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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
418, Lot: 227. Estimate $200.
Sold for $400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SIKYONIA, Sikyon. Circa 225-215 BC. AR Tetradrachm (28.5mm, 16.93 g, 12h). In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; in left field, youth standing left, holding tainia overhead; monogram below throne. Noe, Sicyon 44.1 var. (A–/P160 [unlisted obv. die]); Price 709; HGC 5, 254. VF, double struck and a few light scratches on reverse. Very rare, only one in Pella (the one example noted by Noe), none in CoinArchives.


From the Colin E. Pitchfork Collection, purchased from Classical Numismatic Group, 20 January 2003.

According to A. Milavic (“Pankration and Greek Coins,” The Celator 13.12 [December 1999], and “Pankration and Greek Coins,” The International Journal of the History of Sport 18.2 [2001], pp. 179–92), the youth on the reverse is most likely Sostratos, the famous pankratiast of Sikyon who won three Olympic victories, in 364, 360, and 356 BC, as well as 12 other victories in the Isthmian and Nemean games. Sostratos was known as the 'fingerman' for bending and breaking the fingers of his opponents in this brutual athletic contest.