Selinos litra: this tiny coin has it all

Chock-full of artistic devices... check
Gorgeous iridescent toning... check
Cool provenance... check

Yep, it was a splurge. Good think I hadn't won those other expensive coins in Triton. I love this little thing! It's smaller than my thumbnail, a mere wafer of silver. How on earth did the engraver accomplish those incredible details? The MFB... look at the realistic rendering! The great detail on his face! Wow. Other than compositing the two sides and fixing the background, these images are unadulterated.

SICILY, Selinos.
c. 410 BCE
AR litra, 11mm, 0.76 g, 1h
Obv: nymph seated left on rock, right hand raised above her head, extending her left hand to touch coiled serpent before her; selinon leaf above
Rev: man-faced bull standing right; ΣEΛINONTIOΣ above; in exergue, fish right
Ref: HGC 2, 1229; SNG ANS 711–2 var. (ethnic); SNG Ashmolean 1904–5; SNG Lloyd 1270 var. (same); Basel –; Dewing –; Rizzo pl. XXXIII, 6.
Good VF, dark iridescent tone, some porosity. Rare.
ex MoneyMuseum, Zurich; ex Leu 79 (31 October 2000), lot 404.

The coin is fascinating and trying to find more information about the devices is leading to more questions, more research, more rabbit holes. At the moment I have more questions than answers. What is the nymph doing with the serpent? Charming it? Worshiping it? Communing? Could the serpent be Zeus Meilichius? Does this man-faced bull have a name? Is it a local river god?

Since I can't tell you any hard facts about the devices, here's some information about Selinos.



Founded in the mid seventh century BCE, Selinos began as an oligarchy. It was supposedly named for the abundant wild parsley found in the area (σέλινον, selinon). As is the case with most ancient (and modern!) city/states, Selinos went through a variety of rules and modes of rule. There were the usual cycles of hostilities and reconciliations with neighboring cities over the next three centuries. In 409 BCE the city was sacked and partly destroyed by Hannibal. Through treaties with Dionsius, then Timoleon, and then Agathokes Selinos was under the dominion of Carthage from 407 to ~278 BCE, when Selinites and other Sicilian cities asked Greek general Pyrrhus to assist them with driving out the Carthaginians. In 250 BCE Carthaginians destroyed Selinos.

RIP Selinos. You sure managed to produce some lovely coins in your brief existence.

...

Post your coins of Selinos . Or if you don't have any, something from Sicily.

 

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Wow => your first unveiling of your new scores!!!

Absolutely awesome, my Princess (totally jealous!!)

 

Pretty coin with lovely toning and sweet reverse.

 

Oh, and sweet photography (it looks even better in-TIF-hand than in the seller's photos) ... yah, I love the whole Sicily thingy (and Selinos is definitely one of the oldest coin producers => uber-cool)

hmmm? ... yah, I think my only two Selinos examples are these two old cast-bronze babies ... your coins definitely score mega-cool-points!!

Sicily, Selinos
AE Cast Tetras (3 Onkia)
450-440 BC
Gorgon Face & Selinon Leaf


Sicily, Selinos
AE Cast Onkia (1 Onkia)
450-440 BC
Kantharos & Selinon Leaf


=> TIF, I noticed that your lovely OP-coin also has a very cool Selinon Leaf ("celery") ... again, that's an awesome coin (congrats)

 

Thanks!! The iridescence blew me away. Just a little tilt toward the light and BAM!

 

I wish i could give you more than one like, totally awesome Coin Sis, love the color, super sweet.every time i look at it i see something new, very cool. remember to hold the snake behind the head or it will bite you...

 

I can't tell if she's charming the snake, using her hand to guide its head, or if she's about to deliver a bitchslap

 

I did that coin as a jigsaw last week, it has taken me ages to figure out that I must have got it off your site!

Here is my offering from Sicily. I have 4 or 5 but this is my favourite:


Sicily, Messana
Coin: Bronze Pentonkion
- Laureate head of Ares left, helmet behind.
MAMEΡTINΩN - Warrior, horse behind, standing left, spear in left, right holding head of horse, Π left.
Mint: Messana (220 - 200 BC)
Wt./Size/Axis: 10.72g / 26mm / -
References:

• SNG Cop 446, F

 

Nice!

I posted the seller's picture initially and replaced it with my images recently. You might need to upgrade your jigsaw

Thanks again for the coins-as-digital-jigsaws idea. I do at least one per day

 

I will do that thanks. If you get fed up of coins, google fractal images, sometimes I need a bit of colour

 

Gorgeous coin! I'd explain to you what a nymph does with a serpent, but it's a family-friendly forum.

 

Very, very nice. Two thumbs up. NO! Make it four:

 

Gorgeous! I was glad to see you win this. That MFB really is great for a coin this size.

They had many river gods in Sicily... not sure which one yours is. Here's mine from Gela.

SICILY, Gela
AE Tetras
3.8g, 17mm
Circa 420 - 405 BC
Jenkins 527
O: Head of young river-god Gelas right; ΓEΛAΣ before; grain ear behind.
R: Bull standing right; olive branch above, three pellets (mark of value) in exergue.

 

Gorgeous looking coin, can't find any faults with it. Congratulations on getting a beauty,

 

oh my gosh digity...that is awesome. color is awesome. nymph/serpent is a aweosme. man head bull is SUPER AWESOME.

 

Wow! Absolutely fantastic coin TIF!

 

There is a lot of detail on the coin for only 11mm. Very nice score.

 

In ancient mythology, the Greek god Zeus took the shape ( disguised ) of a bull in order to kidnap EUROPA who was the sister of Phoenician king KADMUS. Furthermore, in Egyptian Greek History It was presumed that Cleopatra Committed suicide by intruding a snake into her breast. I don't know if that could help satisfy your curiosity a little bit. BTW, you said right hand instead of left hand up there. Good luck in your research. I dream of owning a similar coin..
Charles

 

I was given additional information about this coin's history from the gracious underbidder, one of the curators of this Man-Faced Bull website, Nicola Sisci. The coin was formerly in the collection of Athos Moretti

Added provenance:
ex Athos Moretti collection, #482, unpublished manuscript

Per Nicola:

"482 is the catalog number from an unpublished manuscript of the Athos Moretti collection, compiled by Moretti himself with photos and notes. The manuscript was collected by Alberto Russo after Moretti's death, and consigned to Silvia Hurter to work for a publication. Unfortunately Hurter died before concluding the work, so the catalog is unfinished and has never been published, but there are copies in possession of scholars."

He goes on to say, "...this coin is a great rarity of great beauty.
For this variant only three specimens are known (the other two in worse conservation), and the die coupling of yours is the unique known."

More good news... the other curator of that website, Nick Molinari, has been working hard on a comprehensive book about Man-Faced Bull coinage. He hopes to have it ready for publication by the end of the year. This coin will be included in the plates. Per Nick: "it is arguably the nicest I have seen (which includes all the varieties listed in an upcoming corpus of the type)."

 

That' really neat TIF. One of three, and perhaps the nicest. What more can a collector want!