Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 126 17 Nov 2021
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Tetradrachm circa 520-480, AR 17.16 g. Lion crouching l., devouring its prey; above, lotus and below, circular ornament. Rev. Forepart of a winged boar l., within a dotted square border within an incuse square. Svoronos, Hellenism Primitif 8a and pl. XVII, 18 (this obverse) and 20 (this reverse die). Traité 1858 and pl. LIX, 14 var. (boar r.). B.V. Head, Archaic Coins probably of Cyrene, NC 1891, p. 9, pl. I, 8 (these dies). Gillet 856 (this coin). Weber 8555 var. (boar r.). Jameson 2028 var. (boar r.). Boston, MFA suppl., pl. VI, 70 (this coin mentioned).
Extremely rare and among the finest of very few specimens known. A fascinating
and intriguing issue, superb old cabinet tone and good very fine
Ex Ars Classica XVI, 1933, 1070 and Leu-M&M 28 May 1974, Kunstfreud, 44; Sotheby's 4 April 1991, Viscount Wimborne, 33 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 259 sales. From the Charles Gillet collection.
This extremely rare and very well pedigreed tetradrachm still remains somewhat of a mystery. It is tentatively treated as a possible Thraco-Macedonian tribal issue, largely on the basis of the lion type, which has some similarity to early electrum issues that seem to have been produced in Thrace, and the placement of the lotus ornament, which may echo issues of Akanthos. On the other hand, the winged boar might seem to hint of an origin in Asia Minor, where it was an important type for the coinage of Klazomenai. Far less likely is an origin in Cyrene, as was originally suggested when the coin was first published by B. V. Head in 1891.
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Tetradrachm circa 520-480, AR 17.16 g. Lion crouching l., devouring its prey; above, lotus and below, circular ornament. Rev. Forepart of a winged boar l., within a dotted square border within an incuse square. Svoronos, Hellenism Primitif 8a and pl. XVII, 18 (this obverse) and 20 (this reverse die). Traité 1858 and pl. LIX, 14 var. (boar r.). B.V. Head, Archaic Coins probably of Cyrene, NC 1891, p. 9, pl. I, 8 (these dies). Gillet 856 (this coin). Weber 8555 var. (boar r.). Jameson 2028 var. (boar r.). Boston, MFA suppl., pl. VI, 70 (this coin mentioned).
Extremely rare and among the finest of very few specimens known. A fascinating
and intriguing issue, superb old cabinet tone and good very fine
Ex Ars Classica XVI, 1933, 1070 and Leu-M&M 28 May 1974, Kunstfreud, 44; Sotheby's 4 April 1991, Viscount Wimborne, 33 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 259 sales. From the Charles Gillet collection.
This extremely rare and very well pedigreed tetradrachm still remains somewhat of a mystery. It is tentatively treated as a possible Thraco-Macedonian tribal issue, largely on the basis of the lion type, which has some similarity to early electrum issues that seem to have been produced in Thrace, and the placement of the lotus ornament, which may echo issues of Akanthos. On the other hand, the winged boar might seem to hint of an origin in Asia Minor, where it was an important type for the coinage of Klazomenai. Far less likely is an origin in Cyrene, as was originally suggested when the coin was first published by B. V. Head in 1891.
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