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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 2836199, member: 57495&quot;]I first saw this very coin offered in Roma XIII earlier this year.&nbsp; It was, IMHO, the nicest of three examples being offered, all of which were struck from the same dies.&nbsp; An example of an early Aspendos stater was on The List, so I kinda sorta fancied it then, just not at that auction&#039;s starting price.&nbsp; Passing on it turned out to be a fortuitous decision, because it came up for sale again in this past week&#039;s CNG auction, and this time, I managed to pick it up for less than half of its closing price in the Roma auction <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie33" alt=":cigar:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>There&#039;s a small area of flat striking on the coin, but it&#039;s not terribly distracting.&nbsp; The wrestlers have well-sculpted musculature, and their facial features are amazingly clear.&nbsp; There&#039;s quite a bit going on in their poses... with the left wrestler grabbing the right&#039;s leg below the knee, while the right pulls the left toward him with one hand behind his neck.&nbsp; There&#039;s some lack of consensus as to what they&#039;re doing with their other hand, but what ostensibly looks like punches to the gut is almost certainly the wrestlers holding onto each other&#039;s belt or loincloth.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; And to add to that, punching an opponent in the abdomen would probably have been against the rules. </p><p><br /></p><p>I regret a little that [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] whose Aspendos stater inspired this purchase will probably not be impressed by my example&#039;s lack of countermarks, but for him I found <a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=303246" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=303246" rel="nofollow">this example</a> in CNG&#039;s sale archives <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>As always, feel free to post &#039;em if you have &#039;em!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]669738[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>PAMPHYLIA, Aspendos</b></p><p>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&#039;s leg and belt, the one on the right holding his opponent&#039;s neck and belt. R: ΕΣΤFΕΔΙΙΥΣ, slinger in throwing stance right; triskeles to right in field; all within dotted square border.</p><p><i>Ex Roma XIII (23 March 2017), lot 366</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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