A Nymph his mother

[slokind]

I got this (here) a fortnight ago as a backup in case the intended recipients of those I chose for them didn't like my choices, but I knew I'd want to keep it as soon as I had it in hand, and, as it turned out, I shall keep it.  Of course, it came fully identified: Taras, didrachm, 272-235 BCE, 7.192g, as you see, toned.  Except for an imperfect one of Thurium, it is my first South Italian coin.  I'd rather have the boy on the horse, I think, since the popular Boy on Dolphin has to be a very exceptional die to be really good, and, besides, I like the nymph Satyrion, so Magna Græcian, like certain Campanian coins so interesting to compare with early Rome silver.  Oh, yes, and it came with I.D.: Vlasto 1040.  I notice in a current catalogue that the Nymph with the Boy-on-Dolphin costs nearly ten times as much.  I admit that I am very fond of the town and the museum of Taranto, though I hope it has become less mafioso than it was recently (it was a lovely easy-going town when I first saw in more than 45 years ago).  It is a treat to have a coin of a class that I cannot collect seriously.
Pat L.

[Pscipio]

If I had the money, I'd collect Megale Hellas coins. Your coin illustrates why - congratulations!

Lars

[slokind]

Then all my power of positive thinking this year will be directed to your becoming able to collect them long before you're my age--say, in a decade or two?  Now, if I really had Money I'd also collect early Ionia.  And a little bigger than tetartemoria.  Still, I enjoy what I do have to study so much that I know I couldn't enjoy rarer or larger more.  And I might be overcome by responsibility to the point of guilt over them.  Actually, just thinking of BCD's mode of collecting gives me pleasure: collecting to understand the whole coinage.  To collect like a Saxon prince (unless to collect early Meissen!) is not nearly so estimable, in my book.  Pat L.

[Ardatirion]

It is a treat to have a coin of a class that I cannot collect seriously.

Well said. I certainly understand the feeling.

[Rupert]

Ah, Taras... I did afford this beautiful coin ten years ago, and I'm happy I did, because I don't think I'd get it at that price (600 DEM) today. It's one of the real beauties in my collection, and I too wish I had the money to collect coins like this seriously.

Best regards,

Rupert

[slokind]

Oh, thank you for posting your Taras.  That is one of the most beautiful Western Greek coins I've ever seen.  Even the best Classical Selinos, even the finest Leonitnoi Apollo, is no more beautiful.  Eukleidas heads are more spectacular but not better.  It isn't just the observed reality, such as how you sit a horse (or even a dolphin) bareback, such as the foreshortening of living anatomy.  It is the crux of Greek art, that the empirical and the ideal become one.  And the intaglio technique is breathtaking.
You were so wise to get it when you did.
Pat L.

[gallienus1]

Pat and Rupert, thanks so much for posting your lovely silver coins of Taras. About the same time Rupert bought his I picked up mine, so short of flan and misaligned that the men on both sides have lost their heads! Even so, it talked to me at the time as only ancient art can do, so I lived on sandwiches for two weeks to afford it,,, so glad I did!

Steve