Sale: Nomos 1, Lot: 38. Estimate CHF8500.  Closing Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2009.  Sold For CHF9750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Maroneia. Circa 436/5-411/0 BC. Stater (Silver, 14.25 g 4), magistrate Posideios. ΜΑΡΩΝ Free horse springing to left; above, crested helmet to left; to left, Σ Rev. ΕΠΙ ΠΟΣΙΔΗΙΟ Grape vine with four bunches of grapes and four leaves. Schönert-Geiss 145.2 (this coin, but with incorrect weight). SNG Lockett 1193. West 18 (this coin). Very rare. Toned and struck on a broad flan. About extremely fine.

From the Spina collection, ex Leu 81, 16 My 2001, 133 and Bank Leu 18, 5 May 1977, 98, and from the collections of C. Gillet, 824 and R. Allatini, SWH 9 May 1904 (”Gentleman...relinquishing the pursuit”), 182.

The legendary founder of Maroneia was Maron, a son of Dionysos. This was quite appropriate, given the fact that Maroneia’s wealth came from wine production. The previous owners of this coin included a number of collectors, famous for their connoisseurship. Roberto Allatini (1856-1927) was a member of the famous Italian-Jewish family who were prominent in Thessalonika during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They owned the most important flour mill in the city (Allatini crackers and other baked products are one of the best known names in Greece today) and they were prominent benefactors of the city. As a collector, R. Allatini seems to have sold quite a few coins in 1904, but he kept collecting, not surprisingly with an emphasis on northern Greece, until his death, after which his remaining coins were sold in Ars Classica XIII in 1928. This coin ultimately passed to Charles Gillet, better known as ‘Kunstfreund’ from the famous catalogue of that name, which contained a small selection of his incredible collection and appeared shortly after his death. The present coin was not in the sale but was sold privately to one of Gillet’s close friends, a well known collector with a wonderful eye for style. It was sold after his death and ended up in yet another fine collection.