Mopsion

Triton XV, Lot: 484. Estimate $400. Sold for $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Mopsion (IACP 404)

Virtually no significant archaeological remains exist for Mopsion; its name is, however, pre-Greek and refers to the Lapith Mopsos, a renowned seer who was one of the Argonauts and the son of Ampyx and the nymph Chloris.

The city’s only coinage is in bronze, it is quite rare and dates to the mid 4th century BC.

THESSALY, Mopsion. 2nd half of the 4th century BC. Æ Trichalkon (20mm, 9.04 g, 4h). Laureate and bearded head of Zeus facing, turned slightly to r., in field r., vertical thunderbolt; all in dotted circle / ΜΟΨ l. up, EI above, ΩΝ r. down, the Lapith Mopsos, naked, standing facing, his head r., raising club in his r. and extending his l. to fight a centaur rearing to l., raising boulder over his head with both hands and preparing to throw it. Rogers 412, fig. 221 (same hand but different dies). Good Fine, brown patina; obv. red corrosion on Zeus’ nose, minor surface roughness on both sides.

Although there is a notable stylistic difference between this coin and the next two lots, they all probably belong to the same period, sometime within the second half of the 4th century BC. However, it would not be impossible to have a decade or two separating the two issues.