Lot 3126
Arkadia, Heraia, c. 500-495 BC. AR Hemidrachm (2.98 g). Head of Hera to left, wearing stephane, beaded necklace and with her cloak folded over the top of her head. Reverse: EP surrounded by a beaded square within a shallow incuse square. Williams (Archaic) Period 1, 2f [O2/R2 = Jameson 2109 = Weber 4279 (same coin); BCD Peloponnesos 1350 (same coin)]; BMC 1; Boston MFA 1237; SNG Fitzwilliam 3878 (all same dies). Extremely rare. Beautifully toned and with an exceptional archaic head of Hera. Reverse struck lightly, otherwise Superb Extremely Fine and one of the finest known.
Of the previous owners of this coin, at least three were very distinguished collectors: BCD, Robert Jameson and Sir Hermann Weber. But its first known modern owner was an equally distinguished diplomat. Stratford Canning (1786-1833) was, most suitably, the first British ambassador to the new state of Greece (1828-1833). Previously he had been ambassador to Switzerland (1814-1820), the United States (1820-1824) and the Ottoman Empire (1825-1828 - he returned to Constantinople as ambassador from 1841 to 1858). Interestingly enough, there is a square in Athens named Plateia Kanningos - Canning Square - this was, however, not named after Stratford Canning, but after his cousin George Canning (1770-1827) who had been the British Foreign Secretary and had greatly supported the Greek Revolution.
BCD noted in his Coins of Peloponnesos (sold by LHS in Sale 96, lot 1350): I always thought of these stunningly archaic Hera heads as one of the prize groups of my Peloponnesian collection. If one would wish to define the word "archaic" what more appropriate than these almost grotesque, but at the same time divinely imposing profiles? Acquiring such a varied selection was not easy; I remember pleading with, almost begging, Mr. George Muller at Spink's to sell me two out of the three pieces just purchased from an old English collection and which were going to be offered to the legendary Mr. A, the greatest collector of Greek coins at that time. Mr. Muller was kind to me and I was able to purchase……. this coin.
Estimated Value $60,000 - 80,000.
Ex BCD Collection (LHS 96) lot 1350; Robert Jameson Collection, 2109; Hermann Weber Collection, 4279; Stratford Canning, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe Collection (Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 1879), lot 18.
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