The Sheer Beauty of Ancient Greek Tets

If I had a time machine I'd love to meet the celator that created this masterpiece. Forget Julius Caesar or Marc Anthony, I'd rather spend a day or two watching this talented master practicing his trade in his workshop at the mint.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Thanks It really is incredible that artists were able to engrave on that small of a canvas. I'm particularly fond of small coins for that reason.

Here's another obol with a bit less detail but very refined style that's in the same category in my eyes:



And this Thasos hemidrachm, a new purchase of mine and one of my favorite coins, weighs in at 3.95gr and a whopping 12.5mm:

 

Yes, I love your octopus obol too but I felt guilty posting (poaching?) too many of your coins rather than mine.

That new Thasos.... just WOW!!! The Herakles is absolutely incredible. I see it was once a part of the "Star collection." Know anything about this provenance? Did they buy it from LHS, or was that the provenance before the 1972 Bank Leu sale?

Warm congratulations on a fabulous new purchase!

 

If I had a day to browse your collection, I'd think you'd need help dragging me out of the room because I'd never want to leave. Seriously, I think I've said this to you before, but if I haven't I'll say it again...I've seen some big history museums here in the US with lesser collections of ancients than what you have. I'm sure places like the British Museum might have stuff you only dream of, but on this side of the Atlantic your collection would easily outshine most museums' collections.

 

I believe were I forced to declare on the matter, I would say AJ's Akragas obol is the finest example of die engraving I have seen. I admit that I do like the Akragas dekadrachms as well but they simply do not have the millimeter to millimeter excellence of this little coin. This thread is on the wonders of 'Greek' coins but I have a particular fondness for the Italian and Sicilian flavors of 'Greek'. They do have some dies that are better than others and the vast majority of the coins we see entering the market lack anything approaching the preservation of this coin. Still, on average, the pedestrian grade coins in my price bracket still show a distant kinship to AJ's Akragas obol, a kinship that survives wear and the ravages of time.

Most of us probably have coins that we would like to upgrade. In my case, I would most like better specimens of the tiny treasures. These are not my best coins but they are the ones I wish had come through the ages as they were when struck.

Syracuse AR hexas (1/6 litra) Arathusa head but badly laminated


This tetartemorion of Hekatomnos also has been ruined by lamination but the die work on the 3/4 facing head on the reverse still shines (until I find a better one).

 

And on the lion!

 

Thanks! I appreciate the compliments

 

Thanks! I don't have any specifics about the who "Star" was but I believe they purchased it from NAC's sale number 8 in 1995 (I've unintentionally wound up with several coins from NAC 8). I bought it privately from a big collector who has sold off a small portion of his collection.

The earlier pedigree is:

"From the Star collection, ex Numismatica Ars Classica 8, 3 April 1995, 235, Bank Leu 25, 23 April 1980, 91 and Bank Leu 2, 25 April 1972, 136."

There were a small number of these found in the late 60s/early 70s so I don't foresee there being any earlier pedigree before Leu 2.

 

What strikes me about this coin is the detail in the lion's-head mask on the reverse. For a coin that's not even 0.5" in diameter, the ability to engrave that level of detail onto a die is stunning. Most engravers would not have bothered even to try, let alone succeed, at this engraving quality. Truly great artistry!

 

Albeit mine is not the "uncirculated" state as your gorgeous Obol, I captured my AE Tetras for the same reason: NOT History (hey, I DIGRESSED!), but the beautiful art work on s SMALL canvas:


SYRACUSE 2nd Democr 466-405 BCE Æ Tetras 2.7g 15mm c.425 BCE Arethusa dolphins - Octopus 3 pellets SNG ANS 376 Calciati II.21.1