Nomos AG
Auction 27 22 May 2023
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SICILY. Naxos. 415-410 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 28 mm, 15.10 g, 4 h). Bearded head of Dionysos to right, wearing a hair band ornamented with an ivy wreath, and with his relatively short hair hanging loose in curly locks. Rev. ΝΑΞΙΟΝ Nude and bearded Silenos facing, squatting on a pile of grapes, his right knee raised, his left on the ground, and his tail coming out to left, turning his head to the left towards the two-handled, stemless drinking cup he holds in his right hand, and holding an upright thyrsos with his left; to left, ivy branch. Buceti 15. Cahn 103.12 (the reverse illustrated on pls. V and XI) = Kraay-Hirmer 9 = Rizzo pl. XXVIII, 19 (this coin). Very rare. Of superb Classical style and with a pleasing dark patina. Struck on a defective flan with edge breaks, otherwise, extremely fine.
From the Outstanding Collection (= J. Abecassis), Leu Numismatics 81, 16 May 2001, 91.
In around 460 BC Naxos produced its first tetradrachm, with dies by the Aitna Master; a second series, of which this is a fine example, came out around 40 years later. These new coins reflect the rapid artistic and intellectual developments which occurred during those years. Dionysos is portrayed as a much more human and pensive figure than before: his hair is shorter, his beard trimmed and his ivy wreath is replaced by an ivy-leaf-ornamented tainia; and the Silenos on the reverse has lost most of his wild, animal qualities, with only a barely seen tail allowing us to recognize him as a supernatural figure. This issue was a very small one, but unlike the first it was produced with a single obverse die paired with five reverses (of which this coin utilizes the last): the unusually large number of associated reverses makes it likely that they must have been defective in some way, and that they rapidly broke in use. This die is quite special because the engraver decided to change the ivy-entwined rock on which Silenos usually sits (as on Cahn 99-102, reverses R81-R84 and AMB 386 = Cahn 99) into a pile of grapes (clearly visible in the enlargement of this coin in Kraay/Hirmer): an appropriate albeit messy arrangement.
From the Outstanding Collection (= J. Abecassis), Leu Numismatics 81, 16 May 2001, 91.
In around 460 BC Naxos produced its first tetradrachm, with dies by the Aitna Master; a second series, of which this is a fine example, came out around 40 years later. These new coins reflect the rapid artistic and intellectual developments which occurred during those years. Dionysos is portrayed as a much more human and pensive figure than before: his hair is shorter, his beard trimmed and his ivy wreath is replaced by an ivy-leaf-ornamented tainia; and the Silenos on the reverse has lost most of his wild, animal qualities, with only a barely seen tail allowing us to recognize him as a supernatural figure. This issue was a very small one, but unlike the first it was produced with a single obverse die paired with five reverses (of which this coin utilizes the last): the unusually large number of associated reverses makes it likely that they must have been defective in some way, and that they rapidly broke in use. This die is quite special because the engraver decided to change the ivy-entwined rock on which Silenos usually sits (as on Cahn 99-102, reverses R81-R84 and AMB 386 = Cahn 99) into a pile of grapes (clearly visible in the enlargement of this coin in Kraay/Hirmer): an appropriate albeit messy arrangement.