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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;4to2centBC, post: 2313329, member: 76181&quot;]Thanks. I sadly watched the on-line bid creep up on 167. I asked a member here to look at that lot and also lots 266 and 269 at the SF bourse for me. His report was pretty accurate. 167 is a large beautiful piece. It was quiet for a few seconds at the open of $3,500. So I raised my card at $3,750 thinking I may have grabbed it. Then you saw what happened. Wow........what was I thinking? </p><p><br /></p><p>The First Meris was one of the reasons I went to the auction. I really liked the obv die and wanted to see it in hand. It looked far nicer in hand and I think the harsh photo kept down the internet bids. My only concern was what I thought was a defect on the obverse (based on the photo), but it is just a small bit of deposit that does not detract in hand. It is a very niece piece. It will go well with my Antigonos. My in house competitors were sitting in the seat to my left and 2 seats away to my right. They kindly dropped out on my second bid. I thanked them.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.numisbids.com/sales/hosted/cng/101/image00109.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>As far as the Lycians....I set my eyes on 266 from the beginning with 269 as a stretch goal. The Mithripata is gorgeous in hand. It has a golden hue around all the devices on the reverse. The auction photo has the color drained from it. Once again the competition came from in the room (folks who saw the coin in hand) I went from $2,500 to $3,750 instantly as five of us raised cards simultaneously. The last few bids hurt and I almost walked, but.........But it was worth it to me to break the budget by a fair margin. The write-up from the auction says it best.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.numisbids.com/sales/hosted/cng/101/image00266.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><i><font face="Georgia">The portraits on coins in the later Lycian series are among the finest of the Classical period. Among the earliest to attempt depictions of their rulers on coinage, the Lycians&#039; first portraits in the later 5th century BC were innovative, but static, idealized forms lacking individual characterization. Over the next half-century, however, the style progressed significantly toward realism, culminating in the issues of the dynasts Mithrapata and Perikles in the early-mid 4th century BC. The coins of Mithrapata came first, depicting on their reverse the profile portrait of a man with distinctive elderly features. Through the relative chronology established in L. Mildenberg&#039;s die study, one can even see the portrait become more aged as time progressed, reflecting the realism that had been captured in these issues. The coins of Perikles, Mithrapata&#039;s successor, continue this trend, but also have two innovations that set them at the pinnacle of classical portraiture. First, the portrait is moved to the obverse of the coin, emphasizing the importance of the individual. Second, and most prominently, the portrait is not in the traditional profile, but in a dramatic facing state. Obviously influenced by Kimon&#039;s facing Arethusa-head coinage at Syracuse (see lot 55, above), these depict Perikles looking out from the surface of the coin with a serene countenance and his hair flowing around him as if blown by the wind. This depiction captures the essence of the earlier idealized portraits, conveying to the viewer a sense that Perikles was more than a mere man, but retaining the realism in its individualized features. Interestingly, both Mithrapata and Perikles are depicted without any sort of satrapal headgear, which was always included in earlier Lycian portraits, perhaps indicating that they had declared their independence from the Persian king. These astonishing developments in portraiture came to an abrupt end in Lycia when Maussollos of Caria invaded the region circa 360 BC.</font></i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Once I get them, I will re-shoot and post.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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