Nomos AG
Auction 23 30 Nov 2021
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SICILY. Syracuse. Deinomenid Tyranny, 485-466 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 25 mm, 17.35 g, 3 h), struck under Gelon I, c. 480. Charioteer driving quadriga walking to right, holding goad in his right hand and the reins in his left; above, Nike flying right to crown the horses. Rev. ΣVR-ΑΚ-ΟΣΙ-ΟΝ Diademed head of Arethusa to left, her hair bound with a taenia, wearing two necklaces, a simple circlet and one of pearls; around, four dolphins swimming anticlockwise. Boehringer 42.17-18 (V26/R26 this coin). Gulbenkian 249 (same dies). Knoepfler pl 3, 17 (same dies). Kunstfreund, 60 (this coin). Rizzo pl. 34, 11 (same dies). A coin of wonderful late Archaic-Early Classical style, nicely toned and very well-centered. Nearly extremely fine.
From the Collection I, USA, ex Leu 76, 27 October 1999, 52, Münzen und Medaillen 72, 6 October 1987, 526, from the collections of C. Gillet (Kunstfreund), Bank Leu and Münzen und Medaillen, 28 May 1974, 60, the Vicomte de Sartiges 121, and F. S. Benson, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 3 February 1909, 283.
The "Kunstfreund" sale of 1974 marked a sea change in the numismatic world, specifically that of ancient coins: most obviously with Greek pieces, but also extending to Celtic, Roman and Byzantine as well. 'Kunstfreund', the name used for the owner of the coins in that epoch making sale, stood for Charles Gillet, an extremely wealthy and extremely controversial French industrialist who began forming his collection in the years prior to World War II. His collection became a byword for connoisseurship, like that of the Comte du Chastel a generation or two earlier.
From the Collection I, USA, ex Leu 76, 27 October 1999, 52, Münzen und Medaillen 72, 6 October 1987, 526, from the collections of C. Gillet (Kunstfreund), Bank Leu and Münzen und Medaillen, 28 May 1974, 60, the Vicomte de Sartiges 121, and F. S. Benson, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 3 February 1909, 283.
The "Kunstfreund" sale of 1974 marked a sea change in the numismatic world, specifically that of ancient coins: most obviously with Greek pieces, but also extending to Celtic, Roman and Byzantine as well. 'Kunstfreund', the name used for the owner of the coins in that epoch making sale, stood for Charles Gillet, an extremely wealthy and extremely controversial French industrialist who began forming his collection in the years prior to World War II. His collection became a byword for connoisseurship, like that of the Comte du Chastel a generation or two earlier.