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November Auction 2015 13 November 2015
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SICILY, SILVER DRACHM OF NAXOS, unsigned work by the Aitna Master, ca. 460 BC, 4.359g, 12h. Cahn 55 (same dies). Very rare. Old cabinet tone. Perfectly centered and struck on a broad flan. A wonderful example of one of the greatest of all 5th century Greek coins. A masterpiece of miniature engraving. Superb extremely fine. Privately acquired from Tradart
Naxos was the earliest Greek colony in Sicily. In 476 BC, its population was forcibly removed by Hieron, the tyrant of Syracuse, and resettled at Leontini. After the fall of the Syracusan tyranny, the Naxians returned to their original home and, with their new freedom, produced a completely new coin iconography. The obverse is an exceptional head of Dionysos, engraved with a mastery and power equalled only by the unique Brussels tetradrachm of Aetna; the similarity is so great that it is thought that both dies were the work of the so-called Aetna Master. On reverse, the kneeling Silenos is even more impressive in the virtuosity of its composition. His bleary, somewhat incredulous expression reveals quite how drunk he is... Would he be surprised at how little wine remains, or amazed that there is any left at all?
Naxos was the earliest Greek colony in Sicily. In 476 BC, its population was forcibly removed by Hieron, the tyrant of Syracuse, and resettled at Leontini. After the fall of the Syracusan tyranny, the Naxians returned to their original home and, with their new freedom, produced a completely new coin iconography. The obverse is an exceptional head of Dionysos, engraved with a mastery and power equalled only by the unique Brussels tetradrachm of Aetna; the similarity is so great that it is thought that both dies were the work of the so-called Aetna Master. On reverse, the kneeling Silenos is even more impressive in the virtuosity of its composition. His bleary, somewhat incredulous expression reveals quite how drunk he is... Would he be surprised at how little wine remains, or amazed that there is any left at all?