Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Arkadia, Pheneos AR Stater. Circa 360-340 BC. Wreathed head of Demeter to right, wearing elaborate earring and pearl necklace / Hermes, nude but for petasos and cloak over shoulder, advancing to left with head reverted, holding kerykeion and infant Arkas, who raises right hand; ΦΕ-ΝΕ-ΩΝ below, [APKAΣ] downwards to upper right. BCD Peloponnesos I 1622 (same dies); Schultz 7.1 (V3/R5 - this coin); SNG Lockett 2525 (same dies) = Weber 4322; BMC 13; HGC 5, 976 (same dies as illustration). 12.05g, 23mm, 10h.
Near Extremely Fine; magnificent old cabinet tone. Of the greatest rarity; a splendid example of one of the most sought-after and admired issues from late Classical Greece.
This coin published in S. Schultz, Die Staterprägung von Pheneos in SNR 71 (1992);
From the Dr. Burkhard Traeger Collection;
Ex Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG, Auction 304, 19 March 2018, lot 412 (hammer: 17,000 EUR);
Ex F. Sternberg AG, Auction XXI, 14 November 1988, lot 112;
Ex Myers/Adams, Auction 6, 6 December 1973, lot 156;
Ex Adolph Hess AG - Bank Leu & Co. AG, Auction 36, 17 April 1968, lot 229;
Ex Jacob Hirsch, Auction XXX, 11 May 1911, lot 543;
Ex Consul Eduard Friedrich Weber Collection, Jacob Hirsch, Auction XXI, 16 November 1908, lot 2052, noting "cabinetstück ersten ranges. Prachtvolles exemplar von größter seltenheit." ("Cabinet coin of the first rank. A magnificent example of the greatest rarity");
Ex Robert Carfrae Collection (Part I), Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 23 May 1894, lot 177.
The reverse of this stater shows the mythical ancestor of the Arkadians, the infant Arkas, being carried to safety by Hermes, here identified by his caduceus. Arkas was the son of Zeus by the nymph Kallisto, a follower of the goddess Artemis. Once Kallisto's pregnancy had been discovered, the virgin goddess, who insisted all her acolytes take vows of abstinence, expelled the girl from her company for her disobedience. As further punishment, after she gave birth she was transformed into a bear either by the outraged Artemis according to Hesiod's version of the myth, or according to Ovid by a vindictive Hera, the scorned wife of Zeus. However, Hermes rescued her baby son and delivered him to the nymph Maia to raise. Arkas would go on to become king of Arkadia and a great hunter. Whilst out hunting one day Arkas came across Kallisto and tragically unaware that the bear was in fact his mother, went to kill her with an arrow in the sacred sanctuary of Zeus Lykaeos. All versions of the myth concur on the following events: in order to stop this transgression, Zeus intervened and turned the mother and son into the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Arkas first appears in Greek art in about 370 BC when the Arkadian League was refounded, and this reverse type has many parallels across the Greek visual tradition. It was likely inspired by the near-contemporary statue of Hermes at Olympia by the renowned sculptor Praxiteles. It is comparable both in composition, with the drapery falling from Hermes' shoulder over the arm with which he carries the child, and also in subject matter, with the sculpted god carrying the infant Dionysos, another illegitimate son of Zeus, to be safely raised by maenads at Nysa.
The urgent motion of the reverse type is beautifully offset by the stillness of the magnificent obverse bust of Demeter, her elaborate waved hairstyle elegantly rendered in a manner reminiscent of the exquisite Arethusa of Euainetos, a model which was also adapted by the Opuntians and others. This coin represents one of the great gems of Arkadian coinage, a rarity today originally conceived and produced in a time of great uncertainty and conflict among the Greek city states.
Near Extremely Fine; magnificent old cabinet tone. Of the greatest rarity; a splendid example of one of the most sought-after and admired issues from late Classical Greece.
This coin published in S. Schultz, Die Staterprägung von Pheneos in SNR 71 (1992);
From the Dr. Burkhard Traeger Collection;
Ex Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG, Auction 304, 19 March 2018, lot 412 (hammer: 17,000 EUR);
Ex F. Sternberg AG, Auction XXI, 14 November 1988, lot 112;
Ex Myers/Adams, Auction 6, 6 December 1973, lot 156;
Ex Adolph Hess AG - Bank Leu & Co. AG, Auction 36, 17 April 1968, lot 229;
Ex Jacob Hirsch, Auction XXX, 11 May 1911, lot 543;
Ex Consul Eduard Friedrich Weber Collection, Jacob Hirsch, Auction XXI, 16 November 1908, lot 2052, noting "cabinetstück ersten ranges. Prachtvolles exemplar von größter seltenheit." ("Cabinet coin of the first rank. A magnificent example of the greatest rarity");
Ex Robert Carfrae Collection (Part I), Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 23 May 1894, lot 177.
The reverse of this stater shows the mythical ancestor of the Arkadians, the infant Arkas, being carried to safety by Hermes, here identified by his caduceus. Arkas was the son of Zeus by the nymph Kallisto, a follower of the goddess Artemis. Once Kallisto's pregnancy had been discovered, the virgin goddess, who insisted all her acolytes take vows of abstinence, expelled the girl from her company for her disobedience. As further punishment, after she gave birth she was transformed into a bear either by the outraged Artemis according to Hesiod's version of the myth, or according to Ovid by a vindictive Hera, the scorned wife of Zeus. However, Hermes rescued her baby son and delivered him to the nymph Maia to raise. Arkas would go on to become king of Arkadia and a great hunter. Whilst out hunting one day Arkas came across Kallisto and tragically unaware that the bear was in fact his mother, went to kill her with an arrow in the sacred sanctuary of Zeus Lykaeos. All versions of the myth concur on the following events: in order to stop this transgression, Zeus intervened and turned the mother and son into the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Arkas first appears in Greek art in about 370 BC when the Arkadian League was refounded, and this reverse type has many parallels across the Greek visual tradition. It was likely inspired by the near-contemporary statue of Hermes at Olympia by the renowned sculptor Praxiteles. It is comparable both in composition, with the drapery falling from Hermes' shoulder over the arm with which he carries the child, and also in subject matter, with the sculpted god carrying the infant Dionysos, another illegitimate son of Zeus, to be safely raised by maenads at Nysa.
The urgent motion of the reverse type is beautifully offset by the stillness of the magnificent obverse bust of Demeter, her elaborate waved hairstyle elegantly rendered in a manner reminiscent of the exquisite Arethusa of Euainetos, a model which was also adapted by the Opuntians and others. This coin represents one of the great gems of Arkadian coinage, a rarity today originally conceived and produced in a time of great uncertainty and conflict among the Greek city states.