Provenance & Plate Coins VI: Byzantine & Contemporaries

(Photo credit: CJJ.) Coll. Hist.:
– William Herbert Hunt (1929-2024) Collection [Sotheby’s 6148: WHH, Part II (21 Jun 1991), Lot 178 (presumably) ; Bruce McNall, numismatic agent];
– prob. ex Ian Roper Collection;
– Frank S. Robinson Auction 126 (7 Dec 2024), Lot 303 (with his tag).
Publication: SB 223 (this coin illustrated) in David R. Sear, Byzantine Coins and Their Values (London: Seaby), p. 67 in first ed. (1974) & pp. 72-3 in second (1987 & later).

Notes: Most of the “plate coins” from Sear’s 1974 Byzantine… book came from the Ian Roper Collection. Unclear exactly how dispersed, but some bronzes appeared in Seaby Coin & Medal Bulletins (c. 1970s-80s). A great many others ended up in Hunt & other collections. Most probably by private treaty.
The Hunt Brothers are known for attempting to corner the silver market in the 1970s. Even more fantastically, W.H. Hunt reportedly instructed his numismatic agent, coin dealer Bruce McNall (1950-), to do the same with Byzantine gold coins when first introduced to them: “I mean all the coins there are, in the world. Everything.” (McNall 2003: p. 66.)

Above: My copy of McNall‘s (2003) memoir, Fun While It Lasted, is signed & inscribed to one of his high-profile lawyers who was also a client! (Who, in turn, gifted it to a family member, also a public figure in Los Angeles, with a note: “Memory lane! He’s very candid.”) The quote about WHH is on p. 66.

(Photo credit: CNG.) Coll. & Sale Hist.:
– Ex “Yellow Ticket” Collection of Byzantine Bronzes (see note below) [CNG e-Auction 549 (1 Nov 2023), 755];
– prob. ex Ian Roper Collection.
Publication: SB 882 (this coin illustrated) in David R. Sear, Byzantine Coins and Their Values (London: Seaby), p. 166 in first ed. (1974) & p. 189 in second (1987 & later).
See also: Calciati p. 35, No. 10 (this coin indirectly cited, “SB 882”).
Notes (Roper): As noted for the Justinian Follis above, most of the SB “plate coins” (esp. AE) were Roper Collection, but few of their provenances have survived.

(Photo credit: R Suarez.) Coll. & Sale Hist.:
– Rasiel Suarez (1969-) Collection [CNG EA 484 (27 Jan 2021), Lot 978 ; acq. ebay, 28 March 2005].
Publication: ERIC II “cover coin” & p. 1319 (this coin illustrated: Obv. 5 & Rev. 8), in Rasiel Suarez (2010), Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins (2nd Edition);
– R. Suarez (2011) AORTA: A Guide Book for the Roman Coin Collector (this obverse illustrated on back cover).
See Also: Tantalus 179 = Coryssa / COINVAC ID #1044946 (this coin).

Note: AU 98.52% per XRF report (no. 651) from R. Suarez rec. with purchase, along with signed & numbered (1415) copy of ERIC II.

(Photo credit: CNG.) Coll. & Sale Hist.:
– “Yellow Ticket” Collection of Byzantine Bronzes (see note below) [CNG e-Auction 550 (15 Nov 2023), 678];
– prob. ex Ian Roper Collection.
Publication: SB 1612 (this coin illustrated) in David R. Sear, Byzantine Coins and Their Values (London: Seaby), p. 264 in first ed. (1974) & p. 307 in second (1987 & later).

(Photo credit: CNG.) Coll. & Sale Hist.:
– Simon Bendall (1937-2019) Collection [CNG EA 473 (29 Jul 2020), 458, cataloged by Peter J. Donald].
See also: (probably) ex “Hoard of Thessalonican Trachea” (Bendall 2001); possibly 1 of the 6 exs. from Harlan J. Berk’s unpublished parcel.
Probably one of the 6 coins of this type in the unpublished “American portion” of “Hoard of Thessalonican Trachea” published by Bendall (NC, 2001), but from the unpublished American portion (Harlan J. Berk, 178 coins, 6 of this type;
Notes (bio): Bendall was one of the most important Byzantine numismatic scholars in recent generations, a prolific author from the 1960s to 2010s. (My brief bio gives links to fuller biographical & bibliographic sources.) I don’t think he ever published the coin now in my collection, but Bendall was known especially for his contributions to this period, being the first to make Palaeologan coinage (13th-15th cent.) comprehensible to a wider audience.

