Auction Name: 2026 January 12 NYINC World & Ancient Coins Platinum Session and Signature® Auction - New York

Lot Number: 34017

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/3129*34017

PONTIC KINGDOM. Mithradates VI Eupator (120-63 BC). AV stater (20mm, 8.36 gm, 12h). NGC MS 4/5 - 4/5, die shift. Dated Bithyno-Pontic year 209 (89/88 BC), Pergamon. Diademed head of Mithradates right, with wind-blown hair / BAΣIΛEΩΣ / MIΘPAΔATOY / EYΠATOPOΣ, stag grazing left; star and crescent to left, ΘΣ (date) above AX monogram to right, all within ivy wreath. HGC 7, 333. De Callataÿ pg. 4 (D5/R8). SNG BM Black Sea 1028. Cf. SNG Copenhagen 233 (date). Subtle shifting on the obverse, otherwise exceptional eye-appeal and quality.

From the Mirabilis Collection. Ex Heritage Auctions, Auction 3051 (9 January 2017), lot 34022.

Mithradates VI "the Great" was the last Hellenistic ruler to challenge the might of Rome. His long and eventful career spanned a nearly 60-year- reign in which he was a constant thorn in the side of the Romans as they sought to consolidate their conquests. His gold coinage falls into two groups: A mass mintage of gold staters imitating the types of Lysimachus of Thrace from more than two centuries earlier, and a much smaller and more carefully produced issue of dated gold staters with his name and portrait. The imagery deliberately evokes the memory of Alexander the Great, depicting himself as a semi-divine conqueror with flowing, windswept hair. These rare and desirable coins represent the last great example of Hellenistic portraiture in gold, and as such are highly prized.

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