Arrival of New Coin Purchased from Harlan Berk Sale 217: Aspendos "Wrestler" Stater

The coin I purchased at the Harlan J. Berk Buy or Bid Sale #217 arrived today, and I'm very happy with it. The dealer's photo definitely doesn't do it justice (especially in showing the very visible iridescence); I think the HJB video gives a better idea. It's a type I've wanted for some time, and I'm pleased to add it to my quite small ancient Greek collection (about 20 coins including "Republican Provincials").

Aspendos, Pamphylia, Asia Minor, AR Stater ca. 380/75-330/25 BCE (Tekin, 4th Series [see fn.]). Obv. Two standing wrestlers, naked, grappling with legs spread apart and heads touching; wrestler on left grasps his opponent’s left wrist with his right hand, and left elbow with his left hand; wrestler on right grasps his opponent’s left arm with his right hand; letters “KI” [for name of minting magistrate] in field between wrestlers, below knee level / Rev. Slinger wearing short chiton, standing with trunk in facing position, head and legs in profile facing right, legs held straight with feet apart, left arm extended forward holding sling with left thumb, right arm drawing sling back with elbow bent; triskeles in right field with legs running left; ΕΣΤϜΕΔΙΙΥΣ [adjectival form of city name Estwediius in Pamphylian dialect of Ancient Greek] upwards behind slinger; all contained within square dotted border. SNG Copenhagen 226 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Copenhagen, The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, Danish National Museum, Part 31, Lycia, Pamphylia (Copenhagen 1955)]; SNG Von Aulock II 4557 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Deutschland, Sammlung Hans Von Aulock, Vol. 2: Caria, Lydia, Phrygia, Lycia, Pamphylia (Berlin 1962)]; BMC 19 Lycia 45-46 [both with initials “KI” on obv.] [Hill, G.F. A Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum, Lycia, Pamphylia, and Pisidia (London, 1897) at p. 99]; Sear GCV Vol. II 5397 (obv. var. -- diff. magistrate’s initials) [Sear, David, Greek Coins and their Values, Vol. II, Asia & Africa (Seaby 1979) at p. 491], 26 mm., 10.96 g. Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 217th Buy or Bid Sale, 17 Sep. 2021, Lot 132; ex. Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 7 March 2001.*






I just added this one, which allows one to expand the video to full-screen mode, which really shows the coin off well:

Aspendos video from hjb by DonnaML posted Sep 23, 2021 at 10:22 PM

*Aspendos, near the south coast of Anatolia, ”was an ancient city in Pamphylia, Asia Minor, located about 40 km east of the modern city of Antalya, Turkey. It was situated on the Eurymedon River about 16 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea.” See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspendos. It was captured by the Persians in 411 BCE (not for the first time), and remained under Persian domination until captured by Alexander the Great in 333 BCE. Id.

In the introduction to BMC 19 Lydia, supra at p. lxxii, the reverse legend in the Pamphylian dialect and the reverse iconography of the slinger on this type of Aspendian “wrestler stater” are explained as follows:



See also the Wikipedia article on Pamphylian Greek, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamphylian_Greek.

According to an important article on the Aspendian wrestler/slinger staters, this type falls into the so-called “4th Series” out of five, issued circa 380/75-330/25 BCE; it probably belongs to the later part of that period. See Tekin, Oğuz, Aspendian 'Wrestlers' : an iconographic approach, in: Mécanismes et innovations monétaires dans l’Anatolie achéménide. Numismatique et Histoire. Actes de la Table Ronde d’Istanbul, 22-23 mai 1997 (Istanbul : Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 2000), pp. 159-169 at 165-167 (Varia Anatolica, 12) (available at https://www.persee.fr/doc/anatv_1013-9559_2000_act_12_1_956):

“4th SERIES (c. 380/75 - c. 330/25 B.C.)

On the obverse of the staters which we have classified under this series there are letters found between the wrestlers at knee level (pl. XXVIII, 11). These letters are shown in Table 1 below [Table omitted; the two-letter combinations used include “KI”). . . . It is understood that in the first examples of the [4th] series there was only a single letter on the obverse or reverse.. . .

These letters figuring on the obverse of the staters indicated the initials of either the name of a single magistrate or of two different magistrates. The changed order of certain letters on some staters, that is the A figuring before the Z in one example (AZ) whereas in another the Z figures before A (IA), if not a coincidence, must have been done with considerations of equity as regards the priority in magistrates' names. There exist six such examples [listed in Table 3; KI is not included among them.] . . .

