Nomos 38

BRUTTIUM. Rhegion. Circa 435-425 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 29 mm, 17.04 g, 5 h). Lion's mask facing. Rev. RECINOS (retrograde) Iokastos, bearded and draped from the waist, seated left on backless stool, holding long scepter with his left hand and resting his right on the stool; all within an olive wreath tied at the bottom. De Sartiges pl. V, 73 = Herzfelder 52f (D31/R43, this coin). HN III 2488. Rare. Wonderful old toning, very well-centered, of fine style and with an illustrious pedigree. A few minor scratches and areas of striking flatness, otherwise, good very fine.

From a European collection and from an old French collection, Künker 376, 18 October 2022, 4282, from the collection of the Vicomte de Sartiges, ex J. Hirsch FPL XVII, 1907, 342, and from the collections of Colonel J. Tobin Bush, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 6 November 1902, 24, and Robert Tighe, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 8 March 1892, 25.

The seated figure of Iokastos on the tetradrachms of Rhegion, struck from c. 461 to 420 BC, exhibits an extraordinary degree of stylistic variation. The earliest have a stiffness that is still vaguely in the Archaic tradition, while the latest (as Herzfelder 59-60) show an artistically advanced depiction of developed Classical style. In addition, the engravers seem to have been allowed to follow their own view of how Iokastos looked: in some case he is mature and bearded, in others, as here, he is a beardless young man. The present piece is a perfect example of the Classical trends of the late 430s: he is definitely not as stiff as earlier depictions, he is youthfully beardless and his left foot is casually turned out to his left (rather than being stiffly in profile).