Ancient Coin Collection

Episode 4: Economics traces the remarkable financial journey of the Naxos Tetradrachm, using it as a lens to examine how the market for ancient coins has evolved over the past two centuries.

From its first recorded auction in 1824—when an example from the collection of Baron Thomas Dimsdale sold for £5.75—to a recent high-profile sale from the Prince Saud bin Al-Thani collection for almost half a million Swiss francs, the episode unpacks the dramatic rise in value. Along the way, we explore the forces, collectors, and market shifts that are behind its ascension. 

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Episode 3: Provenance traces the remarkable afterlife of the Naxos Tetradrachm by following the collectors who owned it over the past 250 years.

Part 3 redresses the balance of this traditionally male-dominated pursuit by highlighting some of the most significant women collectors, from royal figures and heiresses to leading women in the field today.

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Episode 3: Provenance traces the remarkable afterlife of the Naxos Tetradrachm by following the collectors who owned it over the past 250 years.

In Part 1, we go back to the origins of coin collecting as the so-called “Hobby of Kings,” exploring how monarchs, princes, and aristocrats first assembled collections—and meeting a few of the more eccentric personalities along the way.

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Episode 3: Provenance traces the remarkable afterlife of the Naxos Tetradrachm by following the collectors who owned it over the past 250 years.

Part 2 moves into the nineteenth century, when coin collecting spread beyond courtly circles and became a fashionable “gentleman’s pastime,” particularly among the rising professional classes, from doctors to lawyers.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to our YouTube channel @ancient_coin_collection and follow us on Instagram @ancientcoincollectionpodcast for more from the Ancient Coin Collection.

In our first season, Annabel Schooling interviews Dr Tim Wright about his book Travels with the Naxos Masterpiece, published by Spink in 2025.  We learn that this is an 'object biography', telling a big story through a small object: a 17g silver coin minted around 460 BC in the Greek city of Naxos, Sicily. Through the lenses of art, history, provenance, economics and crime, Tim sheds light on the broader subject of Greek Numismatics (the collection and study of ancient coins).

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to our YouTube channel @ancient_coin_collection and follow us on Instagram @ancientcoincollectionpodcast for m...

The first episode, in two parts, examines the famous Naxos coin from an artistic perspective. By exploring the coin's subjects, style, composition and engraver, Tim starts to answer the question why some consider it a numismatic masterpiece. As we shall hear in subsequent episodes, the Naxos coin is so highly prized that it has taken pride of place in the world's great public and private collections, and hammers for eye-watering sums when one comes to auction.

What makes this coin so special, and what does that tell us about those who produced it and those who have...

The first episode, in two parts, examines the famous Naxos coin from an artistic perspective. By exploring the coin's subjects, style, composition and engraver, Tim starts to answer the question why some consider it a numismatic masterpiece. As we shall hear in subsequent episodes, the Naxos coin is so highly prized that it has taken pride of place in the world's great public and private collections, and hammers for eye-watering sums when one comes to auction.

What makes this coin so special, and what does that tell us about those who produced it and those who have...

The second episode examines the famous Naxos coin from an historic perspective. By exploring the story of Naxos, from its foundation in the eighth century BC to its destruction at the end of the fifth century BC, Tim seeks to provide an historical backstory for the famous coin that it produced. What we discover is that this was a small city, more follower than leader and frequently a victim rather than victor.

So, how is it that 'Little Naxos' produced one of the most important and prized of all Ancient Greek coins?

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