Nomos AG
Auction 24 22 May 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
CORINTHIA. Corinth. Circa 405-345 BC. Stater (Silver, 24.0 mm, 8.60 g, 9 h). Ϙ Pegasos standing left, with trailing reins, his left leg raised and his head bent down as if preparing to roll over. Rev. Head of Aphrodite to left, wearing Corinthian helmet. BMC 173. BCD Corinth 62 (same obverse die). Calciati 215 (same dies). Ravel 500 (same dies). A very rare variant. Perfectly centered and very attractive, with a remarkable depiction of Pegasus and a reverse of great elegance. Obverse lightly struck and with traces of overstriking, otherwise, extremely fine.
The position of Pegasos on the obverse of this coin is quite unusual, if not exceptional, for Corinth, but it is common enough at Larissa in Thessaly. Ravel, and everybody else, have simply assumed that he is about to drink at the Fountain of Peirene, which is located outside of Corinth on the road to the harbor of Lechaion on the Gulf of Corinth. Unfortunately, horses do not drink the way Pegasos is thought to be doing on this coin: with his right fore hoof and his left hind hoof raised. As a number of horse experts have told me, what Pegasos is actually doing, like the more normal horses of Larissa, is getting ready to roll over. This is something that horses normally do in order to scratch their backs. Horse people are usually quite proud of their horses when they do it! The one problem, of course, is what happens with Pegasos's wings when he rolls over? Perhaps he was able to flatten them against his body to avoid damaging his feathers!
The position of Pegasos on the obverse of this coin is quite unusual, if not exceptional, for Corinth, but it is common enough at Larissa in Thessaly. Ravel, and everybody else, have simply assumed that he is about to drink at the Fountain of Peirene, which is located outside of Corinth on the road to the harbor of Lechaion on the Gulf of Corinth. Unfortunately, horses do not drink the way Pegasos is thought to be doing on this coin: with his right fore hoof and his left hind hoof raised. As a number of horse experts have told me, what Pegasos is actually doing, like the more normal horses of Larissa, is getting ready to roll over. This is something that horses normally do in order to scratch their backs. Horse people are usually quite proud of their horses when they do it! The one problem, of course, is what happens with Pegasos's wings when he rolls over? Perhaps he was able to flatten them against his body to avoid damaging his feathers!