The Hunter Aktaion

Triton XVIII, Lot: 582. Estimate $50000. Sold for $85000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Lampsakos. Circa 394-350 BC. AV Stater (17mm, 8.45 g, 4h). Head of the hunter Aktaion left, with stag’s horn above forehead / Forepart of Pegasos right within shallow incuse square. Baldwin, Lampsakos 33 (dies I/– [unlisted rev. die]); SNG France 1145; Boston MFA 1597 = Warren 1018 (same obv. die); Gulbenkian 964; Jameson 1434; Pozzi 2230 (same obv. die); Warren 1019 (same obv. die). Superb EF, minor marks on reverse. Extremely rare, and a spectacular coin of great beauty.

Ex Mieza Collection (Nomos 7, 15 May 2013), lot 121; Nomos 3 (10 May 2011), lot 110; Gemini IV (8 January 2008), lot 149.

Aktaion was a famous hunter who learnt his skills from the centaur Chiron. It seems that one day he accidentally came upon Artemis bathing: she was so angered by him seeing her naked that she transformed him into a stag and he was set upon and torn to pieces by his own hunting dogs. Her we see the start of the transformation process, with the horn just coming out of his head. This later became a favorite scene for a variety of Renaissance and Baroque painters since it allowed the depiction of an often considerable number of nude bathing women (more serious paintings of this event had appeared on Attic black and red figured pottery of the 6th and 5th cenuries BC).