Greek Silver & Bronze Coins

Lot 2511    SESSION 11 (9.30AM THURSDAY 25TH NOV)    Greek Silver & Bronze Coins

Estimate $2,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $1,500

MACEDONIA, Chalcidian District, Mende, (c.520-480 B.C.), silver tetradrachm, (17.03 g), obv. Ihyphallic donkey standing to right, on rump, a crow or magpie to left, pecking, traces of letters MIN, rev. Mill-sail incuse square with five diamond compartments, (S.1278 [?1500], Noe 3. SNG ANS 293, HGC 3, 540). About very fine, minor gouge on reverse, very rare.

Ex Gemini LLC Auction XIII, 6th April 2007 (lot 25), previouslty from Gorny & Mosch Sale 240, 10 October 2016, (lot 91) and Gorny & Mosch Sale 142, 10 October 2005, (lot 1302).
The ass depicted on this coin represents the mount of Silenos or Dionysos, both of whom appear on later emissions of Mende. For some time there has been controversy about the identity of the bird that pecks at the rump of the ass. It was long thought to be a crow or starling, until a detailed ornithological study by J. Kagan ("Notes on the Coinage of Mende," AJN 26 [2014]) revealed that modern Eurasian jays and especially magpies are known for the habit of perching on donkeys in order to pluck hairs for building nests. Since the jay/magpie (described by the same name in ancient Greek) is identified as sacred to Dionysos by the late Greek author Lucius Annaeus Cornutus it seems inescapable that we are dealing with such a bird here and not a crow which, after all, was sacred to Apollo.