297
Ionia, uncertain mint EL 1/12 Stater. Circa 5th Century BC. Siren standing right, holding
In Auction XI
Description
Ionia, uncertain mint EL 1/12 Stater. Circa 5th Century BC. Siren standing right, holding tympanon (tambourine) / Bukranion with fillets hanging from each horn. Rosen 369. 1.00g, 7mm, 10h. Good Very Fine. Extremely Rare, only the sixth recorded specimen. From the Doliones Collection. This type, which is known from just six examples including the current piece, was encountered for the first time in only 1957 when a specimen appeared for sale at the Hess-Leu auction in Lucerne on April 16 of that year. That piece, lot 271, now resides in Oxford. Two further examples were sold by Münzen & Medaillen, one on 6 October 1987 (lot 131), which was the Rosen specimen, and another on 22 March 2002 (lot 72). Jeffrey Spier wrote (Numismatic Chronicle 1988, p.221) that the first of these examples was 'gold rather than electrum', though it is clearly not. The fourth specimen was sold at The New York Sale 25 on 5 January 2011 (lot 97), whilst the fifth was sold in Roma Numismatics Auction III, 31 March 2012 (lot 197). The mythical Sirens are best known to us from two ancient epics: the 'Argonautica' by Apollonios, in which Jason and the Argonauts have to travel past them on their quest for the Golden Fleece, and Homer's 'Odyssey', where they are portrayed as a pair of dangerous creatures that lure passing sailors to their deaths with their sweet music (Odyssey XII, 40). They are supposed to have inhabited an island with a particularly rocky shoreline onto which sailors would be drawn by their desire to hear the Sirens sing, leading to shipwreck. Speaking to Odysseus and warning him of the dangers he would encounter further into his journey, Queen Circe describes the Sirens as sitting in a meadow, with around them "a great heap of bones of mouldering men" (XII, 45). Although later depicted as women with wings, feathery tails and scaly bird-like feet, and eventually as mermaids, whose bodies were as seductive as their voices, depictions of the Sirens in early Greek art were as they appear on this coin, combining the body of a bird with the head of a woman, as can be seen on the 'Siren Vase', now in the British Museum, decorated in c. 480-470 BC and roughly contemporaneous with this coin.
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Ionia, uncertain mint EL 1/12 Stater. Circa 5th Century BC. Siren standing right, holding tympanon (tambourine) / Bukranion with fillets hanging from each horn. Rosen 369. 1.00g, 7mm, 10h. Good Very Fine. Extremely Rare, only the sixth recorded specimen. From the Doliones Collection. This type, which is known from just six examples including the current piece, was encountered for the first time in only 1957 when a specimen appeared for sale at the Hess-Leu auction in Lucerne on April 16 of that year. That piece, lot 271, now resides in Oxford. Two further examples were sold by Münzen & Medaillen, one on 6 October 1987 (lot 131), which was the Rosen specimen, and another on 22 March 2002 (lot 72). Jeffrey Spier wrote (Numismatic Chronicle 1988, p.221) that the first of these examples was 'gold rather than electrum', though it is clearly not. The fourth specimen was sold at The New York Sale 25 on 5 January 2011 (lot 97), whilst the fifth was sold in Roma Numismatics Auction III, 31 March 2012 (lot 197). The mythical Sirens are best known to us from two ancient epics: the 'Argonautica' by Apollonios, in which Jason and the Argonauts have to travel past them on their quest for the Golden Fleece, and Homer's 'Odyssey', where they are portrayed as a pair of dangerous creatures that lure passing sailors to their deaths with their sweet music (Odyssey XII, 40). They are supposed to have inhabited an island with a particularly rocky shoreline onto which sailors would be drawn by their desire to hear the Sirens sing, leading to shipwreck. Speaking to Odysseus and warning him of the dangers he would encounter further into his journey, Queen Circe describes the Sirens as sitting in a meadow, with around them "a great heap of bones of mouldering men" (XII, 45). Although later depicted as women with wings, feathery tails and scaly bird-like feet, and eventually as mermaids, whose bodies were as seductive as their voices, depictions of the Sirens in early Greek art were as they appear on this coin, combining the body of a bird with the head of a woman, as can be seen on the 'Siren Vase', now in the British Museum, decorated in c. 480-470 BC and roughly contemporaneous with this coin.
Auction XI
Sale Date(s)
Venue Address
The Electra Room
The Cavendish Hotel London
81 Jermyn Street
London
SW1Y 6JF
United Kingdom
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Important Information
AUCTION XI
7 April 2016
10:00 Greek Coins
14:00 Roman, Migration Period, Byzantine and World Coins
Location:
The Electra Room
The Cavendish Hotel London
81 Jermyn Street
London
SW1Y 6JF
United Kingdom
Viewing:
At the office of Roma Numismatics
20 Fitzroy Square
London, W1T 6EJ
United Kingdom
From February 29th – April 6th:
Monday – Friday, 09:30 – 17:30
Lots will not be available for viewing during the sale.
Lots purchased online with the-saleroom.com will attract an additional charge for this service in the sum of 3% of the hammer price plus VAT at the rate imposed.
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CONDITIONS OF SALE
The following terms and conditions will apply to this auction:
- All estimates are in POUNDS STERLING. The opening bids will be 80% of the estimate unless there are existing higher bids. There will be a 17.5% Buyer’s Fee added to the hammer price.
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US COIN IMPORT RESTRICTIONS
Any coins in this sale that fall under US import restrictions but may still be legally imported into the US are accompanied by documentation proving that they were outside of the source country prior to the effective date, or are accompanied by a valid export certificate issued by the country of origin.
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