Toned Gela Tetradrachm

I recently found this nicely toned Gela Tetradrachm with the Man Faced Bull. I have been after one for many years and am really pleased with this one. Reading Nicolas Molinari and Sisci's great new book was the last straw, I had to get one. This photo was taken au natural, which is to say, using only natural light coming from a skylight. This took a six second exposure and I think it came out great.



Sicily. Gela. Ca. 480-470 BC. AR tetradrachm 17.3 gm.
Obverse: Charioteer driving walking quadriga right, Nike flying right above to crown horses.
Reverse: Forepart of man-headed bull in kneeling-running stance right. Jenkins, Gela, Group IIb, HGC 2, 338. Pleasant old collection toning with some iridescence.

Post all your coins from Gela!

John

 

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Beautimous!

 

Thanks! The toning of the silver is darker in hand than the picture shows, but the picture shows the iridescence more prominently. You have to look carefully to see the blue patches in hand. I think the long exposure makes it pop more.

 

Love that coin!

 

As a silver lover I'm very impressed! That coin has beauty and elegance in abundance.

 

I have a weakness toward toned silver. The thin line of blue/green/orange iridescence makes this coin pop. Congratulations

 

Nice coin. I got this one earlier this year.


SICILY, Gela
AR Tetradrachm
480 - 475 B.C.

17.18 gms, 25-26 mm
Obv: Charioteer driving walking biga
right, Nike flying above, crowning
horses.
Rev: Forepart of man-faced bull right.
C-E-Λ-AΣ (C mostly off flan)
Grade: Good Very Fine overall with
claim to a higher grade bar an old
reverse scratch and obverse radial
flow marks possibly due to a
slightly deteriorated die. Near EF.
Other: Jenkins 139 similar to the Bode Museum example. Ex David Murray of Tyche Numismatics from AncientNoob August 2016.

 

Beautiful coin, especially the man-headed bull side.

 

I prefer the OPs obverse depicting the Charioteer driving walking biga right. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

These are great coins. Yours is stupendous!

 

I do not have big silver but...

AR litra (1/20 of the tetradrachm size) .7g 465-450 BC


AE tetras? (dots - one up, three down???) 420-405 BC Unfortunately the bull face did not make it on the flan. The bronzes I have seen just have normal bulls but this could be a man head??? The head of Gelas is identified by legend before the face of which three letters can be seen if you have good imagination.

I am regularly upset by coins of this region mislabeled by sellers. Take the one below for example. The seller illustrates an old tag that IMHO correctly calls the coin a tetras or 1/4 litra. They 'corrected' it to trias or 1/3 litra but a trias needs to have four dots since the dot system used indicated the number of twelfths of a litra the coin represented. We see this error on Republican bronzes and on coins of pre-Roman Italy and Sicily like this one. I really do not know what to make of my coin and whether the top dot should be counted making it a trias or if only the lower three count making it a tetras. I have not been able to find another with bull right and legend on the side with the river god. I would appreciate photos of other coins.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=126578

 

Great coin, John, and thanks for the compliment about the book. These earlier tetradrachms are the best ones, imo. I'm researching Gelo more now and he really was the perfect figure to intoduce the iconography to Sicilian coinage, especially with his ties to the female chthonic goddesses and years as a mercenary (we briefly mention that in Potamikon).

Doug, Gela always used a regular bull on its bronzes, except for a really weird and very late issue that copied the didrachm:

https://manfacedbulls.wordpress.com/countermarks/

There are three known and they might be fake, although all three examples look really convincing.

Here is my later Gela tetradrachm (c. 420 BC):

 

That's a fine specimen alright, congrats! My only coin from Gela is a rather beat up bronze, but I love it.

 

Here's my didrachm from the same time period as your tetradrachm.

And here's a really neat imitation which Boeringer attributes to Ducenzio. The so-called 'solar wheel' on the reverse is a significant pairing with the MFB ('MFB' is now in my autocorrect options, lol). In Italic and Sicilian traditions Acheloios was more closely linked to chthonic forces and in Etruscan epigraphy is even referred to as an 'overseer of sunrise'!

 

Gela tetradrachm, c 450-440 BC, 29 mm, 16.45 g
Gulbenkian 199; Jenkins, Gela 354 (same dies); Rizzo pl. XVII, 20; SNG ANS 65 (same dies); HGC 2 343.
ex Classical Numismatic Group, Inc., Auction 100, 7 October 2015, lot 1267.
ex Numismatik Lanz Munchen, Auction 50, 27 November 1989, lot 61.

 

AWESOME coin @Theodosius ! I love Acheloios / MFB!

I happen to have only ONE coin from Gela, however it happens to be ACHELOIOS also! I always like fractionals, as they can be harder to find.


Sicily, Gela.
AR Litra, 0.63g, 13mm, 8h; 465-450 BC
Obv: Bridled horse advancing right; wreath above.
Rev: ΓEΛA; Forepart of man-headed bull right.
Reference: HGC 2, 373.
Ex: @John Anthony

 

Wonderful posts!

 

I might as well show my one and only example (again)

 

Well, since @Nicholas Molinari has just posted, now I am excited about the MFB's again! Tried to get a very nice one recently, but got BLOWN AWAY. I think it is your fault Nicholas, cuz your book is getting folks excited about these Funky Man-Bull Critters...

Here are a couple others that I have:


Campania Neapolis 320-300 BC AR Nomos Nymph Achelous O-R.jpg
Ex: @Ancientnoob



Campania
AE
Apollo-Achelous
275-250BCE
SNG ANS 474
Ex: A random shooting in an auction...
Nicholas Molinari 15-June-2016 stated: "Your ... coin is a plate coin in Potamikon, number 343 in our catalog so Sambon 663; Taliercio IIIa.16; MSP I, 343, featuring Acheloios Sebethos as a man-faced bull. Taliercio cited three examples of this type, so yours is the fourth known of that particular variety."

I love this little guy... Besides the 3 I have, I plan to find some more buddies for him.

 

Wow Theo => congrats on that amazing Op-coin!!

Oh, and great coins "everyone" ... very cool thread