Greek coin rarities that have been in an anonymous collection for decades are crossing the auction block in London in September.

Noonans Mayfair’s Sept. 25 sale of the Philips Collection, a pseudonym for a private family collection, will feature 254 Greek coins with pre-1970 provenances, in a collection formed over 90 years by a father and son.

The collection is being sold for the benefit of the Heberden Coin Room in the Ashmolean Museum,  Oxford University’s Museum of Art and Archaeology.

According to the auction house, “The coins were the property of a very generous benefactor, who has decided to remain anonymous and to whom we are naturally enormously grateful.”

Funds raised from the sale of these coins will help endow a curator for the Heberden, which houses some 50,000 Greek and Roman Provincial coins, according to the museum and auction house.

Marquee lot

The star lot offered in the Philips Collection is a circa 400 to 395 B.C. silver decadrachm of Syracuse, in Sicily, struck under the tyrant Dionysios I and signed by the master celator (ancient coin artist) known as Kimon.

The obverse of the coin depicts the familiar charioteer driving a galloping quadriga left, holding reins in one hand and urging the horses on, a wreath-bearing Nike flying right to crown the driver.

The reverse shows a head of the Greek nymph Arethusa facing left, wearing a pendant earring and pearled necklace; four dolphins swimming around, the one below the neck carrying a signature of the artist.

The coin weighs 43.41 grams and is in Good Very Fine condition, according to the auction house. It has a pre-sale estimate of £40,000 to £50,000 ($51,324 to $64,155 U.S.).

To learn more, visit the auction house website at https://noonans.co.uk.

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