Greek Coins
Islands off Caria, Cos
Triple siglos circa 470, AR 16.44 g. KOS Naked discobolos, his body inclined to l., about to throw the discus; behind, tripod. Rev. Crab in the centre of diagonally divided incuse square with partially dotted borders. Traité II, 1737 and pl. CXLVIII, 10 (this coin). BN, Cabinet des Médailles et Antiques, Les Monnaies Guide du Visiteur, pl. XII, 1381 (this coin). Schefold, Meisterwerke 446 (this coin). Boston 2014 (these dies). SNG Fitzwilliam 4759 (these dies). Barron, Essays Robinson, p. 78, 6 bis k (this coin).
Extremely rare and among the finest specimens known. Struck on unusually good metal
with a superb old cabinet tone, two minor die breaks, otherwise good very fine Ex M&M 77, 1992, 126 and Sotheby’s Zürich 26 October 1993, 55 sales. From the duplicates of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Médailles, Paris.

Seldom do designs of such contrasting qualities appear on a single coin: the reverse is fixed both in the sense of its formal presentation and its role as a recurring type at Cos, whereas the obverse is original and animated. It portrays an athlete at the moment of releasing a discus – no easy feat for an engraver working in a framework the size of a die.

The meaning of the type has attracted many theories. It clearly is an athletic theme, and the tripod of Apollo is such an integral part of the design that it must be assumed to be essential to the meaning of the type. The tripod has thus been seen as a reference to the festival of Apollo at Triopion, where athletes competed for bronze tripods that would be dedicated to Apollo at the local temple.

Participation in these games was limited to cities of the Doric Pentapolis: Knidos, Ialysus, Lindos, Kamiros and Cos. Since none of the other four cities produced coins commemorative of this event, it is possible that the type celebrates otherwise undocumented games held in Apollo’s honour at Cos.

The type was produced over the course of decades, for there is significant evolution in its presentation. The earliest issues – to which this coin belongs – have an abbreviated ethnic and show a crab of varying size in a modified incuse within which an ”X” pattern is integrated; in some cases the crab is absent.

The next series is transitional in that the inscription starts in its abbreviated form and eventually is expanded to incorporate all five letters; the reverse retains its square incuse, though the field is flat and unadorned except for a prominent beaded border. The final series begins with the longer ethnic and finishes with the original, three-letter version, and the reverse is modified to a circular format with a beaded border.

Assigning a date to the series, as Barron notes in his study, is difficult because of a conspicuous lack of hoard or overstrike evidence. Furthermore, much of the discussion centers around the date of the Athenian coinage decree, which Barron had firmly placed in circa 448 B.C., but which is now generally believed to have been passed in the 420s, thus changing a key element in the chronological debate.