The Jonathan H. Kagan Collection of Ancient Greek Coins

We at Nomos are proud to present the distinguished collection of a distinguished collector: the Archaic and Classical Greek Coins amassed by Jonathan Kagan. He has done this with a perspicacious eye for history and art; with a sense of enquiry and curiosity; and with a marked degree of personal taste and eclecticism. Also welcome is the fact that he has not, as some collectors do, just concentrated on beautiful coins of high value, beyond the reach of most people: for Jonathan importance is not linked to condition or price. As the reader will see when this catalogue is perused, there is an emphasis on the smaller denominations, probably because so many of them are so very intriguing - he was a friend of the late owner of the Collection sans Pareille, and is of the incomparable BCD - but as is also clear, large denominations were also included, especially if they coincided with his scholarly interests or came from famous finds, which were another one of his passions. And, of course, some of his coins appeared in his scholarly articles, including overstrikes vital for chronology. But more details on his academic and other achievements will follow in the introduction/appreciation contributed by his lovely and accomplished wife, and fellow traveller on life’s roads, Ute Wartenberg-Kagan. I remember when, over forty years ago, Jonathan appeared one summer at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. He already had his A.B. from Harvard (where he took a seminar on coins with David Mitten and Ross Holloway) and would go on to get a second B.A. from Oxford, as well as a D. Litt. (he was at Corpus Christi where he had the great good fortune to work under the late Colin Kraay, who inspired him with his deep love for Greek coinage). In fact, many people thought Jonathan would become a renowned professor, and so there was a great deal of disappointment when he left the groves of academe to enter the forests of finance, in which he is a well-known Titan today. Thus, while during the day he deals with fantastical sums of money, influencing people and nations with world-changing effect, in his hours of relaxation he turns to the money of the past: the coins used by simple people, who may well have become so used to the beauty of the coins that they used in everyday life that they didn’t ‘see’ them, but which we value so highly today. Perhaps this helped him to avoid the hubristic pitfalls that have caught up so many other financial high flyers - covering their bathrooms in gold, having trophy wives, being overweeningly arrogant - and kept him the decent, upright person he is. He took/takes great delight in the simple things in life: including raising pedigree beef on his farm in upstate New York - and selling it in farmers’ markets. He even became friends with my late uncle, who had a vineyard nearby and produced wine, sometimes excellent, that Jonathan used to buy in bulk (my uncle used to wonder whether Jonathan drank it or used it to clean coins). Other than coins, and this also dovetailed into his interest in the history of numismatic scholarship, he formed a magnificent library of numismatic books. They range from incunabula to what might be termed the fleurons of Dekesel, as well as manuscripts and other unique items of the greatest archival importance. No doubt, having these great books of the past at his fingertips helped inspire some of his own excellent scholarly articles (for an overview of his considerable scholarly output, do see his page on academia.edu). In any event, his decision to part with his collection, after spending more than a generation assembling it, will in no way reduce his continuing contributions to ancient Greek Numismatics or the history of collections. But he has also produced a number of literary works, which, alas, are unpublished and unknown to all but his family and a few close friends. This is due to his natural modesty and retiring nature. For example, he has written a short essay - in the manner of Addison, Trilling and Mencken - on the emotional impact some of his earliest pieces had on him, when he viewed them by the dawn’s early light, “Morning becomes Electrum”; everyone who has read it has been greatly moved. He has even turned to poetry, as a metrical way of explaining certain numismatic subjects, such as the Athenian Coinage Decree, the transition from the use of silver to that of bronze for fractions of the obol, bovines on coinage, etc. Those lucky few who have read them have compared their style to a felicitous blend of Byron and McGonagall. He even created an ode for one of the Transeuphratène congresses, “Yes, we have no Baanas”, which was recited to great acclaim. But enough about Jonathan’s attainments, glorious as they are, let’s turn to his wonderful coins. And the best way to do so is to page through this catalogue to see the delights it contains, and let them transport you to the early days of Greek coinage. You will enjoy them, be intrigued by them, desire them and learn from them; they are not just objects, the way some people say all ancient things are, they are bridges from their time to ours. When we hold them in our hands they link us with all those who held them before, in an immediate and intimate way that an object sealed behind glass in a museum can never do.