Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 116 1 Oct 2019
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Cos
Triple siglos circa 470, AR 16.54 g. KOΣ Naked discobolos, his body inclined to l., about to throw a discus; behind, tripod. Rev. Irregular square incuse with diagonal lines. BMC 6. Traité pl. CXLVIII, 11; Kraay- Hirmer pl. 188, 639. Barron, Essays Robinson, p. 79, 10 and pl. 9. Prospero 554.
A very rare variety of an extremely rare type. A pleasant specimen of this
important and intriguing issue. Of lovely Archaic style, minor marks,
otherwise good very fine
Ex Gemini-Heritage sale VIII, 2011, 80.
The meaning of this type has attracted many theories. It clearly is an athletic theme, and the tripod of Apollo is such an integral part of the design that it must be assumed to be essential to the meaning of the type. The tripod has thus been seen as a reference to the festival of Apollo at Triopion, where athletes competed for bronze tripods that would be dedicated to Apollo at the local temple.Participation in these games was limited to cities of the Doric Pentapolis: Knidos, Ialysus, Lindos, Kamiros and Cos. Since none of the other four cities produced coins commemorative of this event, it is possible that the type celebrates otherwise undocumented games held in Apollo's honour at Cos.
The type was produced over the course of decades, for there is significant evolution in its presentation. The earliest issues have an abbreviated ethnic and show a crab of varying size in a modified incuse within which an "X" pattern is integrated; in some cases the crab is absent.The next series – to which this coin belongs – is transitional in that the inscription starts in its abbreviated form and eventually is expanded to incorporate all five letters; the reverse retains its square incuse, though the field is flat and unadorned except for a prominent beaded border. The final series begins with the longer ethnic and finishes with the original, three-letter version, and the reverse is modified to a circular format with a beaded border.Assigning a date to the series, as Barron notes in his study, is difficult because of a conspicuous lack of hoard or overstrike evidence. Furthermore, much of the discussion centers around the date of the Athenian coinage decree, which Barron had firmly placed in c.448 B.C., but which is now generally believed to have been passed in the 420s, thus changing a key element in the chronological debate.
Triple siglos circa 470, AR 16.54 g. KOΣ Naked discobolos, his body inclined to l., about to throw a discus; behind, tripod. Rev. Irregular square incuse with diagonal lines. BMC 6. Traité pl. CXLVIII, 11; Kraay- Hirmer pl. 188, 639. Barron, Essays Robinson, p. 79, 10 and pl. 9. Prospero 554.
A very rare variety of an extremely rare type. A pleasant specimen of this
important and intriguing issue. Of lovely Archaic style, minor marks,
otherwise good very fine
Ex Gemini-Heritage sale VIII, 2011, 80.
The meaning of this type has attracted many theories. It clearly is an athletic theme, and the tripod of Apollo is such an integral part of the design that it must be assumed to be essential to the meaning of the type. The tripod has thus been seen as a reference to the festival of Apollo at Triopion, where athletes competed for bronze tripods that would be dedicated to Apollo at the local temple.Participation in these games was limited to cities of the Doric Pentapolis: Knidos, Ialysus, Lindos, Kamiros and Cos. Since none of the other four cities produced coins commemorative of this event, it is possible that the type celebrates otherwise undocumented games held in Apollo's honour at Cos.
The type was produced over the course of decades, for there is significant evolution in its presentation. The earliest issues have an abbreviated ethnic and show a crab of varying size in a modified incuse within which an "X" pattern is integrated; in some cases the crab is absent.The next series – to which this coin belongs – is transitional in that the inscription starts in its abbreviated form and eventually is expanded to incorporate all five letters; the reverse retains its square incuse, though the field is flat and unadorned except for a prominent beaded border. The final series begins with the longer ethnic and finishes with the original, three-letter version, and the reverse is modified to a circular format with a beaded border.Assigning a date to the series, as Barron notes in his study, is difficult because of a conspicuous lack of hoard or overstrike evidence. Furthermore, much of the discussion centers around the date of the Athenian coinage decree, which Barron had firmly placed in c.448 B.C., but which is now generally believed to have been passed in the 420s, thus changing a key element in the chronological debate.