Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 527 16 Nov 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
PHRYGIA, Prymnessus. Time of Gallienus. AD 253-268. Æ (22mm, 6.73 g, 6h). Draped bust of King Midas right, wearing Phrygian cap / Dikaiosyne standing left, holding scales and scepter. von Aulock, Phrygiens 962-7 (same rev. die as 962); SNG München –; SNG von Aulock 3938 var. (rev. legend). Green patina with earthen deposits. VF.
Midas, the mytho-historical king of Phrygia and Lydia, was granted the so-called "Golden Touch" by Dionysus because the king wished for unending wealth as a reward for his guest-friendship to Silenus. Everything Midas touched turned to gold, including food. Starving and pleading for relief, the king was instructed to bathe in the waters of the river Pactolus. The water removed Midas' "gift" and turned the sand of the river-bed into grains of gold. It was the naturally-occuring ore of the Pactolus that became the source of the metal used in the first archaic electrum coinages of Asia Minor.
Midas, the mytho-historical king of Phrygia and Lydia, was granted the so-called "Golden Touch" by Dionysus because the king wished for unending wealth as a reward for his guest-friendship to Silenus. Everything Midas touched turned to gold, including food. Starving and pleading for relief, the king was instructed to bathe in the waters of the river Pactolus. The water removed Midas' "gift" and turned the sand of the river-bed into grains of gold. It was the naturally-occuring ore of the Pactolus that became the source of the metal used in the first archaic electrum coinages of Asia Minor.