Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 29 | Auction date: 24 February 2024 |
Lot number: 2774 Price realized: 50 CHF (Approx. 57 USD / 52 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on |
Lot description: Areobindos, eparchos (?), 6th century. Seal (Lead, 17 mm, 6.66 g). Three animal bodies sharing a single head. Rev. Large block monogram of APEOBINΔOV EΠAPXOV (?). Unpublished in the standard references. An intriguing early Byzantine seal with very unusual iconography. Very fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. This seal apparently shows three animal bodies sharing a single, central head. Strikingly similar imagery appears on a coin type of Caesarea Paneas, showing three goats sharing the same head, besides a figure of Pan playing his flute (Y. Meshorer, The City Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis in the Roman Period in: INJ 8 (1984-5), plate 15, no. 59). The type also appears on coins of Bithynium-Claudiopolis (RG 57 pl. XLIII.9 = BMC 13 pl. XXVI.5, SNG Von Aulock 339, both misdescribed). The iconography is apparently unattested on seals, apart from an unpublished seal in the Boersema collection, showing a reverse monogram of EΠAPXOV. Unfortunately, it must remain uncertain why the owner of this seal chose this ancient image as his personal device. Starting price: 50 CHF |