Dionysos- simply beautiful face, but then my fantasy crumbled...

This silver coin made in the ancient Greece, Thasos mint (Thracia) dated 168-148 b.c. always amazes me to think about the individuals who may actually held it in their hands throughout the passage time before the birth of Christ..

First view
of this coin, I thought to myself, this is a very handsome woman,
however my bubble popped when the myth of Dionysos was laid bare, as the story goes, Dionysos is a Son of Zeus, and was carried and birthed by his dad, everything in the immortal realm is possible I suppose? This feminine looking god was known as the bad boy of Mt. Olympus, the "god of wine, merriment, & drunken misdeeds..
I am not a coin expert, so if those of you that are, can examine this one, fill me in on its minuet details, such a inscriptions on back, quality of image (coin in general)
presumed $ value and of course anything that may be of interest I would love to be
educated...! Thanks

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

You should post this in the Ancients section forum or have a mod move the thread over there. You will get a better response there.

 

..he shore has got a purdy mug! ... ah, you don't want anyone using your coin pics?.. ok...

 

This is a nice example of a relatively common ancient coin worth $350ish dollars.

Sometimes ancient Greek portraits of young versions of male gods look a little feminine to us here 2300 years later. He is wearing a wreath of ivy leaves, thus the heart shaped leaves. Dionysos is no lightweight god, some of his followers were rather scary.

Overall a very cool coin.

John

 

Welcome to CoinTalk

Many of the Greek gods looked more feminine than did the goddesses, at least by today's standards. Apollo certainly looks more feminine.

Are these the seller's images with your watermark added or your images? The watermark detracts from the images. Why do you need a watermark? If "Gardner Gallery" is a website showcasing your collection it would be better to have a single small logo in a position that doesn't obscure the coin.

As for your other questions, a good starting place would be CNG's archives. Here are the results pages for search terms "Thasos tetradrachm Dionysos" . Note the three tabs near the top, Coin Shop, eAuctions, and Printed Auctions. To see all 447 of the results you'll need to click on each. The eAuctions will in general have lower value coins so if you're looking for comparisons to your, start there.

You'll notice that there is a huge range of artistry for these tetradrachms of Thasos. Some have extremely artistic renderings of Dionysos and others are just plain ugly. To further confuse matters, there are tons of eastern European imitations of the type (not modern fakes; contemporary imitations) which also range from quite similar in style to comical.

Some examples from CNG's archives:

Very artistic dies (fine style) and higher grade:


CNG 102, Lot: 188. Estimate $500.
Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off THRACE, Thasos. Circa 140-110 BC. AR Tetradrachm (32.5mm, 16.95 g, 12h). Wreathed head of young Dionysos right / Herakles standing facing, head left, holding club, lion skin draped over left arm; M to inner left. Prokopov, Silberprägung, Group X, 483 (V Ka30/R 402); Le Rider, Thasiennes 51; HGC 6, 358. Good VF, lightly toned. Well centered and struck.


867815. Sold For $1950

ISLANDS off THRACE, Thasos. Circa 168/7-148 BC. AR Tetradrachm (36mm, 16.98 g, 11h). Wreathed head of young Dionysos right / Herakles standing facing, head left, holding lion skin and club set on ground; ΔI monogram to inner left. Prokopov, Silberprägung, group II, (V B1/R18); SNG Copenhagen 1038 (same dies). EF, attractively toned. Good style.

Average style and average condition:



418, Lot: 37. Estimate $150.
Sold for $170. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off THRACE, Thasos. Circa 140-110 BC. AR Tetradrachm (29.5mm, 16.99 g, 12h). Head of young Dionysos right, wearing ivy wreath / Herakles standing facing, head left, holding club in right hand, lion skin draped over left arm; M to inner left. Prokopov, Silberprägung, Group X, 173.2 var. (V Ka3/R – [unlisted rev. die]); Le Rider, Thasiennes 51; HGC 6, 358. VF, toned, slight roughness.


