Dragon Slayers, An Interesting 1700 Year Old Cross Over

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The first coin (left) shown is said to be from 300 BC,

However ST.George (2nd coin right) is reported to have lived & passed away 600+ years later.

I find it really interesting that followers of ST.George "stole" a 600 year old effigy (other than modern sword vs spear, the details are too similar to ignore).

Long story short, as a total dragon slayer fan I will be aiming to add a CALABRIA Tarentum ancient to my collection, but they aren't cheap (hope my wife isn't listening in!)

Makes me wonder how many other designs have been "recycled"?

Edited by Wade
03/07/2021 8:48 pm

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@wade, undoubtedly you are aware of the "post a picutre of a coin depicting a dragon" thread, but just in case you missed it:

http://goccf.com/t/352826

Not all of the dragons are in the process of being slayed, but it is interesting to see the various designs.

thanks Spence,

actually I very rarely venture outside the Canadian forums, so was not aware of that thread - so Thank You !

Very interesting.
There isn't a dragon on the ancient coin shown here, but it can be reasonably argued that Benedetto Pistrucci got the inspiration for his design from ancient coins.

Same has happened for designs on modern American neo classical designs, such the Pan Pacific gold $50 Half Union, the St Gaudens Double Eagle, and the Liberty Walking half dollar to name only a few.

Its similar, but I'm not sure Pistrucci used this design; a character in heroic nudity on a horse is a subject fairly common on ancient coins from the hellenic world...

Also, St-George slaying the dragon on a rearing horse has been depicted at least 350 years before Peatrucci design, the big difference here is that he depicted St-George as a greek hero.

Edited by Dollar 1935
03/08/2021 01:03 am

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St George and Dragon motifs have also appeared on Russian coins before the time of Pistrucci.

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