Gemini, LLC
Auction 12 11 January 2015
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Sicily. Camarina. c. 414-405 BC. Tetradrachm, 17.36g (12h). Obv: Quadriga left, driven by Athena wearing chiton and crested helmet, who pulls in the reins with both hands in order to check the galloping horses; above, Nike flying right to crown her; in exergue, heron flying left. Rx: ΚΑΜΑΡΙΝΑΙΟ[Ν] Head of bearded Herakles wearing lion-skin headdress, facing left but turning slightly to front, his right eyelash and right brow just visible above his nose, the right eye of the lionskin also visible. U. Westermark in Studies Price (London 1998), pp. 373-377, pl. 78, 1 (this coin). Cf. Westermark and Jenkins, p. 179, no. 135 (same obverse die O2'). Toned VF
Ex CNG 26, 11 June 1993, lot 208. Ex Lanz 62, 26 November 1992, lot 91. Ex Gorny 56, 7 October 1991, lot 47
An artistically important new reverse die in Camerina's coinage, unattested before its appearance in CNG 26 of 1993. As Westermark writes (p. 374), "the new head could be characterized as an experiment [towards the creation] of a three-quarter view. The foreshortening is skillful and the effect pleasing, but the three-quarter view is not fully attained....The lion's scalp on top of the head is drawn with both eye sockets visible....In the upper part of Herakles' head there is a slight turn towards the viewer with a glimpse of his right eye but it fades out in the lower part, and the neck is rendered in pure profile. The head is thus an artistically convincing fusion of three-quarter and profile aspects and matches well the semi-perspective quadriga on the obverse which has a similar mixture of foreshortened and profile details"
Ex CNG 26, 11 June 1993, lot 208. Ex Lanz 62, 26 November 1992, lot 91. Ex Gorny 56, 7 October 1991, lot 47
An artistically important new reverse die in Camerina's coinage, unattested before its appearance in CNG 26 of 1993. As Westermark writes (p. 374), "the new head could be characterized as an experiment [towards the creation] of a three-quarter view. The foreshortening is skillful and the effect pleasing, but the three-quarter view is not fully attained....The lion's scalp on top of the head is drawn with both eye sockets visible....In the upper part of Herakles' head there is a slight turn towards the viewer with a glimpse of his right eye but it fades out in the lower part, and the neck is rendered in pure profile. The head is thus an artistically convincing fusion of three-quarter and profile aspects and matches well the semi-perspective quadriga on the obverse which has a similar mixture of foreshortened and profile details"