Sale: Nomos 3 & 4, Lot: 1111. Estimate CHF350.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 May 2011.  Sold For CHF4600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Larissa. Circa 460-440 BC. Obol (Silver, 0.99 g 6). Horse walking to right. Rev. Λ - Α Nymph, Larissa, striding to left, her right hand raised and her left lowered, bouncing a ball in the field before her to left. Herrmann Group IIb, pl. I, 16 (same dies). Traité IV 654 var. Very rare. An attractive, well centered piece. Lightly toned and slightly rough. About extremely fine.

Ex Leu 50, 25 April 1990, 127, enlarged on pl. XXVIII (CHF 2500).

This piece is clearly late Archaic in date: Larissa’s pose is reminiscent of that of the nymphs on staters from “Lete” and Thasos, though here her hand is not raised in protest but in sport. Curiously enough, this type with the nymph to left is much rarer than the similar figure to right. For a later version of this scene, see below, lot 1118.