Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 138 18-19 May 2023
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Rhegium.
Tetradrachm circa 415-400, AR 17.13 g. Lion's head facing. Rev. PΗΓΙΝΟΝ Laureate head of Apollo r.; behind, two olive leaves. SNG Fitzwilliam 850 (these dies). Kraay-Hirmer 288 (this reverse die). Herzfelder 76d (this coin illustrated). Ward 122 (these dies). Historia Numorum Italy 2496.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, possibly the best specimen known.
A portrait of great beauty, undoubtedly the finest of the entire series, perfectly struck
and centred on a full flan. Lovely light old cabinet tone and good extremely fine
From an Exceptional Collection assembled between the early 70s and late 90s.
Rhegium was an important city of Magna Graecia located at the southern tip of the Italian peninsula. Due to its location, it became a major crossing point from Italy to northern Sicily. The lion mask obverse type of this tetradrachm was a traditional emblem of the city going back to the period when Rhegium was ruled by the tyrant Anaxilas (494-476 BC). It seems to have been adopted after Anaxilas assisted a group of exiles from Samos in seizing control of Zankle in the early fifth century BC. The Samian occupiers of Zankle had struck their own coins with a lion scalp type before Anaxilas evicted them and refounded Zankle as Messana in 490 BC. Both Rhegion and Messana employed the same lion mask type in the 480s BC as a means of indicating the extension of Anaxilos' and Rhegium's power across the Strait of Messene. After the end of the Anaxalid tyranny the mask remained a standard emblem of Rhegion down to the third century BC. The reverse type depicting Apollo reflects the artistic and cultural influence of Greek Sicily across the Strait and into Magna Graecia. The late fifth century BC was a time of great artistic flowering in Sicily and the period of the celebrated "signing artists" at Syracuse and other cities of Sicily. These developments were emulated at Rhegium by an engraver who signed his dies Kratessipos and an engraver who did not sign his work but is often known as the "Master of the Rhegium Apollo." The present tetradrachm is unsigned, but features a beautifully executed and preserved head of Apollo that may be the work of the "Master of the Rhegium Apollo" or his disciples. The general treatment of Apollo with a laurel spray behind his head may have been inspired by the work of the "Master of the Leaf," who produced a very similar depiction of Apollo at Catana about a decade slightly earlier than the Rhegine type.
Tetradrachm circa 415-400, AR 17.13 g. Lion's head facing. Rev. PΗΓΙΝΟΝ Laureate head of Apollo r.; behind, two olive leaves. SNG Fitzwilliam 850 (these dies). Kraay-Hirmer 288 (this reverse die). Herzfelder 76d (this coin illustrated). Ward 122 (these dies). Historia Numorum Italy 2496.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue, possibly the best specimen known.
A portrait of great beauty, undoubtedly the finest of the entire series, perfectly struck
and centred on a full flan. Lovely light old cabinet tone and good extremely fine
From an Exceptional Collection assembled between the early 70s and late 90s.
Rhegium was an important city of Magna Graecia located at the southern tip of the Italian peninsula. Due to its location, it became a major crossing point from Italy to northern Sicily. The lion mask obverse type of this tetradrachm was a traditional emblem of the city going back to the period when Rhegium was ruled by the tyrant Anaxilas (494-476 BC). It seems to have been adopted after Anaxilas assisted a group of exiles from Samos in seizing control of Zankle in the early fifth century BC. The Samian occupiers of Zankle had struck their own coins with a lion scalp type before Anaxilas evicted them and refounded Zankle as Messana in 490 BC. Both Rhegion and Messana employed the same lion mask type in the 480s BC as a means of indicating the extension of Anaxilos' and Rhegium's power across the Strait of Messene. After the end of the Anaxalid tyranny the mask remained a standard emblem of Rhegion down to the third century BC. The reverse type depicting Apollo reflects the artistic and cultural influence of Greek Sicily across the Strait and into Magna Graecia. The late fifth century BC was a time of great artistic flowering in Sicily and the period of the celebrated "signing artists" at Syracuse and other cities of Sicily. These developments were emulated at Rhegium by an engraver who signed his dies Kratessipos and an engraver who did not sign his work but is often known as the "Master of the Rhegium Apollo." The present tetradrachm is unsigned, but features a beautifully executed and preserved head of Apollo that may be the work of the "Master of the Rhegium Apollo" or his disciples. The general treatment of Apollo with a laurel spray behind his head may have been inspired by the work of the "Master of the Leaf," who produced a very similar depiction of Apollo at Catana about a decade slightly earlier than the Rhegine type.