| Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. > Buy or Bid Sale 227 | Auction date: 14 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 1 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Antoninus Pius. AE 33 medallion; Antoninus Pius; 138-161 AD, Rome, 143-4 AD, Copper Medallion (red metal), 47.68g., 39 mm. Apparently unique and unpublished before its appearance in the CNG sale of March 2019. Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS - P P TR P COS III IMP II Head laureate r. Rx: No legend. Phaethon, the son of Helios the Sun God, falls head first from the chariot of Helios, which he had unsuccessfully tried to drive through the sky as his father did every day, in order to prove that he too was a god. Above the falling Phaethon, the four horses of Helios attempt to escape, probably two leaping l. and two leaping right (details unclear), but they are restrained by two figures between the horses who extend their arms between the horses, probably the Dioscuri as on several Roman sarcophagi that also depict this myth of Phaethon's fall. Ex Curtis L. Clay Collection; ex CNG E439, 6 March 2019, lot 530 (before removal of heavy deposits, leading CNG to overlook the upside-down figure of Phaethon on the reverse). The correct identification of the reverse type, apparently the first representation of this myth on an ancient coin, is due to Professor Katherine Dunbabin, in response to a query from Curtis Clay. For the same obverse die coupled with a different reverse type, see Gnecchi, pl. 43.1.This medallion shows an interesting mythological type on the reverse. VF / Fine Estimate: 3000 USD |  |
