Watch List notes:

Greek Coins
Asia Minor, uncertain mint possibly in Ionia

Stater circa 500, EL 14.07 g. Lion's head r. with dotted collar; behind, two raised squares. Rev. Quadripartite punch with uneven surface.
Of the highest rarity and by far the finer of only two specimens known. A very fascinating
issue and a powerful representation of superb Archaic style. Good extremely fine
Ex Leu sale 54, 1992, 128.As with the stater above bearing the forepart of a ram, the attribution of this stater is not certainly known, though its style also places it near the end of the Archaic period. The reverse punch on this coin is similar, but is square rather than rectangular. Few parallels exist among early electrum staters for this style of punch, though one that is exceptionally close is illustrated in Martin Price's "A Field in Western Thrace" (Coin Hoards II, pl. 1, fig. 5). It bears a rather famous obverse type showing two lions standing upright, paws touching and heads reverted, with a floral ornament between them in the lower field. Because the fabric and punch-type are so compatible – and so distinct from most all other known staters – one might suggest that they also were contemporary products of the same mint.The lion's head is engraved in an appealing style that has much in common with early electrum hectai of Lesbian Mytilene, most of which are attributed to the period c.521-478. The pelleted collar and the rough-hewn 'bricks' extending from the truncation of the neck find numerous parallels with lion heads at Mytilene, though, curiously, never in conjunction with or in the same mode of engraving – raised or incuse. Those with pelleted collars occur only as raised renderings on the obverse (Bodenstedt nos. 7 and 12-14), whereas those with the brick-like protrusions occur only as incuse renderings on the reverse (Bodenstedt nos. 1-2, 4-6, 8, 10-11, 15-16, 20 and 26). We may add that two hectai of Phocaea (Bodenstedt nos. 25 and 52) also have similar lion heads, in relief, with the pelleted collar.