The noteworthy main feature on the obverse of the staters of this series is the position of the wrestlers. One of the wrestlers holds his opponent's arm with both hands, whereas the other holds his opponent's wrist. The wrestler's match therefore is now represented in one single position [by contrast to the 16 different positions found in some of the earlier series]. As regards the slinger on the reverse, there is not much change at first. But the quadratum incusum tends to disappear in the first examples and gradually becomes totally inexistant. Therefore, in the great majority of this series there is a square dotted border instead of the quadratum incusum on the reverse, the incuse [found on the earlier coinage] has disappeared.”

Although Tekin proceeds to discuss the countermarks that are common in the 4th Series, he notes that “The last examples of the fourth series do not have countermarks.” My coin does not have any countermarks.

Please post (1) your own coins from Aspendos, or (2) any coins you might have bought yourself from the current Harlan J. Berk sale.

 

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The type is also found from Selge but the style is not as good.

 

Great new coin @DonnaML . This is a very cool type with a neat subject. Who doesn’t love a nice Greek silver coin every now and then? Very cool video. You are right it does really bring out the toning.

Mine is also ex Harlan J Berk. I posted a write up on it recently.


PAMPHYLIA, Aspendos
AR Stater, Aspendos mint, struck ca. 380-325 BC
Dia.: 22.1 mm
Wt.: 10.62 g
Obv.: Two wrestlers; the left one holds the left arm of his opponent with both hands, the opponent grasping with right hand his right wrist; no control in between legs.
Rev.: Slinger, wearing short chiton, discharging sling to right; Π in between legs; on right, triskeles to right, EΣTFEΔIIVΣ behind, all within incuse square; c/m: wolf running left in rectangular incuse.
Ref.: BMC 52; SNG Copenhagen 214; Tekin Series 4
Ex Harlan J. Berk; Ex Minotaur Coins

 

That's a beautiful coin, @Curtisimo. I guess it belongs to the same Tekin Series 4 as mine, although it has some differences. I don't think the reverse design on yours actually is within an incuse square, though: I think that as with mine, Tekin's comment that "in the great majority of this series there is a square dotted border instead of the quadratum incusum on the reverse, the incuse [found on the earlier coinage] has disappeared” is applicable.

 

Selge was also in Pamphylia, somewhere near Aspendos? Do you know which location used the type first?

 

Coingrats! Another stunner Donna!
That toning is on point. I wish there were more pugilistic scenes on coins. I recall seeing one digging a punch to the mid section on one of these. But alas, I've only the standard version:

Pamphylia. Aspendos

370-330 BCE
Stater AR
22mm., 10,17g.
Two wrestlers grappling; AΦ between / EΣTFEΔIIVΣ, slinger to right, triskeles in right field.
very fine
SNG France 83



IONIA. Smyrna. Ae (Circa 115-105 BC). Paramonos, magistrate.
Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right.
Rev: ΠAPAMO ΣΜΥΡΝΑΙ.
Hand in caestus; palm to right. Milne 1927, 239. Good very fine. 1.91 g, 14 mm.
Numismatik Naumann Feb 2021

 

Nice, @Ryro. What's the second coin you posted? Something from Smyrna?

I honestly would not have bought the Aspendos coin based solely on the photo, even though it's actually better than most of the photos in the sale. It was the video which sold me on it, especially in the full screen view!

 

That’s a beautiful example Donna, congrats! They really did a great job with that video, I always enjoy those.


Pamphylia, Aspendos. AR Stater (22 mm, 10.65g). Circa 380-325 BC. Two nude wrestlers, standing and grappling with each other; between them, AK./ Rev. Slinger standing right; to right, triskeles running left; all within dotted square border. Tekin Series 4.

 

You got it! a pugilistic glove to go along with the sports.

 

Wow!....That's is a wonderful looking example @DonnaML....
Thanks for the full screen video, as you've said it really does allows us to see the coin in all its beauty!....You do have a good eye for quality!
Congrats on a lovely addition to your impressive collection...Paul
ps..Informative write up too...

 

Those are both impressive coins!

Aspendos has long been on my wish list because it's one of the few ancient ruins I've visited myself. It was a very nice day. I took a cab to the ruins and spent several hours just walking around them myself. There was hardly anyone else.

