Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Thrace, Abdera AR Stater. Circa 411-385 BC. Magistrate, Aristagores. Griffin springing to left / Dionysos seated to left on back of panther advancing to right, holding kantharos and thyrsos; EΠ APIΣTAΓOPEΩ around, all within incuse square. May, Abdera 398 var. (A278/P- [unlisted rev. die]); Gillet 837 (same obv. die); Chryssanthaki-Nagle p. 123 (dating circa 361 BC); C. Lorber, Amphipolis: The Civic Coinage in Silver and Gold (Los Angeles, 1990), Appendix 3, 'Two Recent Thracian Hoards of the Mid-Fourth Century', p. 178 (this coin cited). 12.93g, 23mm, 10h.
Good Extremely Fine; light cabinet tone with golden highlights around devices, a remarkably advanced composition engraved by a master die cutter. Extremely Rare; one of only two examples offered at auction in the past two decades - the other having been sold by Hess-Divo (Auction 335, lot 21) for CHF 210,000 in 2018.
This coin cited in C. Lorber, Amphipolis: The Civic Coinage in Silver and Gold (Los Angeles, 1990);
Ex Prospero Collection, The New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012, lot 228;
Ex Giessener Münzhandlung Dieter Gorny GmbH, Auction 44, 3 April 1989, lot 155.
In the sixth and early fifth centuries BC, staters of Abdera featured a quadripartite incuse reverse like many coins of the period, but towards the end of the fifth century BC the explosion of classical artistry into die engraving caused a dramatic evolution of the reverse into a canvas for designs of all kinds. This particular issue depicts Dionysos riding on the back of a panther, holding his characteristic kantharos and thyrsos. The theme has numerous parallels in contemporaneous art, particularly on red figure vases from the early fourth-century BC and a famous mosaic in Pella dating to the later fourth century, pointing perhaps towards a shared original model in Greek painting. The type also superficially resembles that of Dionysos riding an ass on similarly-dated tetradrachms of Mende in Macedon, but which are entirely divergent in character. The best tetradrachms of Mende are laissez-faire in style like their subjects; this rendition of Dionysos meanwhile is controlled, crisp and reveals an extraordinary level of discipline in its design. The figural postures are dignified, even formal, and in this sense the design is thoroughly archaising in character.
The composition of the reverse is notably regular, seemingly conceived using geometric principles on a grid layout, suggesting that the die-engraver had been influenced by the Polykleitan Canon. It is widely accepted by art historians that the sculptor Polykleitos, creator of the celebrated Dorphoros figure, developed a framework for creating the perfect proportions of the human body, using Greek number theory and geometric practice of the time, a methodology that has gone on to be hugely influential for artists right up to the present (Tobin R., 1975. The Canon of Polykleitos, American Journal of Archaeology, 79(4), p.307). Whilst Polykleitos was working in three dimensions, the concepts of ratio and symmetria on which he based his sculpture could just as easily be applied in a two dimensional medium in order to convey the same effect of a balanced composition, which appears to be on display on the reverse of this coin.
While the coinage of Abdera is renowned for its wide-ranging and highly artistic reverse types, the depiction of a griffin on the obverse of this stater (portrayals of which are seen on the vast majority of its coins) is more informative as to the cultural make-up of this city state. This griffin is directly comparable with the griffins that appear on the coinage of Teos in Ionia, a result of the migration of the people of Teos to Thrace in the middle of the 6th century BC, fleeing from the advances of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.
The earliest issues of Abdera date to very shortly after the arrival of Teian refugees in Thrace, which would suggest that it was indeed their influence that inspired the use of the griffin iconography, which then persisted throughout the following issues. This stater which was produced possibly 150 years after the first Abderan coins highlights exactly this continuation; despite the fact that it seems Teos was in fact re-founded in Ionia not long after its people had fled (Strabo, Geographica, xiv.1.30) the deep connection represented by this symbol remained.
Good Extremely Fine; light cabinet tone with golden highlights around devices, a remarkably advanced composition engraved by a master die cutter. Extremely Rare; one of only two examples offered at auction in the past two decades - the other having been sold by Hess-Divo (Auction 335, lot 21) for CHF 210,000 in 2018.
This coin cited in C. Lorber, Amphipolis: The Civic Coinage in Silver and Gold (Los Angeles, 1990);
Ex Prospero Collection, The New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012, lot 228;
Ex Giessener Münzhandlung Dieter Gorny GmbH, Auction 44, 3 April 1989, lot 155.
In the sixth and early fifth centuries BC, staters of Abdera featured a quadripartite incuse reverse like many coins of the period, but towards the end of the fifth century BC the explosion of classical artistry into die engraving caused a dramatic evolution of the reverse into a canvas for designs of all kinds. This particular issue depicts Dionysos riding on the back of a panther, holding his characteristic kantharos and thyrsos. The theme has numerous parallels in contemporaneous art, particularly on red figure vases from the early fourth-century BC and a famous mosaic in Pella dating to the later fourth century, pointing perhaps towards a shared original model in Greek painting. The type also superficially resembles that of Dionysos riding an ass on similarly-dated tetradrachms of Mende in Macedon, but which are entirely divergent in character. The best tetradrachms of Mende are laissez-faire in style like their subjects; this rendition of Dionysos meanwhile is controlled, crisp and reveals an extraordinary level of discipline in its design. The figural postures are dignified, even formal, and in this sense the design is thoroughly archaising in character.
The composition of the reverse is notably regular, seemingly conceived using geometric principles on a grid layout, suggesting that the die-engraver had been influenced by the Polykleitan Canon. It is widely accepted by art historians that the sculptor Polykleitos, creator of the celebrated Dorphoros figure, developed a framework for creating the perfect proportions of the human body, using Greek number theory and geometric practice of the time, a methodology that has gone on to be hugely influential for artists right up to the present (Tobin R., 1975. The Canon of Polykleitos, American Journal of Archaeology, 79(4), p.307). Whilst Polykleitos was working in three dimensions, the concepts of ratio and symmetria on which he based his sculpture could just as easily be applied in a two dimensional medium in order to convey the same effect of a balanced composition, which appears to be on display on the reverse of this coin.
While the coinage of Abdera is renowned for its wide-ranging and highly artistic reverse types, the depiction of a griffin on the obverse of this stater (portrayals of which are seen on the vast majority of its coins) is more informative as to the cultural make-up of this city state. This griffin is directly comparable with the griffins that appear on the coinage of Teos in Ionia, a result of the migration of the people of Teos to Thrace in the middle of the 6th century BC, fleeing from the advances of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.
The earliest issues of Abdera date to very shortly after the arrival of Teian refugees in Thrace, which would suggest that it was indeed their influence that inspired the use of the griffin iconography, which then persisted throughout the following issues. This stater which was produced possibly 150 years after the first Abderan coins highlights exactly this continuation; despite the fact that it seems Teos was in fact re-founded in Ionia not long after its people had fled (Strabo, Geographica, xiv.1.30) the deep connection represented by this symbol remained.