ENCINO, Calif. – Ancient art and Roman gold coins, many from prestigious collections, will be sold at auction by Malter Galleries Inc. on Sunday, June 27, in Los Angeles. LiveAuctoneers will provide Internet live bidding.
The sale will begin at noon Pacific with a fine selection of Egyptian artifacts including several early alabaster pieces, all in nice condition. Also included is a rare anthropomorphic burial lid with an Aramaic inscription incised at the bottom. Ushabtis, amulets, scarabs and some outstanding Egyptian bronzes will be included.
A cat, a seated Isis and Horus and a splendid Horus as Harpokrates are featured among the bronzes.
Other Egyptian pieces include a beautiful Egyptian gesso mummy mask, a carved limestone portrait of Horus as the falcon, and a double sided limestone “trial” carving with two excellent portraits. Greek and Roman pieces are also numerous and include some nice pottery, bronzes and a large and impressive group of choice glass flasks. An early core glass amphoriskos from the Eastern Mediterranean is included along with some beautiful pieces, many with stunning iridescence.
Some early weapons are included and are highlighted by a fine Luristan ax. Also included with the weapons are a Tibetan shield and some rare tribal pieces from the jungles of the Philippines.
Pre-Columbian art includes two large and impressive West Mexican pieces from an old Florida collection.
Also included in the auction are two American Indian wicker baskets from the Richard Pryor collection as well as some interesting antique scales and weights. A fantastic weight in the form of a steelyard with the portrait of the Roman Emperor Nero is one of the standout pieces in this auction. This weight was once in the collection of Joel L. Malter.
The auction also includes a fine selection of Asian pieces. One of the nicest is an exquisite ivory carving of Dragon boat that has seven seated immortals. The auction will conclude with seven rare and beautiful Roman gold coins, which have been identified as rare gold aureus of the Emperor Caligula. Malter Galleries auctioned this coin in Sept. 9, 1989, and featured it on the back cover of the catalog. It sold for $16,500 at that sale, and is estimated in this sale at $30,000.
Several items in this auction are also from the collection of the late Joel L. Malter, founder of Malter Galleries Inc. His entire ancient art library will be on the auction block Oct. 16-17 and the huge1,653-lot auction is already available for view on the Malter website, www.maltergalleries.com
For details and directions phone 818-784-7772.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE