Dies by the ‘Athens Master’

Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 726. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $810. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARKADIA, Arkadian League. Circa 465-460 BC. AR Hemidrachm (2.90 g, 11h). Dies by the ‘Athens Master’. Tegea mint. Zeus Lykaios seated left, holding scepter; to left, eagle flying left / Head of Kallisto right, wearing tainia, within incuse square. Williams, Confederate 73 var. (O54/R- [unlisted rev. die]); BCD Peloponnesos 1709 (same obv. die); SNG Copenhagen -; BMC 39 (same obv. die). VF, toned. Very rare.

Ex BCD Collection (not in LHS sale); Superior (12 June 1986), lot 1639 (part of).

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 dies for this coin is known as the ‘Athens master,’ whose finest known specimen is among those preserved at Athens. His masterful execution of these dies, whose head of Kallisto is reminiscent of the style of the Demareteion, set the standard for the Tegean mint issues of League coinage.