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G605 A Rare, Magnificent, and Important Greek Silver Stater of Megalopolis (the Arkadian League), the Portrayal of Zeus of Great Countenance, Among the Finest of All 4th Century Coins, a Numismatic Masterpiece
G605 A Rare, Magnificent, and Important Greek Silver Stater of Megalopolis (the Arkadian League), the Portrayal of Zeus of Great Countenance, Among the Finest of All 4th Century Coins, a Numismatic Masterpiece

Megalopolis

The coinage of Megalopolis for the Arkadian League

Stater (Silver, 12.13 g 9), summer 363 – spring 362. Laureate head of Zeus Lykaios to left. Rev. Youthful Pan, nude,, his head facing, seated to left on a rock covered by his mantle, holding lagobolon in his right hand and resting his left elbow on the rock; at the foot of the rock, syrinx and, in small letters, ; in field to left, . BMC 48 = Kraay/Hirmer 512 (same dies). Gerin 22 (dies 2/e, this coin). Jameson 1276 (same dies). Kunstfreund 203 (same dies). Very rare. Beautifully toned. Of wonderful late Classical style and struck in high relief. Extremely fine.

From the Peloponnesos Hoard (Gerin, pp. 21-22, but see below). One of the great rarities of the late Classical coinage of Greece and a true masterpiece of Greek numismatic art. The head of Zeus is surely taken from the statue of Zeus Brontaios by Leochares in Olympia and must refer to the Arkadians’ short-lived conquest of Olympia from the Eleans a few years before this coin was struck. According to Gerin’s reconstruction, all the staters were struck starting in Spring 363 and finished with the Battle of Mantinea in July 362. From that point on the League effectively broke up into two groups, one centered on Megalopolis and the other on Mantinea. This coin is one of the very finest examples of the stater coinage of the Arkadian League; there are 33 specimens known of which 21 are in public museums and 3 are in this sale. The only example of equal quality on the market in recent years was the Gillet coin from Kunstfreund (from the same dies as this), which reappeared as lot 224 in Leu 77 (11 May 2000) where it sold for 240,000 Swiss francs on an estimate of 80,000! Concerning the hoard that this coin comes from, new evidence suggests that rather than having been found in the late 1960s, as stated by Gerin, it really appeared prior to 1937 (and may, in fact, be part of IGCH 60). The confusion seems to have been caused by the fact that the coins were owned by a gentleman who died at a very advanced age in the late 1960s; only after his death were his coins dispersed by his heirs. In addition to this piece and the coin in the following lot the hoard also contained numerous staters of Olympia (including lot 637, above) and the magnificent Pheneos stater that appears here below as lot 1617.

LHS96, 1512

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Taken on: March 9, 2006
Sets appears in:   • Masterpieces of Greek Coinage   
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G605 A Rare, Magnificent, and Important Greek Silver Stater of Megalopolis (the Arkadian League), the Portrayal of Zeus of Great Countenance, Among the Finest of All 4th Century Coins, a Numismatic Masterpiece

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