Maison Palombo
Auction 18 17 Nov 2019
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Tribus thraco-macédoniennes
Statère (c.500-470) Bergé ou Datos.
D'un magnifique style archaïque et d'une qualité remarquable.
Splendide exemplaire frappé sur flan large.
9.94g - Boutin manque
Superbe - AU
Many archaic Greek coins bear overtly sexual designs, as a reference to spirits of nature rather than Olympian gods, celebrating the fecundity of fields and flocks. This coin is much less explicit, the nymph still being dressed, but it illustrates nevertheless a ritual abduction – probably linked to some Dionysiac cult. This charming coin is a typical example of how amazing the early northern Greek engravers approached the interplay of nymphs and satyrs, expressing joie-de-vivrewhich is not found on other ancient coins. Whether this issue was struck in Lete or in Siris has been previously debated, but it has recently been convincingly argued that they should be ascribed to Berge, a Greek settlement in the region of Bisaltia – north west of Amphipolis, which was founded by Thasians around the time of the strike of this coin. See S. Psoma, "The 'Lete' coinage reconsidered", in P.G. van Alfen, Agoranomia. Studies in Money and Exchange presented to J.H. Kroll, New York 2006, pp. 61-85. The city lost importance after the foundation of Amphipolis in 437 BC, but it remained self-sufficient, and gave its name to the verb βεργαΐζειν which means 'lying' because of the local writer Antiphanes in the 4thcentury BC who had written a book of Unbelievable stories.
Estimate: 10000 CHF
Statère (c.500-470) Bergé ou Datos.
D'un magnifique style archaïque et d'une qualité remarquable.
Splendide exemplaire frappé sur flan large.
9.94g - Boutin manque
Superbe - AU
Many archaic Greek coins bear overtly sexual designs, as a reference to spirits of nature rather than Olympian gods, celebrating the fecundity of fields and flocks. This coin is much less explicit, the nymph still being dressed, but it illustrates nevertheless a ritual abduction – probably linked to some Dionysiac cult. This charming coin is a typical example of how amazing the early northern Greek engravers approached the interplay of nymphs and satyrs, expressing joie-de-vivrewhich is not found on other ancient coins. Whether this issue was struck in Lete or in Siris has been previously debated, but it has recently been convincingly argued that they should be ascribed to Berge, a Greek settlement in the region of Bisaltia – north west of Amphipolis, which was founded by Thasians around the time of the strike of this coin. See S. Psoma, "The 'Lete' coinage reconsidered", in P.G. van Alfen, Agoranomia. Studies in Money and Exchange presented to J.H. Kroll, New York 2006, pp. 61-85. The city lost importance after the foundation of Amphipolis in 437 BC, but it remained self-sufficient, and gave its name to the verb βεργαΐζειν which means 'lying' because of the local writer Antiphanes in the 4thcentury BC who had written a book of Unbelievable stories.
Estimate: 10000 CHF