Numismatica Ars Classica Zurich

Auction 116  –  1 October 2019

Numismatica Ars Classica Zurich, Auction 116

A highly important collection of Greek coins

Tu, 01.10.2019, from 2:30 PM CEST
The auction is closed.

Description

Phocaea
Stater circa 580, EL 16.49 g. Head of griffin r. with open jaws and protuding tongue: on forehead pellet. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Bodenstedt 1a. Gillet 1118 (this obverse die). Robinson 7. cf. Triton VI, 2003, 360 (this obverse die).
Of the highest rarity, possibly the third specimen known of this intriguing and
fascinating issue. Struck in high relief and of superb style. Good very fine

Ex New York sale XXV, 2011, 96.
This extremely rare and masterfully executed electrum stater has been attributed to the Ionian city of Phokaia on the grounds that the griffin was an early badge of the city used on coins. It is somewhat unclear why this mythical creature composed of the forepart of an eagle and the hind legs and tail of a lion should have been such an important symbol for the city when it had already used the punning symbol of a seal (phoka in Greek). According to Herodotos, griffins guarded a vast source of gold somewhere in northern Europe in order to prevent the Aramaspians, an equally fantastic race of one-eyed men, from stealing it. In reality, the iconography of the griffin heads at Phokaia seems to come not from the far north, but from the Near East. Griffins occur in Iranian, Levantine, and even Mycenean art already in the Bronze Age. In recent times it has been suggested that the head of the Archaic griffin, with its distinctive beak and eye sockets, might have been inspired by the ancient discovery of a fossil skull of a protocerotops (a herbivorous dinosaur of the Cretaceous Period), but this seems somewhat improbable since depictions of ancient griffins at Phokaia or elsewhere notably include tall ears and lack the defensive neck frill regularly possessed by the dinosaur.

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Bidding

Price realized 65'000 CHF
Starting price 40'000 CHF
Estimate 50'000 CHF
The auction is closed.
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