Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 96 14-15 February 2017
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Crete, Phaistos. Silver Stater (11.41 g), ca. 322-300 BC. ΦAIΣTIΩN, Herakles seated left atop lion's skin draped over rock, head facing, club resting against left; before him, tree upon which is hung his bow and quiver; behind, large amphora. Reverse: Bull butting right; all within wreath. Svoronos 34 Pl. XXIV, 3 (same dies); Le Rider pl. XXII, 31. Very Rare. Lightly toned. Choice Very Fine. Estimate Value $2,500 - 3,000
The Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from F. Kovacs in 1988.
While other coins of Phaistos depict Herakles at work, either preparing or in the act of battling the Lernaean Hydra, this stater shows him resting at the end of his many labors. He deserved the break. First Hera had driven him mad and caused him to kill his children, then, in order to expiate his blood guilt he was compelled to serve Eurystheus, the king of Mycenae, and complete twelve impossible labors. These forced him to travel from one end of the Greek world to the other, killing or bringing back monstrous beasts, picking apples, or stealing girdles. By any measure, Herakles had had a tough life - and he still had not reached the part of it where his wife unwittingly set him on fire with a poisoned shirt. After all he had been through, it was time for a rest. Here the die-engraver thoughtfully shows him sitting back with his weapons and lion's skin hung up on a tree, ready to drink deeply from a large amphora behind him - "Miller time" for heroes.
The Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from F. Kovacs in 1988.
While other coins of Phaistos depict Herakles at work, either preparing or in the act of battling the Lernaean Hydra, this stater shows him resting at the end of his many labors. He deserved the break. First Hera had driven him mad and caused him to kill his children, then, in order to expiate his blood guilt he was compelled to serve Eurystheus, the king of Mycenae, and complete twelve impossible labors. These forced him to travel from one end of the Greek world to the other, killing or bringing back monstrous beasts, picking apples, or stealing girdles. By any measure, Herakles had had a tough life - and he still had not reached the part of it where his wife unwittingly set him on fire with a poisoned shirt. After all he had been through, it was time for a rest. Here the die-engraver thoughtfully shows him sitting back with his weapons and lion's skin hung up on a tree, ready to drink deeply from a large amphora behind him - "Miller time" for heroes.