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Session Five - Tuesday, February 14th 10:00am PST
W
ELL
P
EDIGREED
A
RCHAIC
M
ENDE
S
ILVER
T
ETRADRACHM
,
CA
. 480 BC
Enlargement
1569 Macedonia, Mende. Silver Tetradrachm (17.22 g), ca. 480 BC
. MIN
-AION, ass standing right; on rump, magpie standing left, pecking,
and M (faint).
Reverse:
Mill-sail incuse square with four raised and four sunken segments. Noe 6 (same obv. die); cf. SNG ANS 293 (same obv. die;
direction of mill-sail).
Very Rare.
Light antique grey toning.
Choice Very Fine
.
Estimate Value ........................................................................................................................................................................... $4,000 - UP
The Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from F. Kovacs in 1988; Ex John Work Garrett Collection, pt. 2 (NFA/Leu, 16 October 1984), 2; Ex
Clarence Sweet Bement Collection (Naville VI, 28 January 1924), 651; Ex Sehenhuis Collection (Hirsch XXXIII, 17 November 1913), 618.
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.
W
ONDERFUL
Q
UALITY
M
ENDE
S
ILVER
T
ETRADRACHM
CA
. 460-423 BC
1570 Macedonia, Mende. Silver Tetradrachm (17.22 g), ca. 460-423 BC
. Dionysos, inebriated, reclining left on back of ass standing right; to
right, magpie standing right on ivy.
Reverse:
MEN-
A-I-ON, vine with five grape bunches. Noe 74 (same dies); SNG ANS 340.
Very Rare.
Boldly
struck and lightly toned.
Extremely Fine
.
Estimate Value ........................................................................................................................................................................... $7,500 - UP
The Hanbery Collection; Purchased privately from F. Kovacs in 1991. Ex Leu 52 (15 May 1991), 51; Olga Knoepke (Glendining' s, 10 December
1986), 140; Hess-Leu 24 (16 April 1964) 124.
The city of Mende was famous in antiquity for the wine that it exported. Thus it is not surprising that a large vine heavy with succulent grapes was
chosen as the badge for the reverse of this tetradrachm, while the obverse the god of the vine, Dionysos or, perhaps, Selinos. The latter was a
rustic deity and the father or grandfather of both the satyrs and the nymphs and spent most of his time completely drunk. Indeed, he was usually
so drunk that he needed to be supported by satyrs or, as on this coin, by an ass. When the wine god Dionysos was born from the thigh of Zeus,
Hermes placed the infant in the care of Silenos - after all, who else more suited to raising the god of wine than a drunken satyr - who became his
tutor and was a prominent figure in the Dionysiac
thiasos
(retinue).The additional bird on this tetradrachm alludes to the early coinage of the city,
which often featured an ass with a bird (commonly described as a crow, but now identified as a jay/magpie by J. Kagan) pecking at its rump. It
also connects the tetradrachm through types to a contemporary fractional series featuring the bird on the reverse.
Enlargement