1) Mr. C. S. Gulbenkian gifted several rare ancient Greek and Persian coins to the British Museum, including a previously unknown coin type from Mende in Macedonia depicting the sun god.
2) He also donated an unusual Carthaginian coin showing a realistic horse's head, alluding to the founding myth of Carthage.
3) Two significant coins of Persis were gifted, one depicting the priest-king Bagadat and another showing King Autophradates before a Persian altar.
1) Mr. C. S. Gulbenkian gifted several rare ancient Greek and Persian coins to the British Museum, including a previously unknown coin type from Mende in Macedonia depicting the sun god.
2) He also donated an unusual Carthaginian coin showing a realistic horse's head, alluding to the founding myth of Carthage.
3) Two significant coins of Persis were gifted, one depicting the priest-king Bagadat and another showing King Autophradates before a Persian altar.
1) Mr. C. S. Gulbenkian gifted several rare ancient Greek and Persian coins to the British Museum, including a previously unknown coin type from Mende in Macedonia depicting the sun god.
2) He also donated an unusual Carthaginian coin showing a realistic horse's head, alluding to the founding myth of Carthage.
3) Two significant coins of Persis were gifted, one depicting the priest-king Bagadat and another showing King Autophradates before a Persian altar.
The British Museum Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Dec., 1929), pp. 72-73 50. GREEK COINS. GIFT BY MR. C. S. GULBENKIAN. ENDE in Macedon (Plate XLVI, I). Since the discovery M about 1913 at Kaliandra,the site of Mende, of a large hoard of silver tetradrachms,the coinage of this town has assumeda much greater importance than it had hitherto claimed in the eyes of numismatists. The chief product of the place was wine, and the coins bear evidence of the cult of the wine-god. On the obverse of those of the fine period is a bearded Seilenos reclining on the back of an ass or mule, holding a kantharosin his outstretchedhand. On the reverseis usually a vine, with the name of the place. The hoard above mentioned provided a very large number of tetradrachmsof these types, with many interesting minor varieties. But there were also three other reverse types hitherto unknown; one representing a squarepanel decoratedwith studs or bosses,as it were of a coffered ceiling; anotheran arrangementof four palmettes;and a third a star or sun of sixteen rays, with bunches of grapes filling the angles of the square. One specimen of the vine reverse had been in the Museum since I877. The 'panel' reverse and four other varieties of the vine reverse, all from the Kaliandratreasure,were acquired by the Museum between 1923 and 1925. Now, by the generosity of Mr. C. S. Gulbenkian, the sun reverse, most remarkableof all, is added to the series,leaving only the reversewith the four palmettes, which it is hoped to secure for the Museum before the next issue of the QUARTERLY. This specimen was sold by auction at Naville's Sale, No. XIII, at Lucerne in 1928 (lot 445). The die from which the obverse was struck was evidently slightly rusted, as is frequently the case in this series. It shows in the exergue the distinguishing mark of the issue, a grasshopper. Some half a dozen other specimens are known. The date of this and other coins of the same style is shortly before 423 B.c. Fromthe samesaleat Lucerne(lot 39 I),and thanksto the samedonor, comes one of the rarer silver coins of Carthage (Plate XLVI, 2). 72 XLVI. GREEK COINS The obversebearsthe customaryhead of Persephone,wreathedwith barley, derived from a Syracusanprototype. On the reverse is the head of a horse, treated with a singular attempt at realism. The horse in one form or another is, as is well known, the favourite Carthaginiantype; but this representationof the horse's head in detail recalls the omen which decided the choice of the site of Carthage,when a horse'shead was dug up by the first Punic settlers (Verg. Aen. i. 442 if.). The coin, which weighs 20o.65 gm., belongs to the period of the Second Punic War. Mr. Gulbenkianhas also presented two important examples of the coinage of Persis, from the collection of Col. Allotte de la Fujye, one of the leading authoritieson that enigmatic series. These are: (I) a silver drachmof the priest-king Bagadat,with his portraitand, on the reverse,his figure enthroned, holding a sceptre; a standardis planted in the ground before him (Plate XLVI, 3). This is of the third century s.c. (2) A silvertetradrachmof AutophradatesI, later in the same century, also with his portrait; on the reversethe king, crowned by Victory, stands in adorationbefore a Persianfire-altar, above which floats the half-figure of Ahuramazda;on the right, a Persian standardis planted in the ground (Plate XLVI, 4). These are valuable additions to the already remarkableseries of coins of Persis in the Museum. Finally, Mr. Gulbenkian's gift included I 12 tetradrachmsand drachmsof Alexander the Great. An immense hoard of such coins was found some years ago at Damanhurin Egypt. The study of a great portion of this hoard gave an Americannumismatist,Mr. E. T. Newell, the firstclue to the classificationof this innumerablecoinage. But the complete hoard was not then, and perhaps never will be, availablefor study, many personshaving dipped their hands into it soon after its discovery. From one such extract, which remainedin a privatecollection until recently, the I 12 coinsjust mentioned have been selected, all bearingmint-marksnew to the Museum series,and in some cases hitherto quite unknown. On Plate XLVI, 5-7, are shown specimens with the mint-marks quiver, palladium, and prow. G. F. H. 73
Royal Greek Portrait Coins: Being An Illustrated Treatise On The Portrait Coins of The Various Kingdoms, and Containing Historical References To Their Coinages, Mints, and Rulers / by Edward T. Newell