Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 96 14-15 February 2017
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Islands off Caria, Rhodos. Kamiros. Silver Stater (11.80 g), ca. 500-480 BC. Fig leaf. Reverse: Two incuse rectangles with variegated surfaces. SNG Keckman 319; SNG von Aulock 2779; Karl 376-80; Asyut 694-702. Perfectly centered and attractively toned with hints of iridescence. Extremely Fine. Estimate Value $2,000 - 2,500
From the Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from MMAG in 1981.
The reverse involving two parallel incuse rectangles created from a single punch die was a typical and distinctive feature of early staters struck by the cities on the island of Rhodes. Initially, the rectangles on coins of Kamiros were filled with irregular striations, as on this example, but later issues use them to inscribe the city ethnic. The fig leaf obverse is beautiful in its simplification of the veins and the roundness of the lobes, which may remind the modern Canadian of certain brands of heavily stylized maple leaf sandwich cookies (see https://www.hnwilliams.com/images/D/DARE-MPL-CRM_.jpg). Alas, the die-engraver does not depict the delicious fruit that must surely have grown on the fig tree among such leaves.
From the Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from MMAG in 1981.
The reverse involving two parallel incuse rectangles created from a single punch die was a typical and distinctive feature of early staters struck by the cities on the island of Rhodes. Initially, the rectangles on coins of Kamiros were filled with irregular striations, as on this example, but later issues use them to inscribe the city ethnic. The fig leaf obverse is beautiful in its simplification of the veins and the roundness of the lobes, which may remind the modern Canadian of certain brands of heavily stylized maple leaf sandwich cookies (see https://www.hnwilliams.com/images/D/DARE-MPL-CRM_.jpg). Alas, the die-engraver does not depict the delicious fruit that must surely have grown on the fig tree among such leaves.