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to 145 B.C. portrays a splendid upper back torso, head turned over the shoulder with helmet, a human head in motion, observed from a complex perspective, rather than ceremonially static. As I am fascinated by the moment at which art became kinetic, this particular coin has come to personify, for me, both this small collection and coins as remarkable art and catalyst for historic economic development. For two thousand years and more, these six coins have provided a common thread between sixty or seventy generations of owners, now my own. We celebrate them as objects, but traditionally they were at once commercially useful and infused with the sculptor's and engraver's art. Conceivably, one of these coins might have financed Alexander the Great's presence in Afghanistan. As the center of western civilization has moved ever westward, the same fascination with Afghanistan persists: it would be interesting to see present day coins of Afghanistan. Another coin might have financed Athens in its war with Persia; another, the funding of one more Greek temple in Syracuse, Magna Graeca. It would be interesting to view contemporary Iranian (Persian) coins. History repeats itself and coins are evidence of this circularity. And what of the more recent collectors, their motivations, desires and interests? Without a definite provenance, one may only conjecture. Each coin is in remarkably good condition: traces of color linger along the edge of one. HYLAND