Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 126 17 Nov 2021
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Erbinna, circa 420 – 400
Stater, Telmessos (?) circa 420-400, AR 8.49 g. Head of Athena l., wearing a crested Attic helmet decorated with laurel wreath and palmettes. Rev. erbbina in Lycian characters Heracles, wearing a lion's skin, advancing l. and holding club and bow. All within a circular dotted border within incuse circle. S. Hurter, Tissaphernes-Fund, in Essays to Thompson, 28a and pl. 9 (this coin). Vismara 185 and pl. XIX (these dies). BMC 132 and pl. VII, 16 (these dies). Mørkholm & Zahle II, 72-73.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for this interesting and appealing issue.
Struck on a very large flan and with a lovely iridescent tone, a very
light die-shift on reverse, otherwise extremely fine
Ex Leu 18, 1977, 223 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 574 sales. Privately purchased from Spink & Son in January 1990.
The Erbbina named in Lycian script on this stater was a Lycian dynast of the last decades of the fifth century BC who was otherwise known as Erbinas or Arbanas in Greek. His coinage, which features Athena and Heracles types usually associated with Telmessus has led to the assumption that his power was centered on that city although his monumental tomb-the so-called Nereid Monument-was located at Xanthus. This tomb, which consisted of a sculptured Greek-style temple building raised on a high base, is thought to have provided the inspiration for Mausolus' celebrated tomb near Halicarnassus. The obverse depiction of Athena is derived from contemporary Attic tetradrachms-the internationally recognised coinage of the eastern Mediterranean in the late fifth and fourth centuries BC. The reverse, however, is a truly remarkable representation of Heracles running forward holding his bow and brandishing his club at some unseen foe. The engraver has done an excellent job of capturing the movement of the hero although one must wonder how he thought that Heracles would be able to draw the bow while holding a club in his right hand.
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Stater, Telmessos (?) circa 420-400, AR 8.49 g. Head of Athena l., wearing a crested Attic helmet decorated with laurel wreath and palmettes. Rev. erbbina in Lycian characters Heracles, wearing a lion's skin, advancing l. and holding club and bow. All within a circular dotted border within incuse circle. S. Hurter, Tissaphernes-Fund, in Essays to Thompson, 28a and pl. 9 (this coin). Vismara 185 and pl. XIX (these dies). BMC 132 and pl. VII, 16 (these dies). Mørkholm & Zahle II, 72-73.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for this interesting and appealing issue.
Struck on a very large flan and with a lovely iridescent tone, a very
light die-shift on reverse, otherwise extremely fine
Ex Leu 18, 1977, 223 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 574 sales. Privately purchased from Spink & Son in January 1990.
The Erbbina named in Lycian script on this stater was a Lycian dynast of the last decades of the fifth century BC who was otherwise known as Erbinas or Arbanas in Greek. His coinage, which features Athena and Heracles types usually associated with Telmessus has led to the assumption that his power was centered on that city although his monumental tomb-the so-called Nereid Monument-was located at Xanthus. This tomb, which consisted of a sculptured Greek-style temple building raised on a high base, is thought to have provided the inspiration for Mausolus' celebrated tomb near Halicarnassus. The obverse depiction of Athena is derived from contemporary Attic tetradrachms-the internationally recognised coinage of the eastern Mediterranean in the late fifth and fourth centuries BC. The reverse, however, is a truly remarkable representation of Heracles running forward holding his bow and brandishing his club at some unseen foe. The engraver has done an excellent job of capturing the movement of the hero although one must wonder how he thought that Heracles would be able to draw the bow while holding a club in his right hand.
View a video of this lot