Notes (Provenance): Bendall published at least one commerce hoard containing this type (SB 2458, DOC 778-9; LPC 232.6; PCPC 235), a strong candidate for this coin’s provenance. (Also consistent: partially cleaned light tan dirt over glossy dark green patina, and numerous long cleaning scratches.) He cataloged 12 examples from the “Hoard of Thessalonican Trachea” (NC, 2001), noting “only two coins of the type with any reverse legend” (2001: p. 259; no. 23, 29, “possibly struck from the same reverse die”). No. 23 is illustrated, also a rev. die-match to my coin (I might suspect mine is No. 29, but the weight would have to be in error):

My coin shows all three characters to the right: AͶΔ (for Andronicus). (But is there not a fourth? Two rows of two?) Also present, left, traces of “four very small and poorly engraved letters which seem to be: M˅˄V” (for Michael; on some dies he’s on the right: MX). Mine is the heaviest example of this type I’ve seen recorded at 2.11g.
Too late for the article, Bendall learned that Harlan J. Berk acq. ~178 coins from the same hoard. Given its scarcity, I strongly suspect this coin was among HJB’s 6 examples of this type (or perhaps part of the German parcel, also reported but too late for Bendall, NC, 2001, or even No. 29 recorded in error).

(Photo credit: CNG.) Coll. & Sale Hist.:
– Luis A. Lopez Martinez [CNG EA 504 (17 Nov 2021), 556];
– Hugh George Goodacre (1865-1952) Collection [Downie-Lepczyk 70 (17 Sep 1986), 275 (“Goodacre’s Byzantine Empire,” not illustrated)];
– Ducal House of Saxe-Coburg, Gotha & collection of Curt von Bose (1808-1884), Leipzig (by 1842).
Institutional Hist.: Housed at Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University, c. 1952-1986, the Heberden Coin Room [Goodacre Loan by Mrs. N.J. Goodacre, coinciding w/ Colin Kraay’s (1918-1982) service as assistant (from 1948), then Keeper of Coins (1975-1982)].
Publication Hist.: Goodacre p. 312, No. 3 (this coin illustrated), in Hugh Goodacre (1957/1933), Handbook of Coinage in the Byzantine Empire, Part III, reprinted from Numismatic Circular (1931)
– Goodacre 1938, p. 159, No. 1A (this coin illustrated), in “The Flat Bronze Coinage of Nicaea,” Numismatic Chronicle Vol 18;
– Goodacre 1931, p. 157, No. 7 & Pl. Plate XI, No. 11 (this coin illustrated), in “Notes on Some Rare Byzantine Coins.” Numismatic Chronicle Vol. 11;
– Sabatier 1862, Page 293 & Pl. LXIV, fig. 12 (this coin illustrated by Leon Dardel [1814-1892?] in idealized line drawing merged w/ DOC 56.1 = fig. 11), in Description générale des monnaies byzantines frappées sous les empereurs d’Orient…;
– de Saulcy 1842, Page 416 & Pl. XIX, No. 7 (this coin illustrated by Leon Dardel in line drawing, from Bose coll.), “Catalogue Descriptif de Monnaies Byzantines Inédites et Nouvelles Observations sur Quelques Monnaies deja Publiées,” Revue Numismatique Vol. 7 [“Suite Ducal de Gotha. Je dois la connaissance de cette intéressante monnaie à M. Curt de Bose, de Leipzig“].
Selected Others: BMC Vandals p. 219, note 1 (this coin cited to Sabatier 1862 & de Saulcy 1842), in Warwick Wroth (1911), Catalogue of the Coins of the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Lombards and of the Empires of Thessalonica, Nicaea, and Trebizond in the British Museum;
– Thompsen 836 (this coin cited on p. 66 to Sabatier LXIV, 12), in (1873) Catalogue de la Collection de Monnaies de Feu Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, vol. II.1 (Copenhagen: Thiele);
– Rynearson No. 11 (this coin illustrated, after Dardel’s 1862 line drawing), in Paul Rynearson (1971), Byzantine Coin Values;
– Krestev 2291 (this coin cited to Goodacre 3), in (1970) Bewertungstabelle von den Byzantinischen Münzen… [my copy ex Malloy Library w/ bookplate, Malter 89 (12 Jan 2008), 1197];
– wildwinds “digital plate coin” on John III page (SB 2114).

Notes: Interestingly, Goodacre produced at least three different sets of casts & took new photos each time he published this coin (above). The most accurate photo is from his Handbook (top right). (Spink’s monthly Numismatic Circular published many important references in serial; in 1931, Part III of Goodacre’s Handbook appeared alongside Sydenham’s Caesarea, Rogers’ Copper Coinage of Thessaly, Pearce, Ciccio, and others.)

