Watch List notes:

GREEK COINS
CIMMERIAN BOSPOROS

Pantikapaion. Circa 303-293 BC. Hexadrachm (Silver, 27mm, 23.72 g 12). Bearded head of Pan to left, wearing an ivy wreath. Rev. ΠΑΝΤΙ Lion walking to left, with his jaws open and his right forepaw raised. B. A. Anokhin, Ancient Coins of the Northern Coast of the Black Sea, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Istitute of Archaeology, Kiev, 2011, 1029 (this coin). Markov, The Pantikapaeum Hextadrachm and its place in the system of the Bosporan Coinage, 9th All-Russian Numismatic Conference, Abstracts of Papers, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, 2001 (this coin published). Apparently unique and of the highest interest. Lightly toned and of a vigorous and impressive style. Extremely fine.

From the Black Sea Collection, ex Markov Mail Bid Auction 10, 23-24 October 2001, 73.
This is very probably the most exciting and astounding coin this cataloguer has ever worked with. It is a coin that is not only unique as a type, but, for the mint, unique as a denomination as well. The types fit in with the already known coins of Pantikapaion, with the head on the obverse being so close to those on other denominations that the same engraver must have been responsible for all of them. While the denomination is certainly unusual, the city was also striking tridrachms, with the head of a young satyr and a bull's head, that are surely part of the same series, and have long been known. The power and vigor of the head of Pan on the obverse of this coin is exceptional, and is only equaled by the very similar heads that appear on the latest gold staters, (as above lot 151). The lion is a lanky creature, very much influenced by the depictions found on the coinage of Sikyon and Miletos; or, perhaps, all follow a common iconographic forebear.