Ancient Gold
Lot 1708 Session 6 (9.30am Thursday) Ancient Gold
Estimate $600
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $400
LESBOS, Mytilene, c.430 B.C., electrum hekte (2.46 grams), Bodenstedt dates 454-428/7 B.C., obv. head of Aktaion with stag's ear and small horn to right, his hair falling on his shoulders in coarse locks, rev. Gorgon head facing within linear square, (cf.S.4246 [£850]; Bodenstedt 54 [same dies as obv. f/ rev. n], [dies illustrated enlarged Pl.22, 2]; SNG Von Aulock 7735, SNG Lockett 2760, SNG Fitz. 4348). Worn but of the finest early Classical style, fine and very rare.
Aktaion had inadvertenly seen Artemis bathing. The goddess in her anger changed him into a stag and he was torn to pieces by her own dogs. This myth is popular in Greek vase painting but only found on coins from Kyzikos, Lampsakos and this hekte of Mytilene and in all cases for one issue only. On this piece the transformation from a youth to the stag is illustrated with the hair turning into a mane.
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Adjacent lots
Lot 1706
MACEDON, Kingdom of, Alexander III, (336-323 B.C.), gold stater, (8.574 grams), Lampsacus mint, issued 328-323 ...
Estimate $2,400
Lot 1707
THRACE, Kingdom of, Lysimachos, (323-281 B.C.), gold stater, (8.22 grams), Tomis mint, posthumous issue c.88-86 ...
Estimate $2,500
Lot 1708 This lot
LESBOS, Mytilene, c.430 B.C., electrum hekte (2.46 grams), Bodenstedt dates 454-428/7 B.C., obv. head of ...
Estimate $600
Lot 1709
SASSANIAN KING, Shapur II, (309-379), gold dinar, (7.195 grams), obv. bust to right with crown, ...
Estimate $2,200
Lot 1710
EGYPT, Kingdom of, Ptolemy VI and VIII, (180-116 B.C.), gold oktadrachm, commemorative issue for Arsinoe ...
Estimate $8,500