Continued: Dardel also illustrated this coin twice — and with significant differences between the drawings. The lower image (de Saulcy 1842: Pl. XIX, 7) is an early unsigned work, and the first known publication of this type. Dardel and de Saulcy made educated guesses to fill in missing portions of the legend — but got them wrong!
Twenty years later, Sabatier knew of a better specimen in the Fürstenberg cabinet (prob. added by de Saulcy after 1842). For Sabatier’s 1862 magnum opus, Dardel combined both coins in one idealized obverse, while presenting both reverses individually (the 1842 drawing virtually unchanged).
(I believe Dardel & Sabatier’s other example [Fig. 11] was Fürstenberg [Cahn 75] 1759 [ex de Saulcy coll.?] = Peirce collection = DOC 56.1 = Hendy 34.1 = Grierson pl. 71, 1175.)
In this earliest period (1842), Dardel had yet to develop the beautiful realism for which he remains famous. In the late 1850s and 1860s, his work for Cohen and Sabatier began to stand apart. Dardel’s most extravagant style emerged in the 1880s, even as photography encroached, most famously in his new illustrations for the revised Cohen (pub. by Feuardent). In his final years, coinciding with the end of the artform itself, Dardel achieved what seems impossible: he fully embraced the beauty of ancient coins, while maintaining fidelity to the objects.

(Photo credit: CNG.) Coll. & Sale Hist.:
– Dr. Jay M. Galst (1950-1970) Collection, w/ tag [Triton XXV [Online, 11 Jan 2022], 6767];
– Erich Wäckerlin (d. 2018) Collection, w/ tag [Münzen & Medaillen GmbH 47 (23 May 2019), 217.2 (part of 3) ; Münz Galerie München (Jan 1988)].
Publication: Wäckerlin 217.2, Coins of the Crusader States and their Successors. The Collection of Erich Wäckerlin (M&M GmbH 47) = Zeno 224655.

(Photo credit: Kunker) Coll. & Sale Hist.:
– Dix Noonan Webb 189 (10 Mar 2021), 793;
– Tim Wilkes FPL 23 (July 2017), 99;
– Künker 204 (12 March 2012), 1088.
Publication: ICV 1203 (this coin illustrated on p.117), in Tim Wilkes (2015), Islamic Coins and Their Values, Volume 1: The Mediaeval Period (London: Spink).

Notes: The catalog does not name the collector (or even call it a collection), but Künker Auktion 204 closes with a dazzling selection of Turkoman figural bronzes (pp. 152-163, most of lots 1033-1102). [PDF on Issuu. W.W. Esty’s Turkoman biblio counts 55 coins (but 57 on his main catalogs p.); I count 56 “figurals,” but it depends how.] Incidentally, my copy of Künker 204 is ex Bibliothek Alois Wenninger (I suspect he cataloged portions), his monogram top r. cover.

(Photo credit: Aureo y Calicó) Coll. & Sale Hist.:
– Colección Tonegawa, Part I [Aureo y Calicó 247 (15 Feb 2024), 348].
Publication: FBM Ca9 (this coin illustrated on p. 48), in Federico Benito de los Mozos (2017) La Plata Almorávide y Postalmorávide: El Quirate (Manquso 7) [direct to PDF];
– NVMISMA 237, 16 (this coin illustrated on p. 297), in Tawfiq Ibráhim (1996), “Miscelánea de Numismática Andalusí,” pp. 291-305″ [avail. from SAIEN].

See Also: Feluses website (this coin illustrated): Almoravids page;
– Tonegawa site (this coin illustrated), Almoravids page (to coin photo).

(Photo credit: Aureo y Calicó) Coll. & Sale Hist.:
– Colección Tonegawa, Part I [Aureo y Calicó 247 (15 Feb 2024), 234].
Publication: Lorente-Ibrahim 65 (this coin illustrated), in J. Rodriguez Lorente & Tawfiq Ibráhim (1987), Numismática de Ceuta Musulmana;
– Armada (2010) Qa5.2.410 (third coin cited), p. 33 in Ariza Armada (2010), Dissertation: Estudio Sobre las Monedas de los Hammudíes de Al-Andalus (Siglo V-XI), Part II (corpus)
– (also in…?) Ariza Armada (2015), De Barcelona a Orán. Las emisiones monetales a nombre de los califas Hammudies de al-Andalus (Madrid: OMNI).

See Also: Feluses website (this coin illustrated): Al-Qasim ibn Hammud (al-Ma`mun) page;
– Tonegawa site (this coin illustrated), Qasim page (or, old site Archived).