Watch List notes:

Greek Coins
Cyrene

Tetradrachm circa 525-480, AR 16.87 g. Silphium plant with four leaves and two fruits. Rev. Gorgoneion facing in dotted frame within shallow incuse square. BMC 10 and pl. II, 18. Prospero 630 (these dies).
Of the highest rarity, apparently the finest of only three specimens known.
Old cabinet tone, minor encrustations, otherwise good very fine
Ex M&M VII, 1948, 504 and Christie's sale 11 December 1992, Washburg King, 741 sales.The main sources of prosperity in Cyrene were agriculture and animal husbandry. Olives, grains and grapes were grown in abundance, horses of extraordinary quality were bred, and animals grazed in the less fertile areas, where the silphium plant grew wild. Of all the region's exports, its most famous was silphum, which was used throughout the Mediterranean for food and as a spice, a perfume, and a cure-all with a long list of applications.Several aspects of the silphium plant are shown on the coins of Cyrene. This early tetradrachm displays a few, with the full plant on the obverse, adorned with leaves, flowers and fruits. The reverse depicts a single fruit, perhaps ornamented. Flanking the silphium fruit are two upright dolphins, which perhaps refers to Poseidon since in some accounts a certain king of Cyrene, Eurypylus, is described as being a son of Poseidon and Celaeno, the daughter of Atlas.