Nomos AG
Auction 24 22 May 2022
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MYSIA. Kyzikos. Circa 500-450 BC. Stater (Electrum, 22 mm, 16.06 g). Head of a warrior wearing a Corinthian helmet to left - his eye can be seen in the eye slit - with a crest attached to the helmet by a band decorated by cords and pellets, and with a serpent's head and neck a the front; below, tunny to left. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. BMFA -. SNG Paris -. Von Fritze I, 81 and pl. II, 36. Very rare and attractive. The finest example known! Extremely fine.
From the Villiers Collection, ex Roma XVII, 28 March 2019, 478.
Corinthian helmets are not uncommonly shown on Greek coinage from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but most of them are just helmets, i.e., they are empty, as if just picked up from a shelf. But in some cases, as here, the engraver tried to show them as alive: there is an actual eye in the vision slit next to the nose guard! Could this be thought of as some kind of guardian spirit?
From the Villiers Collection, ex Roma XVII, 28 March 2019, 478.
Corinthian helmets are not uncommonly shown on Greek coinage from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but most of them are just helmets, i.e., they are empty, as if just picked up from a shelf. But in some cases, as here, the engraver tried to show them as alive: there is an actual eye in the vision slit next to the nose guard! Could this be thought of as some kind of guardian spirit?