The New York Sale
Auction 42 9 Jan 2018
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Macedonia, Mende. Silver Tetradrachm (17.15 g), ca. 460-423 BC. Dionysos, inebriated, holding kantharos, reclining left on back of ass standing right. rev. MEN-ΔA-I-ON, vine with five grape bunches. SNG ANS 336; Gulbenkian 410 (same dies). Boldly struck and well centered. Very Rare. One of the finest known. Nearly Mint State. Estimated Value $20,000
From the Dionysus Collection
Ex E. Waddell inventory, April 1999.
Founded by Eretrian colonists in the Chalkidike in the ninth century BC, Mende is said to have derived its name from a corruption of minthe, the Greek name for the mint plants that grew in the region. The city grew wealthy from its access to lumber, silver, and gold from the Thraco-Macedonian interior, but owed much of its fame to local wine production. Mendean wine was so renowned and sought after that the fourth-century BC sculptor Lysippos reportedly designed a special form of amphora specifically for the transport of this vintage. Thus it is not surprising that a large vine heavy with succulent grapes was chosen as the badge for the reverse of this tetradrachm, while the obverse depicts the god of the vine, Dionysos or, perhaps, Selinos. The latter was a rustic deity, the father or grandfather of both the satyrs and the nymphs and spent most of his time completely drunk. Indeed, he was usually so drunk that he needed to be supported by satyrs or, as on this coin, by an ass. When the wine god Dionysos was born from the thigh of Zeus, Hermes placed the infant in the care of Silenos - after all, who else more suited to raising the god of wine than a drunken satyr - who became his tutor and was a prominent figure in the Dionysiac thiasos (retinue).
From the Dionysus Collection
Ex E. Waddell inventory, April 1999.
Founded by Eretrian colonists in the Chalkidike in the ninth century BC, Mende is said to have derived its name from a corruption of minthe, the Greek name for the mint plants that grew in the region. The city grew wealthy from its access to lumber, silver, and gold from the Thraco-Macedonian interior, but owed much of its fame to local wine production. Mendean wine was so renowned and sought after that the fourth-century BC sculptor Lysippos reportedly designed a special form of amphora specifically for the transport of this vintage. Thus it is not surprising that a large vine heavy with succulent grapes was chosen as the badge for the reverse of this tetradrachm, while the obverse depicts the god of the vine, Dionysos or, perhaps, Selinos. The latter was a rustic deity, the father or grandfather of both the satyrs and the nymphs and spent most of his time completely drunk. Indeed, he was usually so drunk that he needed to be supported by satyrs or, as on this coin, by an ass. When the wine god Dionysos was born from the thigh of Zeus, Hermes placed the infant in the care of Silenos - after all, who else more suited to raising the god of wine than a drunken satyr - who became his tutor and was a prominent figure in the Dionysiac thiasos (retinue).