Ancient Gold
Lot 1712 Ancient Gold
Estimate $5,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $4,600
MYSIA, Cyzicus, fourth period, (400 - 350 B.C.), electrum stater on Phocaic standard (15.732 grams), obv. head of Attis right in Phrygian cap, tunny fish below rev. quadripartite incuse punch mark (cf S. 3840, Von Fritze 142, Greenwell 56). Very fine and very rare.
Ex. Boston Museum of Fine Arts (catalogue 1521) and Warren Collection, NFA Sale June 6 1980 (lot 203 for US $7500). $$ Attis was the youthful consort of the great Anatolian mother goddess Cybele. The original Phrygian version of his myth (Pausanias vii, 10-12) is decidedly crude, involving the forcible castration of his father, incestuous longings and Attis' self-castration, a feature which came to characterize the priesthood of Cybele. Attis was a vegetation god whose death was mourned and annual resurection celebrated, but in Greek times he seems to have shared in the actual worship of the cult of Cybele.
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Adjacent lots
Lot 1710
SICILY, Syracuse, Kingdom of, Agathocles, (317-289 B.C.), gold two thirds stater or octobol, (5.652 grams), ...
Estimate $3,500
Lot 1711
MACEDON, Kingdom of, Alexander III, (336-323 B.C.), gold distater, (16.900 grams), `Amphipolis mint', issued 330-320 ...
Estimate $7,000
Lot 1712 This lot
MYSIA, Cyzicus, fourth period, (400 - 350 B.C.), electrum stater on Phocaic standard (15.732 grams), ...
Estimate $5,000
Lot 1713
LYDIA, uncertain king, issued before 561 B.C. and probably c.575 B.C., electrum trite or third ...
Estimate $1,000
Lot 1714
LYDIA, uncertain king, issued before 561 B.C. and probably c.575 B.C., electrum hemihekte or twelfth ...
Estimate $700