Details

LOT 2682

Thessaly, Pharsalos AR Drachm. Late 5th-mid 4th century BC.

Signed by the engraver ΤΗΛΕΦΑΝΤΟΣ (Telephantos) and ΙΠ- (Ip-). Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet with raised cheek pieces; behind neck, ΤΗ above ΙΠ (engravers' initials) in small lettering / Φ-Α-Ρ-Σ clockwise around Thessalian cavalryman riding horse prancing to right, wearing petasos, chlamys and chiton, and holding lagobolon over his right shoulder; in exergue, Τ (engraver's initial). Lavva 86 (O43/R51); BCD Thessaly I 1284 var. (TH in exergue); BCD Thessaly II 639 var. (no ΙΠ); HGC 4, 624. Good Extremely Fine. Tiny cut on reverse. Attractive toning with golden iridescence around the devices. Sharply struck and surprisingly detailed.(5.95gr, 18mm, 9h.).

Provenance

From a Swiss collection, acquired prior to 2005.
Ex Nomos AG, Auction 21, 21 November 2020, lot 145 (company's ticket included).

Footnotes

‘Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm’.
This quote from Oscar Wilde could not fail to apply to this particular coin. After 2,500 years and the spirit of the artist is still alive and speaking to our hearts.
If the harmony and the aristocratic inner peace of the portraits is the first thing that catches our attention, it is the extremely detailed rendering of the figures, especially on the reverse, that makes the viewer cling more to his admiration for this coin.
Each depiction of Athena’s head in these emissions of Pharsalos makes us believe that she has her own character and that no two are the same, even though they share the same characteristics. Athena in our coin looks like a tender girl with a serious but innocent look in her eyes. Her divine power despite her young age is not violent, it is simply inherent in the serenity of her gaze.
On the other hand, the detailed rendering of the cavalryman’s and horse's face, the texture of his chlamys, the harmonious matching of muscles and joints in the horse's body, and even the pronounced veins in the horse's belly convince us of a talented engraver and a gifted artist.
For someone who has such a coin in his collection, it is not only a unique addition, but also a testimony to a supreme artistic achievement of the human spirit of the past.