Wrestlers of Aspendos

I first saw this very coin offered in Roma XIII earlier this year. It was, IMHO, the nicest of three examples being offered, all of which were struck from the same dies. An example of an early Aspendos stater was on The List, so I kinda sorta fancied it then, just not at that auction's starting price. Passing on it turned out to be a fortuitous decision, because it came up for sale again in this past week's CNG auction, and this time, I managed to pick it up for less than half of its closing price in the Roma auction .

There's a small area of flat striking on the coin, but it's not terribly distracting. The wrestlers have well-sculpted musculature, and their facial features are amazingly clear. There's quite a bit going on in their poses... with the left wrestler grabbing the right's leg below the knee, while the right pulls the left toward him with one hand behind his neck. There's some lack of consensus as to what they're doing with their other hand, but what ostensibly looks like punches to the gut is almost certainly the wrestlers holding onto each other's belt or loincloth. The wrestlers in the more plentiful later series where they only hold hands/wrists are completely naked, but in better struck examples of these hand-to-waist varieties, the wrestlers are quite clearly wearing belts or some similar gear. And to add to that, punching an opponent in the abdomen would probably have been against the rules.

I regret a little that @dougsmit whose Aspendos stater inspired this purchase will probably not be impressed by my example's lack of countermarks, but for him I found this example in CNG's sale archives .

As always, feel free to post 'em if you have 'em!


PAMPHYLIA, Aspendos
AR Stater. PAMPHYLIA, Aspendos, circa 420-410 BC. SNG Cop -; Tekin Series 1; SNG BN 47 var. (direction of triskeles)O: Two wrestlers grappling; the one on the left holding his opponent's leg and belt, the one on the right holding his opponent's neck and belt. R: ΕΣΤFΕΔΙΙΥΣ, slinger in throwing stance right; triskeles to right in field; all within dotted square border.
Ex Roma XIII (23 March 2017), lot 366

 

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Gotta love getting a coin cheaper then it was once below. Has happened to me a few times over the years.

It's a great coin!

 

Growing up in a region of the country where HS wrestling is big, I always liked these (Alas, I played basketball). Nice coin, especially when you got it at a much better price.

 

Great coin. I have looked at these several times and have always found them interesting.

 

That's a super example!! I LOVE the artistry and details! It seems you scored big time at your winning price!

I picked one up from A-Noob quite a while ago---a stater of Pamphilya...no belt grabbing here:

 

Great coin Z! I like this engraver's style. It's somewhat unusual for the series, don't you think? There's something slightly archaic about it.

 

Wonderful style! Congrats on the fortuitous price

That multiply countermarked example you linked-- wow!

 

WOW is right---What a cool coin.....five (5) different countermarks?!?

 

Definitely a little archaic crudeness in some of these early ones, I think. But these are pretty scarce compared to the later ones, so I haven't seen enough examples to have a really educated opinion. Tekin's paper on the Wrestlers coinage of Aspendos is online. He breaks them down into 5 series and makes some interesting comments on style and iconography.
http://www.persee.fr/doc/anatv_1013-9559_2000_act_12_1_956

 

I like the slinger on yours, and of course the toning. Nice buy!

 

Thats a very neat coin! Nice score.

 

Nice example. I wonder why it was resold so quickly.

Here's mine:

PAMPHYLIA, Aspendos.
AR Stater, 22mm, 10.78g, 12h; c. 380/75-330/25 BC.
Obv.: Two wrestlers grappling; ΦK between, below
Rev.: Slinger in throwing stance right; EΣTFEΔIIYΣ to left, counterclockwise triskeles of legs to right; lion countermark in lower right field.

 

There are quite a few variations. I do like the c/m ones but also like the variant poses whatever yo call them. Mine seems to show fingers clenched punching below the belt. I'm not so sure what I think on these

 

Seems that countermarks are common on these staters, makes them even more attractive imho

 

Love the facial features @zumbly

 

Thanks for the comments and for posting your examples, everyone!

 

Very nice Zumbly! Great artistry! Congrats!

 

That's a great coin Z. Congrats!

 

I had not seen @zumbly 's style until recently. I need to get one.
I have a few.
Note* Obv's 1 and 2 are die matches.





-Michael

 

That's a nice group of Tekin Series 4 and 5 examples. I especially like the first one.