The New York Sale
Auction 32 8 January 2014
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ANCIENT COINS. GREEK COINS. Crete, Praisos (c.450-400 B.C.), Silver Stater, 11.68g, 12h. Cow (or mare?) standing to left, its head turned back to face towards an infant (Zeus?) kneeling below and apparently suckling. Rev. ΠPAIΣ (retrograde), Archer (Herakles?) kneeling to right, drawing a bow, all within a linear square within an incuse square (Babelon, Traité III, 1442, pl. CCXLV, 13 (these dies); Head, Historia Numorum, p. 475; Svoronos 2, pl. XXVII, 2 = E. Babelon, Monnaies Crétoises, RN 1885, p. 161, 5, pl. VIII, 8; H. Weber, 'On some Unpublished or Rare Greek Coins', NC 1896, p. 18, 34, pl. II, 10 = Weber 4578 var (animal standing to right and reverse legend not retrograde)).Lightly toned, very fine.A fascinating and extremely rare coin.
Ex Comtesse de Béhague Collection, J Vinchon, Nouveau Drouot, Paris, 14 April 1984, lot 148
Ex Prospero Collection, The New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012, lot 415
This incredibly rare coin displays very interesting types.The Weber specimen is similar, but the obverse is to the right rather than the left.The obverse type perhaps refers to the myth that Zeus was said to have been suckled with the milk of the goat Amalthea, although it is of course equally possible that the obverse refers to another local myth.
Estimate: US$ 12,000
Ex Comtesse de Béhague Collection, J Vinchon, Nouveau Drouot, Paris, 14 April 1984, lot 148
Ex Prospero Collection, The New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012, lot 415
This incredibly rare coin displays very interesting types.The Weber specimen is similar, but the obverse is to the right rather than the left.The obverse type perhaps refers to the myth that Zeus was said to have been suckled with the milk of the goat Amalthea, although it is of course equally possible that the obverse refers to another local myth.
Estimate: US$ 12,000