420-375 BC Achaemenid Gold Daric NGC Ch MS* Star 5/5 Fine Style Finest Known

A PERFECT PERSIAN GOLD DARIC — NGC CHOICE MINT STATE★ • 5/5 • 5/5 • FINE STYLE

ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE
Time of Darius II – Artaxerxes II
Circa 420–375 BC
Sardes Mint
AV Gold Daric – 8.363 grams
NGC Choice Mint State★
Strike: 5/5 | Surface: 5/5
FINE STYLE
Tied for Finest Known

There are Persian Darics — and then there are Darics like this.

This extraordinary gold Daric combines virtually everything the advanced collector hopes to find on one of the most famous gold coins of antiquity:

Choice Mint State. Perfect 5/5 Strike. Perfect 5/5 Surface. NGC Star designation. Fine Style.

That combination places this coin firmly among the elite survivors of the entire Achaemenid gold series.

The obverse depicts the celebrated Persian Great King or royal hero in the famous kneeling-running stance, armed with bow and spear and wearing the distinctive royal kidaris, or Persian crown, together with the flowing kandys, the royal robe.

And the style of this particular die is exceptional.

Look closely at the king.

The unusually elegant treatment of the kidaris, sharply articulated beard and facial profile, deeply defined robe and almost sculptural folds of the kandys create an artistic presentation dramatically superior to that encountered on the overwhelming majority of Persian Darics.

This is precisely why the FINE STYLE designation matters.

Fine Style is not simply a technical grade. It recognizes the artistry of the dies themselves — and on ancient coins, where individual engravers produced dramatically different interpretations of the same design, the difference can be enormous.

Then comes the NGC Star★.

NGC reserves the Star for coins possessing exceptional eye appeal. Combine that with Choice Mint State, 5/5 Strike, 5/5 Surface and Fine Style, and the result is an extraordinary confluence of preservation, strike and ancient artistry.

THE GOLD OF THE GREAT KINGS

The Daric was one of the most important monetary instruments of the ancient world.

Struck to the exceptionally reliable Persian gold standard, Darics circulated throughout an empire stretching from Asia Minor and Egypt eastward toward Central Asia and the Indus Valley. Greek soldiers, merchants and states were intimately familiar with Persian gold, and enormous payments in Darics appear throughout the political and military history of the Classical world.

This coin was struck at Sardes, the great former Lydian capital whose minting traditions reached back to Croesus and some of the earliest important gold coinage in history. Modern references classify this issue as Carradice Type IIIb, Group C / Sunrise 28, dating it approximately 420–375 BC.

Its manufacture therefore falls across the reigns of Darius II and Artaxerxes II, during a remarkable period in Persian and Greek history that included the final years of the Peloponnesian War, Persian intervention in Greek affairs, the expedition of Cyrus the Younger, and Xenophon’s famous march of the Ten Thousand.

This was not symbolic gold.

This was imperial money.

Gold capable of paying soldiers, financing armies, rewarding officials and moving wealth across one of history’s greatest empires.

THE KIND OF DARIC THAT SETS RECORDS

An essentially comparable Achaemenid Daric graded NGC Choice MS★ 5/5 Strike, 5/5 Surface, Fine Style realized $26,400 at Heritage Auctions in 2022. Heritage specifically described that specimen as “Tied for Finest Certified.”

More significantly for today’s market, in April 2026 Heritage sold another Sardes Group C Daric graded NGC Choice MS 5/5–5/5 Fine Style — without the coveted Star designation — for $29,280.

The present coin adds the elusive NGC ★ designation.

That is the difference between simply owning an excellent Persian Daric and owning one of the coins against which other Darics are compared.

THE COMPLETE PACKAGE

✓ NGC Choice Mint State★
✓ Perfect 5/5 Strike
✓ Perfect 5/5 Surface
✓ Fine Style
✓ Exceptional royal kidaris and facial detail
✓ Carradice Type IIIb, Group C
✓ Sardes Mint
✓ Circa 420–375 BC
✓ Full-weight 8.363 gram Persian Daric
✓ Tied for Finest Known

For the collector building a world-class cabinet of ancient gold, Persian history, Biblical-era coinage or the great monetary issues of civilization, this is an opportunity that deserves serious consideration.

Ordinary Darics are obtainable.

A Choice Mint State★, 5/5–5/5, Fine Style Daric of this artistic caliber is an entirely different proposition.

A magnificent piece of Persian royal gold from the empire of the Great Kings — preserved essentially as struck after approximately 2,400 years.

Guaranteed genuine and certified by NGC Ancients.

Capstone Acquisitions, LP
Professional Numismatists Guild Member
International Association of Professional Numismatists Member

Serving serious collectors of important rare coins and ancient gold since 2004.