Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 743. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Mesembria. Gordian III, with Tranquillina. 241-244 AD. Æ 27mm (13.25 gm, 6h). AVT K M ANT GORDIANOC AV CEB, TRANKVLLINA below, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Gordian right vis à vis diademed and draped bust of Tranquillina left / MECAM BPIANWN, two Curetes, helmeted and clad in short tunics, holding aloft short swords in their right hands and shields on their left arms. BMC Thrace -; SNG Copenhagen -; Mionnet -; SNG Fitzwilliam 1560 (same dies). Good VF, dark green patina. A similar specimen, lot 994 in Classical Numismatic Group 63 (21 May 2003), sold for $1700. ($750)

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection.

The Curetes share some of the attributes of the Corybantes, dancing divinities associated with the worship of Cybele, but their specific role in Greek mythology was to serve as the protectors of the infant Zeus while he was hidden away on Crete, safe from his murderous father Cronus. Their militant dancing, accompanied by the clashing of swords on shields, drowned out the cries of the infant. The Curetes’ dance was later re-enacted by young men at Greek festivals and games, in a display probably very similar to the sword dances practiced by later peoples such as the Cossacks of Russia.