Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIX 26-27 Mar 2020
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Elis, Olympia AR Stater. 98th Olympiad. Zeus mint, 388 BC. Eagle standing left, grasping the back of a ram with its talons and tearing at its neck with its beak; the whole on round shield with raised rim / Thunderbolt with closed wings above and volutes below; F-A(incuse) across fields. BMC 37; Kraay-Hirmer 501-2 (these dies); Kunstfreund 155; Seltman 172; BCD Olympia 92 (same dies). 11.67g, 25mm, 4h.
Good Very Fine; struck in high relief. Very Rare.
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction II, 2 October 2011, lot 201 (sold for £4,400);
Privately purchased from Pars Coins, December 2010.
By the middle of the fourth century BC, bronze statues of Zeus (paid for by the fines for lying, bribery and cheating) lined the route to the Olympic stadium. The first six of these were established in the 98th Olympiad, for which occasion this coin was struck, when the boxer Eupolos of Thessaly bribed his opponents. An inscription on the base of one of the first statues declares that "an Olympic victory is to be won not by money but by swiftness of foot or strength of body". Inscriptions on other bases similarly urged piety and warned against violations.
Good Very Fine; struck in high relief. Very Rare.
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction II, 2 October 2011, lot 201 (sold for £4,400);
Privately purchased from Pars Coins, December 2010.
By the middle of the fourth century BC, bronze statues of Zeus (paid for by the fines for lying, bribery and cheating) lined the route to the Olympic stadium. The first six of these were established in the 98th Olympiad, for which occasion this coin was struck, when the boxer Eupolos of Thessaly bribed his opponents. An inscription on the base of one of the first statues declares that "an Olympic victory is to be won not by money but by swiftness of foot or strength of body". Inscriptions on other bases similarly urged piety and warned against violations.