Greek coin lot set to fetch millions

While investors across the globe are preoccupied by the fate of Greece’s currency, a British collection of just a few hundred Greek coins is predicted to fetch millions of dollars when auctioned next month in New York.

Described by Paul Hill of Baldwin’s, the London coin dealer, as “the most important collection of ancient Greek coins to appear on the market in almost a quarter of a century”, the 642-piece Prospero Collection will go under the hammer on January 4.

Arguably the rarest and most spectacular coin in the collection is the facing head gold stater of Pantikapaion, a colony on the Black Sea. An example has not been seen at auction in living memory, and the coin bears a conservative estimate of $650,000.

Struck in the 4th century BC, the coin depicts a satyr or wild man of the woods, wide-eyed and dishevelled; on the reverse is a griffin standing on an ear of grain – a symbol of the city’s wealth.

The collection is one of several due to be auctioned at the New York International Numismatic Convention between December 31 and January 9. Kevin Foley, the convention’s chairman, said there was “a realistic chance” that its nine participating auction houses staging 16 sessions of sales would realise $100m.

The week’s star lot is a masterpiece of late 5th century Greek art, the so-called “dekadrachm of Akragas”. Produced in Sicily, the coin appears to celebrate the victory of Exainetos, a citizen of Akragas, who won the chariot race of Olympia in 412BC.

Only 12 such coins are known and this example has a starting bid of $2.5m.

“There have never been so many top quality ancient coins on the market,” said Tom Eden, of London auctioneers Eden & Morton. “It is a sign that the market is very strong.”

The dekadrachm of Akragas is from the “Selections from Cabinet W”, a group of 18 Greek coins belonging to Dr Peter Weiss, a US collector. It will also be sold on January 4.

While Baldwin’s declined to reveal the identity of the Prospero Collection’s owner, it is known in numismatic circles to have been begun by Colonel Richard Seifert, the late architect of London’s controversial Centre Point skyscraper and Tower 42.

After inheriting the collection Col Seifert’s son, John, sold its English coins and focused on those of ancient Greece and its colonies, a coinage unsurpassed in the beauty and artistry of its manufacture.