The Ralph DeMarco ‘Perseus’ Collection

440, Lot: 329. Estimate $100. Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Deultum. Tranquillina. Augusta, AD 241-244. Æ (23mm, 6.59 g, 6h). Draped bust right, wearing stephane / Perseus and Andromeda standing facing one another; Andromeda on left with left hand raised, Perseus on right holding harpa and head of Medusa, releasing Andromeda from her chains; sea-monster below turned to stone. Youroukova, Deultum 411; SNG Bulgaria 1518-20; Varbanov 2945. Near VF, toned brassy surfaces, flan crack, a few minor deposits.

From the Ralph DeMarco ‘Perseus’ Collection.

CNG is pleased to offer the Ralph DeMarco ‘Perseus’ Collection. Ralph, a long-time collector and dealer, decided to focus on provincial coin types that depict the Greek hero Perseus, the slayer of Medusa. Offered in this sale are seventeen rare bronzes that feature Perseus, with a special emphasis on coins from Tarsus in Cilicia, where the hero had a prominent place in the local foundation myth.

Perseus, the slayer of Medusa, was returning from this task, when he caught sight of a naked woman chained to a sea-cliff, and instantly fell in love with her. This was the princess Andromeda, daughter of King Kepheus of Joppa and Kassiopeia. Kassiopeia had boasted that both she and Andromeda were more beautiful than the Nereids, who then complained about this insult to their protector, Poseidon. Poseidon sent a flood and a female sea-monster to devastate Philistia (Palestine) – the home of Kassiopeia and Andromeda.

When the king consulted an oracle, he was told that his only hope was to sacrifice Andromeda to the sea-monster. This was Andromeda’s predictament when Perseus happened upon her. Perseus killed the sea-monster and took Andromeda as his wife, but only after using Medusa’s head to turn Kassiopeia and Kepheus to stone after they broke their bargain with him for saving their daughter. The coin type depicts Perseus helping Andromeda down from the sea-cliff.