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ANA Signature Sale 3101 25-28 Aug 2022
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Ancients
MYSIA. Lampsacus. Ca. 395-350 BC. AV stater (18mm, 8.39 gm, 1h). NGC MS 4/4 - 4/5, Fine Style. Head of Heracles as Omphale left, locks resembling goat horns on forehead, wearing stephane, knotted club over right shoulder / Forepart of Pegasus right within shallow incuse square. BMC -. SNG France 5, -. Baldwin, 'The Gold Staters of Lampsakos', AJN 53, 1924, 31, pl. III, 12. Baldwin, "The Gold Coinage of Lampsakos", JIAN 5, 29, pl. 3, 12. Boston MFA 1596 (these dies). Regling, Prinkipo, 162-163 (these dies). Exceedingly rare, perhaps only the fifth published example and far superior to the only example in sales archives (Prospero Collection of Ancient Greek Coins, New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012, lot 469, realized $75,000). Magnificently struck from highly artistic dies and exceptionally well-preserved. Likely the finest example extant.
Omphale was a legendary queen of Lydia whose year-long interlude as the "dominatrix" mistress of the Greek hero Heracles presented ancient writers and artists an opportunity for erotic expression. After murdering his friend Iphitus in a drunken rage, Hercules was commanded by the Delphic Oracle to report to Omphale. They ordered him to serve her as an enslaved person and perform labors, similar to those he completed while serving Eurystheus. Omphale reportedly humiliated Heracles by making him wear women's clothing and spin wool, stereotypical female roles. Meanwhile, she wore his Nemean lion headdress and held his club. After a time, Omphale freed Heracles and "married" him in the Eastern fashion. There was an element of sexual role reversal in the narrative that both amused and titillated the ancients.
The Prospero coin was described as "although it has been suggested that the head on the obverse of this coin might be that of Herakles in the guise of Omphale, it is clearly that of Pan, with the goat's horns visible on his forehead. It is however rather mysterious that Pan should be wearing a stephane, an object usually seen on a female head!" However, Agnes Baldwin, in her American Journal of Numismatics article has a more convincing explanation: "the identification of the bearded head wearing a stephane and with a club behind the neck, Type 31, was made by Head. M. Svoronos was formerly inclined to consider it a Pan head, from the appearance of the front locks, which resemble upright horns; the symbol behind the head would then have to be a pedum. But the latter looks more like a club and the stephane is unexplained and quite anomalous on a head of Pan. The back hair, too, is turned up in feminine fashion; compare the heads of Hera, PI. II, 30, of Nike, PI. Ill, 10, and of Hekate, PI. Ill, 19. The appearance of horns is probably accidental, and Head's brilliant identification stands. Furthermore, the Omphale legend of Herakles, of Lydian origin, according to which Herakles underwent a voluntary servitude, donning female attire as an atonement for homicide, seems to have been localized at Lampsakos since there exists an imperial coin type (Macdonald, Hunter. Cat. pi. xlviii, 5) of Herakles and Omphale, PI. X, 11."
Further support of the obverse being Hercules is the companion hecte with Omphale as Hercules (lot 32033 in the Historical Scholar session), which circulated contemporarily with the present stater. Ironically, both of these coins are also linked to lot 35247 in the Signature session which shows Hercules seated on a pile of armor and holding a distaff - the distaff alluding back to the Omphale myth where he held the yarn for her maids while they spun.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-mysia-lampsacus-ca-395-350-bc-av-stater-18mm-839-gm-1h-ngc-ms-4-4-4-5-fine-style/a/3101-34033.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3101-08252022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 50000-75000 USD
MYSIA. Lampsacus. Ca. 395-350 BC. AV stater (18mm, 8.39 gm, 1h). NGC MS 4/4 - 4/5, Fine Style. Head of Heracles as Omphale left, locks resembling goat horns on forehead, wearing stephane, knotted club over right shoulder / Forepart of Pegasus right within shallow incuse square. BMC -. SNG France 5, -. Baldwin, 'The Gold Staters of Lampsakos', AJN 53, 1924, 31, pl. III, 12. Baldwin, "The Gold Coinage of Lampsakos", JIAN 5, 29, pl. 3, 12. Boston MFA 1596 (these dies). Regling, Prinkipo, 162-163 (these dies). Exceedingly rare, perhaps only the fifth published example and far superior to the only example in sales archives (Prospero Collection of Ancient Greek Coins, New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012, lot 469, realized $75,000). Magnificently struck from highly artistic dies and exceptionally well-preserved. Likely the finest example extant.
Omphale was a legendary queen of Lydia whose year-long interlude as the "dominatrix" mistress of the Greek hero Heracles presented ancient writers and artists an opportunity for erotic expression. After murdering his friend Iphitus in a drunken rage, Hercules was commanded by the Delphic Oracle to report to Omphale. They ordered him to serve her as an enslaved person and perform labors, similar to those he completed while serving Eurystheus. Omphale reportedly humiliated Heracles by making him wear women's clothing and spin wool, stereotypical female roles. Meanwhile, she wore his Nemean lion headdress and held his club. After a time, Omphale freed Heracles and "married" him in the Eastern fashion. There was an element of sexual role reversal in the narrative that both amused and titillated the ancients.
The Prospero coin was described as "although it has been suggested that the head on the obverse of this coin might be that of Herakles in the guise of Omphale, it is clearly that of Pan, with the goat's horns visible on his forehead. It is however rather mysterious that Pan should be wearing a stephane, an object usually seen on a female head!" However, Agnes Baldwin, in her American Journal of Numismatics article has a more convincing explanation: "the identification of the bearded head wearing a stephane and with a club behind the neck, Type 31, was made by Head. M. Svoronos was formerly inclined to consider it a Pan head, from the appearance of the front locks, which resemble upright horns; the symbol behind the head would then have to be a pedum. But the latter looks more like a club and the stephane is unexplained and quite anomalous on a head of Pan. The back hair, too, is turned up in feminine fashion; compare the heads of Hera, PI. II, 30, of Nike, PI. Ill, 10, and of Hekate, PI. Ill, 19. The appearance of horns is probably accidental, and Head's brilliant identification stands. Furthermore, the Omphale legend of Herakles, of Lydian origin, according to which Herakles underwent a voluntary servitude, donning female attire as an atonement for homicide, seems to have been localized at Lampsakos since there exists an imperial coin type (Macdonald, Hunter. Cat. pi. xlviii, 5) of Herakles and Omphale, PI. X, 11."
Further support of the obverse being Hercules is the companion hecte with Omphale as Hercules (lot 32033 in the Historical Scholar session), which circulated contemporarily with the present stater. Ironically, both of these coins are also linked to lot 35247 in the Signature session which shows Hercules seated on a pile of armor and holding a distaff - the distaff alluding back to the Omphale myth where he held the yarn for her maids while they spun.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-mysia-lampsacus-ca-395-350-bc-av-stater-18mm-839-gm-1h-ngc-ms-4-4-4-5-fine-style/a/3101-34033.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3101-08252022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 50000-75000 USD