Contorniates. Late 4th-5th centuries AD. Æ Contorniate (37.5mm, 23.53 g, 7h). In the name of Divus Trajan. Good Fine.

Keystone 17 – The W. Toliver Besson Collection
Lot: 298. Estimated: $ 1 000

Roman Contorniates, Bronze

Sold For $ 3 250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

Contorniates. Late 4th-5th centuries AD. Æ Contorniate (37.5mm, 23.53 g, 7h). In the name of Divus Trajan. DIVO NERVA E TRAIANO, laureate bust right, slight drapery / Skylla, to right, attacking Ulysses’ ship and crew, to left; three crew members fighting right on ship’s prow, two helpless in sea below. Alföldi, Kontorniat 360 (dies 89/84). Red-brown patina, minor roughness, holed. Good Fine. Rare.

From the W. Toliver Besson Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 127 (17 September 2024), lot 638; Philip DeVicci Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 54, 14 June 2000), lot 1869; Harlan J. Berk BBS 85 (9 March 1995), lot 557.

As with many contorniates, the reverse of this piece depicts a popular ancient myth: the tale of Ulysses navigating the treacherous straight between the whirlpool Charybdis and the monster Scylla:

Thus, dreading death, with fast-set eyes we watch'd
Charybdis; meantime, Scylla from the bark
Caught six away, the bravest of my friends.
With eyes, that moment, on my ship and crew
Retorted, I beheld the legs and arms
Of those whom she uplifted in the air;
On me they call'd, my name, the last, last time
Pronouncing then, in agony of heart. (Hom. Od. 12.287-294 [Cowper's translation]