Sale: Triton V, Lot: 1379.
Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2002.
Sold For $3800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. |
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SIKYONIA, Sikyon. Circa 400-330 BC. AR Stater (12.26 gm). Chimaera left; wreath above, SE below / Dove flying left within wreath; I before. BMC Peloponnesus pg. 40, 56; SNG Lockett 2326; Weber 3904. Lightly toned EF, reverse lustrous, some horn silver on the reverse at 4:00. Exceptional. ($3000)
Sikyon’s major output of staters on the Aeginetan weight standard is possibly to be attributed to the local tyrant Euphron, who established a democracy circa 367-365 BC and confiscated private property on a grand scale (Xenophon. Hellenica VII, 1, 46). The highly developed late classical style and precision engraving of the issue may be connected to the school of native bronze sculptors, the brothers Lysippos and Lysistratos, active circa 370-315 and famous for producing gods, heroes, portraits and animals. The curious choice as city badge for the obverse of the Chimaera, a form of 'she-goat', may be connected with Aigialeia, an ancient name for Sikyon, while the reverse dove allude
