KÜNKER's Spring Auction Sales will end on Wednesday, 6 April 2022 with the sale of two more collections. First are the coins of the Dr Guy Sylvain Paul Bastin Collection. He collected all the favorite pieces of collectors of Greek coinage in outstanding quality.

It's best to use the internet to really appreciate the quality of these pieces by zooming into the pictures. Let's have a look at one example: staters of the archaic coinage system from Sybaris are already rare to begin with. But the collector managed to acquire not a stater but a drachm from Sybaris - these coins are even rarer than staters. The specimen is of wonderful quality and has a good provenance. It's from the Bank Leu auction 36 of 1985. Or the incredible didrachm from Gela that first entered the market in 1987 at Lanz! The piece is not only of perfect quality, it was also made with a fresh die which is why it is one of the few existing didrachms from Gela that depict every detail of the horseman on the obverse.

The third and last example for the exquisite taste of the collector is a coin minted during the Roman siege of Syracuse. The obverse depicts an almost monumental face of Zeus and the reverse a quadriga. The engraver managed to capture the moment in which all four horses start moving from a standing position in a very lifelike manner.

The sixth part of the Dr W R Collection with coins from the Roman Republic rounds off the Spring Auction Sales. It contains about 400 coins from the Roman Republic - not only denarii but also the much rarer bronze coins, especially from the late third century.

Dr W R succeeded in acquiring rare pieces of extraordinary quality. He paid special attention to motifs of historical interest that allude to events that are second nature to any graduate of humanistic grammar schools thanks to extensive Latin lessons. It's incredibly impressive to see how a large M. Aemilius Lepidus puts the diadem of the rule over Egypt on the head of the much smaller Ptolemy V.

For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that prices for the specimens of this collection already start in the two-digit range. If you are interested in coins of the Roman Republic, you should not miss taking a close look at this catalog.

No. 7025: Sybaris (Lucania). Drachm, 550-510. From the Dr Guy Sylvain Paul Bastin Collection. Extremely fine. Estimate: 750 euros

No. 7046: Gela (Sicily). Didrachm, 490-475. From the Dr Guy Sylvain Paul Bastin Collection. Extremely fine. Estimate: 2,500 euros

No. 7081: Syracuse (Sicily). 16 litrae, 214-212. From the Dr Guy Sylvain Paul Bastin Collection. Very rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 10,000 euros

No. 7541: Roman Republic. 60 asses, after 211. From the Dr W R Collection. Extremely fine / Very fine +. Estimate: 5,000 euros

No. 7828: Roman Republic. M. Aemilius Lepidus. Denarius, around 59. From the Dr W R Collection. Very rare. About extremely fine. Estimate: 2,000 euros

No. 7841: Roman Republic. Q. Pomponius Musa. Denarius, 56. From the Dr W R Collection. Rare. Estimate: 1,250 euros

No. 7863: Roman Republic. M. Valerius Messalla. Denarius, 53. From the Dr W R Collection. Very rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 2,000 euros

To order a catalog contact KÜNKER, Nobbenburger Straße 4a, 49076 Osnabrück; phone: +49 541 962020, fax: +49 541 9620222; or via e-mail: service@kuenker.de. You can access the auction catalogs online at www.kuenker.de. If you want to submit your bid from your computer at home, please remember to register for this service in good time.