Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 133 21 Nov 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Greek Coins. Bruttium, Rhegium.
Tetradrachm circa 435-425, AR 17.30 g. Lion's mask facing; in l. field, olive twig. Rev. RECINOΣ retrograde Apollo Iocastus seated l., himation over lower limbs; r. hand holding long staff. Below chair, duck; all within olive wreath. SNG ANS 639 (these dies). Kraay-Hirmer pl. 99, 287 (these dies). BMC 12. Boston, MFA 203. Herzfelder 46. Historia Numorum Italy 2488.
Rare and in unusually fine condition for the issue. Struck on a very large flan and with
a portrait of Iocastus of excellent style. Wonderful old cabinet tone, a minor
edge nick at five o'clock on reverse, otherwise about extremely fine
Ex Vinchon 13 April 1985, Pflieger, 60 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 104 sales.
The earliest coinage of Rhegium, a colony at the end of the 'toe' of Italy, was modelled after the coinage of Sicily, as this city's contacts were much stronger with the island across the strait than with its Italian neighbours. This magnificent tetradrachm is a perfect example: its denomination and weight standard were ideal for trade in Sicily, and even its thick fabric and its designs on both sides in relief would have made it more acceptable in its intended market. Enough praise cannot be showered upon this particular coin, which is a pristine example from the first pair of dies used to strike coins at Rhegium. Though the charm of the series endured, none of the Archaic period dies quite match the quality of this first set, which was the prototype for all that followed. The lion's scalp is a tour de force because of its sublime simplicity; the reverse is both forceful and elegant, and possesses all of the best qualities of late Archaic Greek art. In the late 19th Century Percy Gardner expressed interest in the "...remarkable series of seated male figures, which are artistically of the greatest interest". This included the symbolical bearded figure from the Rhegium tetradrachms, sitting in the attitude of Zeus, and a similar figure on the early coins of Tarentum. He described each of these figures as a Demos of the city, but current studies tend to adopt the view that J. P. Six expressed in the Numismatic Chronicle of 1898, that the figure is Iocastus, the traditional founder of Rhegium. Not only would he be an appropriate subject, but on some examples (Herzfelder 59-60) a serpent is shown beneath the chair, and the legend holds that Iocastus died from a snake bite.
Tetradrachm circa 435-425, AR 17.30 g. Lion's mask facing; in l. field, olive twig. Rev. RECINOΣ retrograde Apollo Iocastus seated l., himation over lower limbs; r. hand holding long staff. Below chair, duck; all within olive wreath. SNG ANS 639 (these dies). Kraay-Hirmer pl. 99, 287 (these dies). BMC 12. Boston, MFA 203. Herzfelder 46. Historia Numorum Italy 2488.
Rare and in unusually fine condition for the issue. Struck on a very large flan and with
a portrait of Iocastus of excellent style. Wonderful old cabinet tone, a minor
edge nick at five o'clock on reverse, otherwise about extremely fine
Ex Vinchon 13 April 1985, Pflieger, 60 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 104 sales.
The earliest coinage of Rhegium, a colony at the end of the 'toe' of Italy, was modelled after the coinage of Sicily, as this city's contacts were much stronger with the island across the strait than with its Italian neighbours. This magnificent tetradrachm is a perfect example: its denomination and weight standard were ideal for trade in Sicily, and even its thick fabric and its designs on both sides in relief would have made it more acceptable in its intended market. Enough praise cannot be showered upon this particular coin, which is a pristine example from the first pair of dies used to strike coins at Rhegium. Though the charm of the series endured, none of the Archaic period dies quite match the quality of this first set, which was the prototype for all that followed. The lion's scalp is a tour de force because of its sublime simplicity; the reverse is both forceful and elegant, and possesses all of the best qualities of late Archaic Greek art. In the late 19th Century Percy Gardner expressed interest in the "...remarkable series of seated male figures, which are artistically of the greatest interest". This included the symbolical bearded figure from the Rhegium tetradrachms, sitting in the attitude of Zeus, and a similar figure on the early coins of Tarentum. He described each of these figures as a Demos of the city, but current studies tend to adopt the view that J. P. Six expressed in the Numismatic Chronicle of 1898, that the figure is Iocastus, the traditional founder of Rhegium. Not only would he be an appropriate subject, but on some examples (Herzfelder 59-60) a serpent is shown beneath the chair, and the legend holds that Iocastus died from a snake bite.