423, Lot: 22. Estimate $300.
Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off THRACE, Thasos. Circa 140-110 BC. AR Tetradrachm (32mm, 16.91 g, 12h). Head of young Dionysos right, wearing ivy wreath / Herakles standing facing, head left, holding club in right hand, lion skin draped over left arm; M to inner left. Prokopov, Silberprägung, Group IX, 200 (V Ic2/R 170); Le Rider, Thasiennes 51; HGC 6, 358. Good VF, toned.

With weird style:

398, Lot: 39. Estimate $200.
Sold for $150. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off THRACE, Thasos. Circa 90-75 BC. AR Tetradrachm (31.5mm, 16.65 g, 12h). Wreathed head of young Dionysos right / Herakles standing facing, head left, holding club, lion skin draped over left arm; monogram to inner left. Prokopov, Silberprägung, Group XII, 739 var. (V–/R589 [unlisted obv. die]); Le Rider, Thasiennes 52; HGC 6, 359. VF, toned, some die wear on obverse.

Imitative with degraded/comical style:


398, Lot: 356. Estimate $200.
Sold for $140. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EASTERN EUROPE, Imitations of Thasos. Late 2nd-1st century BC. AR Tetradrachm (33mm, 14.60 g, 12h). Mint in the lower Danube region. Stylized head of Dionysos right, wearing ivy wreath; crude style / Stylized Herakles standing left, head right, holding club, lion skin draped over arm; legend highly degraded. OTA Class IV. VF, light deposits, some die wear on obverse.


383, Lot: 266. Estimate $150.
Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EASTERN EUROPE, Imitations of Thasos. 1st century BC. AR Tetradrachm (36mm, 16.33 g, 1h). Mint in the lower Danube region. Stylized head of Dionysos right, wearing ivy wreath; highly degraded form / Stylized Herakles standing right, holding club and lion skin; legend degraded to dots. OTA Class V; cf. Lukanc 1770; KMW –. VF, toned, wavy flan, small scattered marks, minor scrape on reverse

 

WOW... just, wow! I find it actually amazing how abstract it is yet still resembles the general form of the face!

 

I know!

Actually, I really want one of those comically degraded style tets. There was one in a Pecunem auction ~4 or so years ago I still regret not chasing higher. I've yet to see its equal in strangeness.

 

Apollo has done this same thing to me...more than once

Antiochos II Theos
261-246 BCE
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo
Reverse: Tripod

 

When I was new to ancients; I too thought the obverse image was a woman. Go back to Nagidos coins of Cilicia, circa 4th century BC and you'll find the Dionysus you were looking for.

My before and after of Herakles. 90 days of crossfit.

 

that is very fascinating!..

 

um..his last names Gardner...

 

I don't have a Thasos tet yet, but I've always liked these super-girly Dionysos depictions. Oh, and welcome, @Steven Michael Gardner!


PHRYGIA, Hierapolis
Civic Issue
AE28. 12.36g, 28mm. Circa AD 2nd-3rd centuries. RPC Online 2045; SNG Cop 428. O: IЄPAΠOΛЄI-TΩN, head of youthful Dionysos right, wearing ivy wreath. R: The Abduction of Persephone: Hades in galloping quadriga right, carrying off struggling Persephone.

 

Nice ones guys. Here's mine



Thasos, Thrace Tetradrachm
Head of young Dionysos right, wreathed with ivy

HPAKΛEOYΣ ΣΩTHPOΣ ΘΑΣΙΩΝ
Heracles standing facing, head left, right hand resting on club, lion skin in left
Monogram in left field

34mm, 16.82g
Thasos
c. 148-90/80 BC
SNG Copenhagen 1040

ex-ANE

"Hercules is the savior of the people of Thasos!"

 

Nice coins everyone. I too thought it was a woman for a long time haha. Here's my rather worn example

 

My example, not particularly remarkable, but it has a huge flan (35 mm), and nice subtle golden toning

 

Yes, I noticed that before writing the comment and assumed he had a website for his coins, "Gardner Gallery", but that doesn't change my opinion on pasting two advertisement watermarks over the coin images.

 

Nice, here is the coin i used to have.

 

Fixed it for you!

 

><