★ A Rhodian masterpiece from the Trampitsch collection, plate coin in Bérend! ★

ISLANDS OFF CARIA, Rhodos. Rhodes. Circa 404-385 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 23 mm, 15.17 g, 12 h). Head of Helios facing slightly to right. Rev. [Ρ]ΟΔΙΟΝ Rose with bud to left; in left field, Φ; in right field, barley grain; all within an incuse square. Ashton, Rhodes, 45. Bérend 84 (D69/R79, this coin ) = Hecatomnus 129 (A80/P87, this coin ). BMC 22. HGC 6, 1418. A hauntingly beautiful depiction of Helios in splendid late Classical style. Good extremely fine.

From the Trampitsch Collection, Vinchon 13 November 1986, 225, The Numismatic Auction 2, 12 December 1983, 153, and from the collection of Mme Martin, recorded in 1972 by Mme Bérend.

This wonderful tetradrachm truly represents the high point of the Rhodian die-engraver’s art in its depiction of both the sun-god Helios on the obverse and the rose civic badge on the reverse. It is impossible not to become entranced by the hypnotic gaze of the god on the obverse. His treatment is ultimately inspired by the fashionable facing portrait of Arethusa created by Kimon of Syracuse at the end of the fifth century BC, but his flowing, windswept hair seems to place him squarely in the sky above the Aegean Sea at the moment his beloved island of Rhodos rose from beneath the waves. The rose ( rhodos in Greek) is a punning reference to the name of the issuing city, but here the flower has been rendered so delicately that we can almost smell its intoxicating perfume. The barley grain used as a supplementary symbol may refer to the increasingly important role played by Rhodian ships in the Black Sea and Mediterranean grain trade.