2016-03-05 Sat

The major highlight of the Davissons Ltd.’s e-auction No. 14, which is closing on 30th March, is a silver stater issued about 382 to 356 B.C., in Lokris Opuntii, reflecting two different Greek legends.

The obverse depicts Persephone facing left, topped with a wreath and wearing a triple pendant earring and necklace. Persephone, daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter, is the queen of the underworld.

The reverse depicts Ajax in the buff, wearing just a crested Corinthian helmet, in battle stance facing right, holding a shield decorated with a serpent with his left arm and a short sword in his right hand; underneath which appears a Phrygian helmet. The Greek hero Ajax fought to claim Helen of Troy in Homer’s classic Iliad, one poignant Bronze Age conflict at the heart of the Trojan War.

The estimate price of this coin is $2,500 and it had fetched $3,000 in Classical Numismatic Group’s Triton XI auction on Jan. 7, 2008.