Drachm of Sybaris, 600 B.C., from the Ancient Coins series (N180) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1888

Editor: So, here we have "Drachm of Sybaris, 600 B.C., from the Ancient Coins series," an engraving dating to 1888 by William S. Kimball & Co. The images of these ancient coins feel weighty somehow, almost like looking at a memory. What catches your eye? Curator: It's true, isn't it? It's more than just an image of a coin. It is the echo of lives lived. Imagine holding that Drachm, the stories it could tell of commerce, of hands exchanging it, perhaps in a bustling marketplace, six centuries before Christ! Do you see how the artist rendered the bull? It isn't just a symbol; it's imbued with power, strength. It's the emblem of Sybaris itself, a city known for its luxury… maybe even excess. Makes you wonder what the original owners were buying. Spices? Silk? I always feel that those things still smell of the ages, or at least the dust of them. Editor: Luxury, that’s so interesting to think about with something like this. The fact that it's a print also adds a layer, doesn’t it? Reproducing an object representing such a different era of human history. I like your ideas; it made me stop thinking it was “just a coin”. Curator: Exactly. The print, in its own way, mimics the original’s function, doesn’t it? Currency for knowledge and trade. The act of creating an engraving in 1888 brings these worlds, the ancient and the modern, together in conversation. What did you find the most thought-provoking detail here, by the way? Editor: Probably the way the artist made those shapes recognizable despite so few lines or details, using a play of shadow and light. That ancient-meets-modern conversation really got me thinking, thank you! Curator: My pleasure. Art helps us consider ourselves, where we fit on history's coin, or history's printed image of the coin!