The Centaur Chiron - A Possible Games Issue

Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 609. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $2025. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CARIA, Aphrodisias. Gordian III. AD 238-244. Æ 3 Assaria (36mm, 26.80 g, 6h). Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Centaur standing right, holding bow and arrow. MacDonald, Coinage, Type 184 (O232/R426); Weber 6407; SNG München -; SNG von Aulock 2462 (same obv. die); SNG Copenhagen -. Fine, green and brown patina. Very rare.

From the J.S. Wagner Collection. Ex Virgil M. Brand Collection (Part 7, Sotheby’s, 25-26 October 1984), lot 373; Berlin Museum Duplicates (Adolf Hess Nachfolger, 7 October 1907), lot 654.

The centaur represented on the reverse of this coin must be Chiron, a figure highly respected as an oracle, an astrologer, and a teacher of a number of Greek heroes; most notably, he was the athletic instructor of the hero Achilles. The appearance of Chiron on this coin may be an allegorical representation for the initiation of a local athletic event. A good possibility, according to MacDonald, is the institution of the Gordianea Attalea, games established by Gordian III and commemorated on contemporary issues from the city.