 

Aspendos is listed as first in what I have read but both used the type over a long period and dates give to coins are generally very wide spans. Judging from fabric, your coin must be a century before my Selge. Sear notes that Selge was 25 miles north of Aspendos but over the border into Pisidia. The Wikipedia article begins, "Selge (Greek: Σέλγη) was an important city in ancient Pisidia and later in Pamphylia" but does not elaborate on the details. Selge was said to have been founded by Spartans and were particularly warlike in that region.

Most of the time, I have shown my favorite coins of Aspendos from the period when many were countermarked as shown by Curtisimo above. My collecting interests strongly favors coin with countermarks and I consider my later Selge somewhat 'defective' with poor style and lacking countermarks. Repeating them:

 

Wonderful example of the type @DonnaML! I've often wondered why these two sports in particular were chosen for the design, especially given the longevity of the issue and similar motifs in Selge makes it unlikely it was done to commemorate a singlular athlete or competition. Anyways, here's my example (finally managed to get one earlier this year, however it's a slightly more archaic type).

 

Hello Donna,
I usually don't like toned coins but this one is the exception..superb strike and definitely eye candy for just about anyone...no doubt.
You are lucky to be it's caretaker,
J.T.

 

I wrote to HJB to ask if they could tell me anything about the previous sale of this Aspendos stater on March 7, 2001, in terms of whether it was an auction, a retail sale, etc. Aaron Berk was kind enough to write back to tell me that it was sold to a Dr. Spina at a coin show in Baltimore on that date -- I assume that it must have been a fairly major show for HJB to travel from Chicago -- and even sent me a copy of the invoice, with the buyer's address redacted. Interestingly, it seems that the price of the stater has increased less in the last 20 years than some of the other coins Dr. Spina purchased at the same time, including Roman denarii and Byzantine gold.



Edited to add: if it's the same Spina, he was (or is) apparently a well-known collector, especially of ancient Greek coins. See https://coinsweekly.com/nomos-ag-ch-zurich-8/ ("The Spina Collection, formed in the USA, is well-known for the quality of the Greek coins it contains"); Triton XXII catalog, Jan. 2019, at https://issuu.com/cngcoins/docs/cng_triton_xxii (including coins from the Spina Collection).

 

That reminds me of one of my favorite ancient statues, in a museum in Rome:

 

Great coin Donna and a real stunner.

 

IMHO it would have been more helpful if they told you where did they get it from in 2001 than who bought it from them...

 

Speak of the devil. Just as @DonnaML acquired a coin from Aspendos so did I.
Aspendos Ar Stater or double siglos 330/325-300/250 BC Obv Two wrestlers grappling. Rv, Slinger standing right. In right feild forepart of a horse over star. Tekin Series 5 SNG BN 114 10,47 grms 24 mm Tekin does observe that for some reason the obverse of this series of coins is less well engraved than the reverse. This series may have something to do with Alexander the Great and his relationship with the citizens of Aspendos. Initially he had made a deal which would have left Aspendos free of a Macedonian garrison in exchange for them sending to him what they had paid in tribute to the Persians. The citizens of Aspendos did not ratify this agreement so Alexander was compelled to march back to the city but this time he exacted much harsher terms.

 

Baltimore, March, 2001, was a good show for me, too. I bought 30 coins (of which I still have about 25) but none of them were from Berk and the total was less than we see on the Spina invoice. He did buy an Eastern Septimius but the invoice does not give details. Berk stopped being a good source for me when he hired someone that knew about the coins I liked and stopped being a good priced source for them. My haul that day was from three 'regular' dealers (Kern, Windsor, Zauche) and a few I do not recall having seen regularly but who had coins more 'my speed'. I do not recall seeing Berk at most Baltimore shows but could have missed him since, when there, he tended to have a table not near the rest of the Ancient and World dealers. Neither did Jonathan Kern but he was (and still is) worth seeking out when he does a show. The last few Baltimore shows I have been to have not been as good as back then but that may be because I have changed.

That was the show I commemorated with one of my favorite web pages. Those who have not seen it are invited:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/acmshow.html

The page was largely a lie piece of numismatic fiction since I was actually the buyer of every coin shown but credited them to the three buyers. There were others that did not make the page (I did not there admit to having spent over $500 that day) but all coins shown there were purchased at that show for the prices shown. Those were my favorite times in the hobby. It was fun. What would these coins sell for today? I have no plan to find out. I regret having sold the ones I considered mistakes and will keep the rest.

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