiges 1580. Underlying luster, some minor scratches. Near EF. Well centered and struck.


Ex 1901–4 Mestia/Lantehki Raion, Georgia (“Kutais”) Hoard (IGHC 1051). Reportedly ex R. Ratto inventory, 1939.

The 1901–4 Mestia/Lantehki raion, Georgia hoard was originally thought to have been discovered in Kutaisi, Georgia, the site of ancient Phasis, capital of Kochis. Thus, publications prior to IGCH refer to it as the Kutaisi (or Kutais) hoard. The hoard has not been published in detail, other than a brief note on its origin and the inclusion of some of its contents within a die study of the Pantikapaion staters in Regling's analysis of the Prinkipo hoard in 1931. The exact contents of the find are uncertain, but it was reported that around 30 pieces were discovered by construction workers, most of which (if not all) appear to have been gold staters of the present type. Six of the staters were reported to have been acquired by a Russian grand duke, who Regling thought must have been Grand Duke Alexander Michailovich, while another 21 pieces were examined in the Berlin Cabinet, where they were recorded and casts were made. Traces of the casting material are present on this coin, and its cast is visible online, at https://ikmk.smb.museum/object?lang=de&id=18298319. Most of the hoard was subsequently dispersed into the market.

Pantikapaion was founded by Greek colonists from Miletos in the late seventh century BC. Situated on the west side of the Cimmerian Bosporos, in what is now called the Crimea, it achieved great prosperity through its exploitation of the abundant fisheries of the straits and the export of wheat from the Crimea. This wealth is attested by its splendid gold coinage, which commenced in the mid-4th century BC, and by the magnificently furnished rock tombs of its principal citizens in the same period. Later, it was to become a regional capital of the kingdom of Mithradates VI of Pontos (120-63 BC) and later still the seat of the kings of Bosporos (first century BC – fourth century AD). The coinage of Pantikapaion seems to have commenced with silver issues in the latter part of the fifth century BC, but it is for its beautiful gold staters that the mint is chiefly noted. They depict the head of the god Pan (a pun on the name of the city) and on the reverse, the griffin that Herodotos describes as being the guardian of the remote sources of gold.

We are grateful to Dr. Ute Wartenberg Kagan for her invaluable assistance in researching the pedigree for this coin.