Ex Elisabeth Washburn King Collection

CNG 109, Lot: 38. Estimate $7500. Sold for $10000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BRUTTIUM, Kroton. Circa 530-500 BC. AR Nomos (27.5mm, 7.83 g, 12h). Spread incuse type. Tripod, legs surmounted by wreaths and terminating in lion's feet, two serpents rising from the bowl, set on basis of three lines, the center dotted; (koppa)PO to left / Incuse tripod as obverse, but wreaths and serpents in relief. Gorini 4; Attianese 1; HN Italy 2075; SNG ANS 232; SNG Lloyd 592; Bement 272; Dewing 492–3; Jameson 1879; de Luynes 701; Washburn King 19 (this coin). EF, lovely old cabinet tone, minor mark in field on obverse. Well centered and struck.

From the Gasvoda Collection. Ex CNG Inventory 955015 (June 2013); Leu 83 (6 May 2002), lot 34; Classical Numismatic Group 42 (29 May 1997), lot 83; Elisabeth Washburn King Collection, gifted to Bryn Mawr College, 1951 (Christie’s New York, 11 December 1992), lot 619.

From the consignor: This is an important example to try to untangle the mystery of how these incuse die pairs were created. The die pair seen here was clearly intended to be mated together – notice the top of the tripod being proportionally out of level as an exact obverse/reverse match. Yet the reverse (incuse) die has the tripod slightly larger than the raised obverse. This flaw in compatibility surely caused the dies to wear too quickly as they competed with each other during striking. Were these dies created by hubbing a completed (obverse or reverse die) into a die blank to create the die mate? It seems the only logical explanation.

The Elisabeth Washburn King Collection was made up of 141 Greek coins at the time of her donation to Bryn Mawr College, the collector’s alma mater, in 1951. Though modest in size, the quality of the collection was outstanding, featuring excellent examples of many of the most sought out Greek types. The collection was published in its entirety by noted art historian and future curator of classical antiquities at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, C. C. Vermeule, in 1956, while still a professor at Bryn Mawr.