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March Signature Sale 3096 25-27 Mar 2021
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Ancients
SICILY. Naxos. Ca. 430-415 BC. AR tetradrachm (26mm, 16.80 gm, 4h). NGC Choice XF 3/5 - 3/5, Fine Style. Head of Dionysus right, wearing taenia decorated with ivy-tendrils, hair and beard in loose array / NAΞION, Silenus, nude, squatting facing, head left, cantharus raised in right hand, thrysus in left; stem of ivy vine at left. Cahn 103 (dies V66/R85) = Rizzo pl. XXVIII, 19. SNG Lockett 843 (same dies). SNG Copenhagen 493 (same dies) = Franke-Hirner, pl. 3, 8. SNG ANS 524. Gulbenkian 232. Struck from dies of fine style, deep cabinet toning throughout.
From the Paramount Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, private sale; Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 40 (4 December 1996), lot 811; Ariadne Galleries/Galerie Des Monnaies of Geneva, Ltd. Auction (New York, 9 December 1981), lot 38
According to legend, the wine god Dionysus had a strong attachment to the Cycladic island of Naxos, which provided the earliest settlers of its Sicilian namesake. Dionysus met his wife Ariadne there, and the island was one of his earliest cult centers. The cult of Dionysus features strongly on the coinage of both Cycladic and Sicilian Naxos. This beautiful tetradrachm of ca. 415 BC depicts the wine god in an almost melancholy and contemplative manner, with his hair and beard in tousled disarray, as though recently woken after an all-night revel. On the reverse, his compatriot Silenus squats, gazing longingly at his wine cup, his sculpted body rendered with remarkable skill and sensitivity.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-sicily-naxos-ca-430-415-bc-ar-tetradrachm-26mm-1680-gm-4h-ngc-choice-xf-3-5-3-5-fine-style/a/3096-30010.s?type=CoinArchives3096
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 5000-7000 USD
SICILY. Naxos. Ca. 430-415 BC. AR tetradrachm (26mm, 16.80 gm, 4h). NGC Choice XF 3/5 - 3/5, Fine Style. Head of Dionysus right, wearing taenia decorated with ivy-tendrils, hair and beard in loose array / NAΞION, Silenus, nude, squatting facing, head left, cantharus raised in right hand, thrysus in left; stem of ivy vine at left. Cahn 103 (dies V66/R85) = Rizzo pl. XXVIII, 19. SNG Lockett 843 (same dies). SNG Copenhagen 493 (same dies) = Franke-Hirner, pl. 3, 8. SNG ANS 524. Gulbenkian 232. Struck from dies of fine style, deep cabinet toning throughout.
From the Paramount Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, private sale; Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 40 (4 December 1996), lot 811; Ariadne Galleries/Galerie Des Monnaies of Geneva, Ltd. Auction (New York, 9 December 1981), lot 38
According to legend, the wine god Dionysus had a strong attachment to the Cycladic island of Naxos, which provided the earliest settlers of its Sicilian namesake. Dionysus met his wife Ariadne there, and the island was one of his earliest cult centers. The cult of Dionysus features strongly on the coinage of both Cycladic and Sicilian Naxos. This beautiful tetradrachm of ca. 415 BC depicts the wine god in an almost melancholy and contemplative manner, with his hair and beard in tousled disarray, as though recently woken after an all-night revel. On the reverse, his compatriot Silenus squats, gazing longingly at his wine cup, his sculpted body rendered with remarkable skill and sensitivity.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-sicily-naxos-ca-430-415-bc-ar-tetradrachm-26mm-1680-gm-4h-ngc-choice-xf-3-5-3-5-fine-style/a/3096-30010.s?type=CoinArchives3096
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 5000-7000 USD