Greek, Roman, Egyptian & Other Antiquities

A gold and cameo ring offered with an estimate of just £200-300 at Derbyshire auction house Irita Marriott (plus 28.8% buyer’s premium inc VAT) and catalogued as 19th century caught the eye of a number of jewellery dealers and bidders from as far as Paris and the US.

Sir John Boardman OBE FBA Hon RA, Emeritus Lincoln Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of Oxford and an Honorary Fellow of the Magdalene College Cambridge for 40 years, was not just the pre-eminent scholar of Archaeology and Ancient Greece, he also proved to be a remarkable friend to the antiquities trade and collecting.

A highlight of Apollo Art Auctions’ (20% buyer’s premium) April 27-28 sale was a trio of Egyptian sandstone reliefs from the Amarna period, the 17-year reign of the radical pharaoh Amenhotep IV known as Akhenaten.

Among the highlights of Sworders’ (25% buyer’s premium) Fine Interiors sale was a collection of antiquities formed by the late Sir Clinton Charles Donald Cory (1937-2022), 5th Baronet of Coryton.

“It had”, said the metal detectorist who found it, “been a wonderful Christmas present.”

Antiquities specialists Charles Ede of London and Contemporary New York gallery Sean Kelly share a stand at TEFAF Maastricht’s inaugural Focus section, which is aimed at presenting complementary works from different artists and disciplines.

Blue-glazed decoration thought to have been invented by king’s architect takes £55,000 at auction

One of the great masterpieces of ancient Greek numismatic art, this silver tetradrachm was struck in c.460BC in commemoration of the refounding of the city of Naxos. Its citizens had been exiled to Leontinoi by the tyrant Hieron of Syracuse.

Mithradates IV was ruler of the Hellenistic kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 169-150BC. He ushered in a period of relative friendship with the Roman republic that would continue until his grandson Mithradates VI (the Great) became its most formidable and determined opponent. Mithradates IV’s coinage draws attention to his Persian and Greek origins.

Spink posted a house record for a classical coin when it sold this Julius Caesar and Octavian gold aureus on April 3 for £220,000 plus 20% buyer’s premium against an estimate of £60,000-100,000.