The Paris Master

Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 323. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARKADIA, Arkadian League. Tegea. Circa 460-450 BC. AR Hemidrachm (2.84 g, 1h). Dies by the ‘Paris Master’. Zeus Lykaios seated left, seen partially from behind / Head of Kallisto turned slightly right, wearing tainia and necklace with pendant, within incuse square. Williams, Confederate 189 var. (unlisted dies); BCD Peloponnesos (Tegea) 1713; SNG Copenhagen -; Boston MFA 1248. Good VF, attractive dark iridescent toning. Very rare.

From the BCD Peloponnesos catalog: "This coin...[is an example] of the kind of extraordinary innovative artistry to be found on the Arkadian League hemidrachms minted at Tegea. The attempts at perspective shown by the figure of Zeus seen from behind on the obverse and the successful facing or nearly facing heads on the reverses bear witness to the highly advanced engravers who produced the dies." The engraver of the facing head of Kallista on the present coin has been identified as the same person who produced the dies for an exceptional coin now residing in the BN. The portraits engraved by this ‘Paris Master’ have been recognized as being among the finest early classical facing heads from the Greek mainland.