Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 126 17 Nov 2021
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Mysia, Cyzicus
Stater circa 450-400, EL 16.11 g. Naked Kabir wearing pileus and chlamys kneeling l. over ram, which he is about to stab with knife held in r. hand, while holding up the head of the ram with his l.; below, tunny-fish. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Traité 2645. Greenwell 71 and pl. III, 22. Regling, Kunstwerk 623. von Fritze 156 and pl. V, 4.
A very interesting representation and a wonderful reddish tone. Good very fine
Ex New York sale XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 451. Privately purchased from Spink & Son in April 1988.
Electrum-an alloy of gold and silver that may have been first found naturally in the Pactolus River of Lydia-had largely gone out of favour as a precious metal alloy for coinage in the Greek world by the late sixth century BC. Despite the general shift to parted silver and gold for coinage, cities such as Cyzicus, Mytilene, and Phocaea continued to strike electrum staters and fractions down to the fourth century BC. Electrum production seems to have survived in these cities because the alloy was preferred by trading partners along the coasts of the Black Sea. This preference is made abundantly clear by a fourth-century BC inscription from Olbia in which it was still deemed necessary to provide the exchange rate between Cyzicene staters and local Olbian silver drachms. The staters of Cyzicus are well known for their use of frequently changing types that often borrow the civic emblems of other cities and feature a tunny fish as the badge of Cyzicus. The obverse type of this particular stater, which does not belong to the civic badge series, had been interpreted in two different ways. One school of thought reads the pileus-wearing figure as one of Kabiri-the twin shield-clashing warrior deities who presided over the dances Samothracian mysteries. They were similar to the Dioscuri and were often conflated with the Cretan Curetes, the Trojan Dactyls, and the Phrygian Corybantes. Alternatively, the figure has been identified as Odysseus sacrificing a ram at the end of his travels.
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Stater circa 450-400, EL 16.11 g. Naked Kabir wearing pileus and chlamys kneeling l. over ram, which he is about to stab with knife held in r. hand, while holding up the head of the ram with his l.; below, tunny-fish. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Traité 2645. Greenwell 71 and pl. III, 22. Regling, Kunstwerk 623. von Fritze 156 and pl. V, 4.
A very interesting representation and a wonderful reddish tone. Good very fine
Ex New York sale XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 451. Privately purchased from Spink & Son in April 1988.
Electrum-an alloy of gold and silver that may have been first found naturally in the Pactolus River of Lydia-had largely gone out of favour as a precious metal alloy for coinage in the Greek world by the late sixth century BC. Despite the general shift to parted silver and gold for coinage, cities such as Cyzicus, Mytilene, and Phocaea continued to strike electrum staters and fractions down to the fourth century BC. Electrum production seems to have survived in these cities because the alloy was preferred by trading partners along the coasts of the Black Sea. This preference is made abundantly clear by a fourth-century BC inscription from Olbia in which it was still deemed necessary to provide the exchange rate between Cyzicene staters and local Olbian silver drachms. The staters of Cyzicus are well known for their use of frequently changing types that often borrow the civic emblems of other cities and feature a tunny fish as the badge of Cyzicus. The obverse type of this particular stater, which does not belong to the civic badge series, had been interpreted in two different ways. One school of thought reads the pileus-wearing figure as one of Kabiri-the twin shield-clashing warrior deities who presided over the dances Samothracian mysteries. They were similar to the Dioscuri and were often conflated with the Cretan Curetes, the Trojan Dactyls, and the Phrygian Corybantes. Alternatively, the figure has been identified as Odysseus sacrificing a ram at the end of his travels.
View a video of this lot