The Phillips Family Collection of Ancient Greek Coins

Foreword

Directors Foreword

This auction catalogue contains 254 superb Greek coins with pre-1970 provenances, which are being sold for the benefit of the Heberden Coin Room in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University’s Museum of Art and Archaeology. The coins were the property of a very generous benefactor, who has decided to remain anonymous and to whom we are naturally enormously grateful.

The 254 specimens span many geographical areas of the Greek World, from Italy to Bactria and represent the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. However, there is a particular focus on Archaic and Classical coins from Italy and Sicily. These are famous for their artistic quality and beauty, as the three Sicilian decadrachms (nos. 94 - 96 in this catalogue) illustrate. Interestingly, this mirrors the Ashmolean’s own collection, where Italy and Sicily are also particularly well represented.

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...