THASOS SILVER STATER – SUPER EXAMPLE OF SATYR ABDUCTING NYMPH TYPE – XF NGC GRADED GREEK THRACIAN COIN (Inv. 18744)

$2,850.00

FPL VI, 12 (18744). THRACIAN ISLANDS. THASOS. 500-450 BC.
Silver stater, 9.03 g, 20 mm.
Obv. Ithyphallic satyr abducting nymph. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square.
Le Rider, Thasiennes 1-2; HGC 6, 331.
Ex Lanz 106, 11/27/2001, lot 62.
NGC graded XF, Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5, “marks,” perfectly centered with exceptional detail of the facial features and physique of the two figures in the composition, including the well-endowed satyr.

From the late sixth century BC, the standard type for Thasian coinage depicted an ithyphallic satyr, perhaps to be identified with Silenus, the drunken boon companion of the wine god Dionysus, carrying off a protesting nymph. This type was adopted, apparently in recognition of the Thracian hinterland that made Thasos so wealthy. Thrace had a reputation among the Greeks as a land of wilderness, where the powers of nature held sway. As such, it was exactly the sort of place where rustic fertility spirits like satyrs were thought to dwell. Closely associated with Dionysus, the satyrs were renowned for their excessive love of wine and music, and for their uncontrolled lust, which led them to carry off nymphs that took their fancy, usually with disastrous or comic results.