Hello everyone!
For some time now, we at the department of Coins & Medals of the Royal Library Belgium have been sharing some of the amazing coins in our collection through various channels, and we figured the folks here at r/ArtefactPorn would be interested too!
This time, we’re bringing out one of the heavyweights: a very rare Pantikapaion stater from the collection of Lucien de Hirsch, kept at the Royal Library of Belgium, featuring a stunning facing head of a satyr (or perhaps Pan himself?) on the obverse.
Pantikapaion was founded in the late 7th or early 6th century BC by Milesian colonists on the eastern shore of the Tauric Peninsula. It soon grew into the most important Greek city in the region. From the Greek perspective, it lay at the very edge of the civilized world. Beyond it stretched endless lands inhabited by wild steppe horsemen, strange peoples, and fabulous creatures. The area’s wealth came from the export of slaves, animals, furs, and – especially from the 5th century onwards – grain to cities such as Athens.
Our coin was struck in the 4th century BCE, perhaps around 350–300 BCE. The obverse shows the head of a satyr, perhaps Pan himself – a play on the city’s name, but also a possible reference to one of its former rulers, Satyros, and to Pantikapaion’s location at the edge of a mysterious world where myth seemed to blur with reality. Fittingly, the reverse depicts another mythical creature: a griffin snapping a spear in its beak. Ancient authors, such as Herodotos, placed griffins in the gold fields of Central Asia, where they clashed with the one-eyed Arimaspi, who sought out the precious metal among the griffins' nests. This is delightfully self-referential, since the coin itself is struck in gold supposedly guarded by griffins. (As for the popular theory that griffins in Graeco-Roman art were inspired by fossil finds of Protoceratops or Pittacosaurus in Central Asia, let’s just say the evidence is rather problematic.) Beneath the griffin lies an ear of corn, a clear nod to the city’s source of wealth.
Beyond its artistry – among the finest in the entire Greek world – this coin is also remarkable for its market value. The most expensive Greek coin ever sold was a Pantikapaion stater just like this one (though not quite as fine as ours), which realized an astonishing 4.4 million Swiss francs. A fun little anecdote: when that specimen was first sold in 2012 (for 3.25 million USD), Dr. Alan Walker of Nomos AG called the coin cabinet to congratulate us, knowing we had two such coins in our collection. To which our colleague cheerfully replied, “No, my dear Alan, we have three.”
P.S.: For those who want to learn more about the work we do at the coin cabinet, be sure to check out the interview with our conservator on the Drachmas and Denarii podcast: https://youtu.be/Jgbm13tjMUo?si=tzzJiseuMjyRhq9F
by KBRCoinCabinet