Midas & the Golden Touch

337, Lot: 208. Estimate $500. Sold for $1100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHRYGIA, Prymnessus. Pseudo-autonomous issue. temp. Gallienus, AD 253-268. Æ (23mm, 5.32 g, 6h). Draped bust of King Midas right, wearing Phrygian cap / Dikaiosyne standing left, holding scales and scepter. Von Aulock, Phrygiens 955/956 (for obv./rev. dies); SNG München –; SNG von Aulock 3938 (same dies). VF, rough green patina. Rare.

Ex D. Alighieri Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 81, 20 May 2009), lot 793.

Midas, king of Phrygia and Lydia, was granted the so-called "Golden Touch" by Dionysus because the king wished for unending wealth as a reward for hosting Dionysus’ companion Silenus. Everything Midas touched turned to gold, including food. Starving and pleading for relief, the king was instructed to bathe in the waters of the river Pactolus. The water removed Midas’ “gift” and turned the sand of the river-bed into grains of gold.