Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XII 29 September 2016
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Mysia, Kyzikos EL Hekte. Circa 500-450 BC. Lion to right, gnawing on the leg of a prey animal, its hoof held in his right paw and the upper part held in his mouth; below, tunny fish swimming to left / Quadripartite incuse square. BMFA 1502 (stater); Hurter-Liewald 177; Von Fritze 177, pl. V, 25 (stater); Sternberg XI, 106 = LHS 102, 259 (same dies), sold for CHF 34,000. 2.66g, 11mm.
Good Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare - apparently only the second known example.
Prior to the appearance of the particularly well preserved hekte at Sternberg XI in 1981, most cataloguers and scholars had referred to the object in the lion's mouth as a sword or harpa, and that the lion is therefore engaged in an illogical animalistic act, attacking a weapon that perhaps had been used against it. This strange conclusion may be forgiven due to the fact that those surviving examples of the type (staters in inferior condition, and two fractions - a twelfth and a twenty-fourth) were indistinct, thus preventing accurate description. Thanks to the superb condition of the Sternberg example, the cataloguer was able to finally recognise the object in the lion´s mouth as being the lower leg and thigh of an animal, presumably that the lion had just attacked and killed.
Good Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare - apparently only the second known example.
Prior to the appearance of the particularly well preserved hekte at Sternberg XI in 1981, most cataloguers and scholars had referred to the object in the lion's mouth as a sword or harpa, and that the lion is therefore engaged in an illogical animalistic act, attacking a weapon that perhaps had been used against it. This strange conclusion may be forgiven due to the fact that those surviving examples of the type (staters in inferior condition, and two fractions - a twelfth and a twenty-fourth) were indistinct, thus preventing accurate description. Thanks to the superb condition of the Sternberg example, the cataloguer was able to finally recognise the object in the lion´s mouth as being the lower leg and thigh of an animal, presumably that the lion had just attacked and killed.