PHENOMENAL PRIVATE COLLECTION OF GREEK COINS TO BE SOLD AT NOONANS TO BENEFIT THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM IN OXFORD

A phenomenal collection of 254 gold and silver coins that span the whole of the Greek World, many of which have not been on the market for 80 years, are to be sold at Noonans Mayfair on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, at 12noon.

The collection is estimated to fetch £1million and is being sold to benefit the Heberden Coin Room in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University’s Museum of Art and Archaeology which houses approximately 50,000 Greek and Roman Provincial coins and is the leading Coin Room in the world.

Dr Alexander Sturgis Director Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology comments: “The money generated from the sale will endow the post of the curator of Greek coins at the Heberden Coin Room. This will ensure the long-term future of Greek numismatics at the University of Oxford, where the subject has a long and illustrious tradition.”

As Bradley Hopper, Coin Specialist at Noonans explains: “The collection stands as a testament to the greatest achievements of classical numismatics and the 254 specimens span many geographical areas of the Greek World, from Italy to Bactria and represent the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. Known as the Phillips Family Collection of Ancient Greek Coins, it was formed over a period of some 90 years by father and son, however it is the family’s request that their anonymity be retained, and thus the title used throughout is a pseudonym.”


Among the many highlights of the collection is the magnificent Dekadrachm of Carthage which was given from father to son on Christmas Day in 1963 and is estimated at £20,000-26,000 [lot 117].

While from the Ancient Greek city of Pantikapaion is a gold Stater that was struck c. 350-340 and decorated with a bearded head of Pan which is estimated at £40,000-£50,000 [lot 118] and from Crete is a stater that was struck between c425-400. Showing the head of a Minatour, the coin was once part of the Sir Arthur J. Evans Collection - the archaeologist who discovered the palace at Knossos - and was Exhibited as part of the Burlington Fine Arts Club’s Exhibition of Ancient Greek Art in 1903. It is estimated at £40,000-£50,000 [lot 214].

Like the Ashmolean’s own collection, there is a particular focus in the collection on Archaic and Classical coins from Italy and Sicily. These coins are famous for their artistic quality and beauty, as is evident in the three Sicilian decadrachms in the sale. Included are two examples that were struck at Syracuse under the tyrant Dionysios I, c. 400-380. Both depict a galloping charioteer and is each estimated at £40,000-£50,000 [lots 94 & 96].