In an upcoming Swiss
auction is presented a
contorniate of
Alexander the Great sold as a
paduan (it's 38mm for 31,43 gr).
It is the first time I saw a
contorniate with this subject on the
reverse which I found very interesting coupled with a tributing Alexander
portrait on the
obverse so I did some research on it.
I have seen that a very similar coin has been sold as an authentic
contorniate in the
New York Sale 11, in 2006, with an important
pedigree (Ex
Robert; Th.
Prowe;
Consul E. F.
Weber;
Herzfeld; H. P. Hall and W.
Niggeler collections; and ex G.
Sambon,
Rome June 6, 1898, 1168; Brüder Egger,
Vienna 17 (1904), 2856; J.
Hirsch,
Munich 24 (1909), 3638 and 29 (1910), 1618; P. & P. Santamaria,
Rome November 29, 1920, 284; Glendining & Co.,
London November 16, 1950, 2131; and Münzen und Medaillen AG,
Basel Bank Leu & Co. AG, Zurich,
Niggeler 3, (
Basel 1967), 1589 sales). This very coin is reported 40mm for 30,43 gr.
For me the two coins are very very similar. Can one be a
paduan and the other authentic?
Then I have found an interesting article on Alexander's
contorniate by Dominique
Hollard (curator of the Biblioteque Nationale coin cabinett in
Paris) where it says that the
contorniates were produced both struck and as casts both in
antiquity. I didn't know this fact (here the article
https://antiquitebnf.hypotheses.org/5870)
In the article it's also presented, as authentic, one other very similar
contorniate of Alexander with the
Circus Maximus from the
Paris coin cabinett
collection that shows also the Gonzaga/d'Este
countermark on it (so it was in the former Gonzaga/d'Este
collections, Dukes of Ferrara and later of Modena, already in the early
XVI century).
Also this coin is very very similar to the other two (besides the
counter mark with the little
eagle Gonzaga/d'Este).
Could it be then that they are all
cast contorniates produced in
antiquity and so in a way all authentic ancient
contorniates from the fifth century?
Here included:
first photo of the coin now in
auction as "
paduan"
second photo of the coin sold at NY Sale in 2006 as authentic
third photo of the coin from the Biblioteque Nationale
Paris, with d'Este/Gonzaga
countermark