Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 124 23 Jun 2021
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Elis, Olympia.
Stater, Hera mint 376, 101st Olympiad, AR 12.17 g. F – A Head of Hera r., wearing stephane ornamented with six palmettes connected by tendrils, single pendant earring and necklace. Rev. Eagle standing r. with closed wings, its head turned l.; all within olive-wreath. BMC 94 (these dies). de Luynes 2253 (these dies). Seltman 295. BCD Olympia –.
Very rare. A superb portrait of exquisite late Classical style struck in high relief,
light old cabinet tone and good very fine
Ex M&M VI, 1946, 689; Leu & M&M, 3-4 December 1965, Niggeler I 320; Sternberg XXI, 1988, 108; SBV FPL 1 March 1989, 19; Superior Galleries, NY, 10 December 1989, Jascha Heifetz part 2, 2623 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero 392 sales.
From its beginning in c. 468 BC, the Elean coinage of Olympia is believed to have been struck in the precinct of the temple of Zeus Olympios. However, around 420 BC, a secondary mint specializing in issues featuring the head of Hera, the consort of Zeus is thought to have opened and produced its coinage in parallel with the so-called "Zeus" mint. This new "Hera" mint is assumed to have been located in the temple of Hera at Olympia which was renowned for some of the objects it contained as well as its structural development. Originally constructed from wood in the Archaic period, the columns of the temple were gradually replaced by stone as they rotted out. In the second century AD one of the columns was still oak. The caretakers of the temple were fond of displaying the wooden chest in which Cypselis the tyrant of Corinth was hidden as an infant and an ivory couch that was said to have belonged to Hippodameia, the wife of Pelops. True to form of the "Hera" mint, the obverse of this issue carries a beautifully rendered and struck head of Hera wearing an ornamented stephane. As the bird of Zeus, the eagle on the reverse serves as a badge of Olympia while the abbreviated ethnic names the Eleans. Whereas most Greek alphabets had abandoned the letter digamma (F) representing the initial sound w by the fifth century, it survived in the epichoric alphabet of Elis well into the Roman period.
Stater, Hera mint 376, 101st Olympiad, AR 12.17 g. F – A Head of Hera r., wearing stephane ornamented with six palmettes connected by tendrils, single pendant earring and necklace. Rev. Eagle standing r. with closed wings, its head turned l.; all within olive-wreath. BMC 94 (these dies). de Luynes 2253 (these dies). Seltman 295. BCD Olympia –.
Very rare. A superb portrait of exquisite late Classical style struck in high relief,
light old cabinet tone and good very fine
Ex M&M VI, 1946, 689; Leu & M&M, 3-4 December 1965, Niggeler I 320; Sternberg XXI, 1988, 108; SBV FPL 1 March 1989, 19; Superior Galleries, NY, 10 December 1989, Jascha Heifetz part 2, 2623 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero 392 sales.
From its beginning in c. 468 BC, the Elean coinage of Olympia is believed to have been struck in the precinct of the temple of Zeus Olympios. However, around 420 BC, a secondary mint specializing in issues featuring the head of Hera, the consort of Zeus is thought to have opened and produced its coinage in parallel with the so-called "Zeus" mint. This new "Hera" mint is assumed to have been located in the temple of Hera at Olympia which was renowned for some of the objects it contained as well as its structural development. Originally constructed from wood in the Archaic period, the columns of the temple were gradually replaced by stone as they rotted out. In the second century AD one of the columns was still oak. The caretakers of the temple were fond of displaying the wooden chest in which Cypselis the tyrant of Corinth was hidden as an infant and an ivory couch that was said to have belonged to Hippodameia, the wife of Pelops. True to form of the "Hera" mint, the obverse of this issue carries a beautifully rendered and struck head of Hera wearing an ornamented stephane. As the bird of Zeus, the eagle on the reverse serves as a badge of Olympia while the abbreviated ethnic names the Eleans. Whereas most Greek alphabets had abandoned the letter digamma (F) representing the initial sound w by the fifth century, it survived in the epichoric alphabet of Elis well into the Roman period.