First auction win of the year- Larissa Drachm

After being skunked at every other auction and underbidder on SO many lots I bid on this year, I finally had a win today at CNG.

THESSALY, Larissa. Circa 365-356 BC. AR Drachm (20mm, 6.07 g, 11h). Head of the nymph Larissa facing slightly left, hair in ampyx / Horse standing right, preparing to lie down. Lorber, Hoard, Phase L-II, 34; BCD Thessaly II 315; HGC 4, 454 corr. (illustrations for 453 and 454 switched). Toned, a couple of light marks on reverse. Near EF.

Its not perfect, but I loved the style and that the face is looking more left than many others, it doesn't have a smashed nose, and that the centering is pretty good. I'm hoping it looks even better in hand than the photos.

 

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Beautiful coin. Congratulations.

 

Congrats kazuma , thats a beauty, heres mine:

 

Congrats! I'm struggling to see the reverse marks and the obverse style is indeed very attractive. It looks like a great coin.

 

Great addition @kazuma78 ! It definitely has great style!

 

THESSALY, LARISSA
AE16
OBVERSE: Head of nymph Larissa right, hair rolled
REVERSE: ΛAΡI below, ΣAIΩN above, horse grazing right, foreleg raised
Struck at Larissa 400-344 BC
3.34g, 16mm
BMC 89, SNG Cop 142
ex: Orielensis

THESSALY, LARISSA
AE 21
OBVERSE: Head of the nymph Larissa facing slightly left
REVERSE: ΛAΡI-Σ-AIΩN (retrograde) around horse prancing right; E above, grain ear below.
Struck at Larissa 400-344 BC
6.75g, 18mm
SNG Cop 138v

THESSALY, LARISSA
AR Trihemiobol
OBVERSE: Head of nymph Larissa three-quarter facing left in necklace, hair confined by fillet & floating loosely, with ampyx in front
REVERSE: ΛAPI (Laris) above, horse feeding right.
Struck at Larissa 395-344 BC
.75g, 10mm
SNG Cop 135

THESSALY, LARISSA
AR Trihemiobol
OBVERSE: Head of the nymph Larissa right, wearing pendant earring
REVERSE: ΛAPI above, ΠΛE in exergue, horse right, about to roll
Struck at Larissa 370-360 BC
1.4g, 12mm
BCD Thessaly II 274; Hoover, Volume 4 under "trihemiobols (c. 1.5g)" on page 146, number 474. R2 = Very Rare...3-24 extant examples

 

Very nice coin. Congrats on your pickup!

 

Its a beauty, congratulations!

 

A great new coin. You should be very happy with the win. It looks like you posted it on the facebook ancient and medieval coins group, too.

 

Knowing CNG's photos, I can pretty much guarantee it'll look even better in hand than the photo. Looks a very attractive piece.

 

Very nice coin, congratulations !
It's funny because such a Larissa drachm had been in my wish list for very long time and i have just had one last month



Larissa. Drachm circa 356-342, AR 6.20 g. Head of the nymph Larissa three-quarter facing l., wearing ampyx, pendant earring, and necklace. Rev. ΛΑΡΙΣ / ΑΙΩΝ Horse rolling r.; below, plant. Herrmann pl. V, 12. Lorber 2008, 61. BCD Thessaly 1156 (this coin).
Wonderful iridescent tone and extremely fine
Ex Nomos sale 4, 2011, BCD, 1156.

 

That's a very attractive drachm! Especially the reverse is of great style.

I only have the tiny obol version:

Thessaly, Larissa, AR obol, ca. 344–337 BC (?). Obv: head of the nymph Larissa facing slightly l., hair in ampyx, with necklace. Rev: [ΛΑΡΙΣ]-ΑΙΩΝ; horse grazing r. 11mm, 0.79g. Ref: BCD Thessaly I (2011), no. 1163; BCD Thessaly II (2013), no. 328, 342–344; SNG Copenhagen 135. Ex FSR, auction 106, lot 59; ex CNG, e-auction 395, lot 94; ex BCD collection.

 

You picked up a nice piece. I actually underbid that coin, so I was pleasantly surprised when this one showed up in CNG which I thought was comparable in quality.

 

Wow great catch. That is a super attractive looking coin. Congratulations!

John

 

Pretty close to perfect in my view.
Here is my example:

 

Thats a nice example too. The nose and lips are well defined. One of my criteria was one without a really smashed nose, which is really common on these.

 

Very nice!

The eyes are perfectly oriented. Quite often they are not well oriented in relationship to the angle of the head, which in the case of this type is three-quarters facing. Getting the proportions right is very difficult.

This type of obverse is very challenging for a skilled die engraver to create, much more so than profile.

 

Thats a good observation. On some of the type they often look "off" because of proportion and things like that. I guess I never put terms to it, but you are exactly right.

 

The ice is broken, your on a roll, tenacity works. Nice coin, thanks for sharing your win win!

 

What a stunner!

I picked up an ex-BCD collection hemidrachm from them a couple years ago - they offered small lots of 4-8 fractional silvers from Thessaly for like 10 consecutive auctions.



I'm too deep in Roman to quit now, but if I had to start collecting all over again, I'd probably choose Classical Greek - such artistry has never been seen on circulating coins in the 2,000+ years since!