Pontos. Mithradates VI. Pergamon. 89 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.85g, 12h). Callataÿ D47/R5 (this coin); SNG von Aulock 6678. Old cabinet tone. Perfectly centered and struck. Superb veristic portrait. Choice extremely fine. From a European private collection; Emile Bourgey 1989 (21 April) lot 26; Jean Vinchon 1989 (14-15 March) lot 125; Jean Vinchon 1975 (2 December) lot 95; former Edouard Yervant Hindamian (1877-1958) collection, Pio Ciani - Jean Vinchon 1956 (6-8 February) lot 503; former Maxime Collignon (1849-1917) collection, Feuardent Frères 1919 (17 December) lot 298; former Athanasios Rhousopoulos (1823-1898) collection, Jacob Hirsch 1905 (13) lot 3215

Mithradates is the Hellenistic king par excellence, his career driven by megalomaniacal ambitions leading to murderous assaults upon family and followers and disastrous foreign adventures against superior forces. This portrait - struck from about 106 BC - shows him in his thirties in a wonderful veristic style. On reverse, the choice of Pegasos clearly refers to the dual heritage of Mithridates, who claimed to descend from both Dareios and Alexander (Appian 112; Justin 38.7.1).