Herbert Cahn’s Favorite Die

CNG 93, Lot: 243. Estimate $3000. Sold for $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Larissa. Circa 410-405 BC. AR Drachm (18mm, 5.91 g, 12h). Head of the nymph Larissa right, hair in sakkos / Thessalos standing right in background, restraining horse running right in foreground; all within incuse square. Lorber, Thessalian 61 (same dies); BCD Thessaly II 179 (same dies); De Sartiges 218 (this coin). Good VF, toned, slightly granular surfaces. Elegant style. Same dies as the cover coin of BCD Thessaly I (lot 1130).

Ex Herbert Cahn Collection; Münzen und Medaillen AG 64 (30 January 1984), lot 113; Vicomte de Sartiges Collection, 218.

From the BCD Thessaly I catalog, regarding this coin: “Many years ago, Herbert Cahn, speaking to a circle of collector friends, described this obverse die as his favorite die in the entire Larissa series. He went on to prove that he really meant it by bidding and buying for himself the de Sartiges coin of these dies, lot 113 at M+M auction 64 of 30 January 1984. The hammer price was CHF 5000, double the already high estimate. It was not often that the professor wanted a coin from one of his own sales, but when he did it always was for a good reason.... Since that time some new profile dies have made their appearance, such as the obverses of lots 1133 and 1134 [in the BCD Thessaly I catalog], but I somehow think that the good professor’s choice would still be the same.”