Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3051 8-9 January 2017
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IONIA. Miletus. Ca. 600-550 BC. EL stater (22mm, 13.47 gm, 12h). NGC XF 4/5 - 3/5. Lydo-Milesian standard. Recumbent lion right, head turned to left, within rectangular frame decorated with hash marks / Three incuse punches: square punch on left with head of goat or horned and bearded deity to left (Zeus-Ammon or Achelous?); central oblong punch containing fox running left; punch on right pelleted X pattern. Weidauer --; Traité --; SNG Kayhan --; Boston MFA --; Rosen –. Toned, with clear designs both sides. Excessively rare with lion reclining to right; apparently unrecorded with goat/deity's head in incuse on reverse!
One of the reverse incuse squares on this extraordinary stater bears a mysterious left-facing head of a horned, bearded male entity with pointed ears and rams horns; since the very front of the face is off-flan, the head could also be a goat or ram, although the positioning of the neck below rather than behind the head looks more human than animal. It is possible the head represents an extremely early rendering of Zeus-Ammon, a polyglot Greco-Egyptian god later widely revered in the Hellenistic world. The Greeks of Cyrenaica evidently worshiped the god in this form (a bearded man with ram horns and pointed ears) in the 6th century BC. It could also represent Achelous, the horned, bull-eared and bearded god of a river of the same name in central Greece which empties into the Ionian sea. Either way, the type appears to be completely unrecorded in the standard references covering electrum coinage of Miletus and Asia Minor.
Estimate: 10000-13000 USD
IONIA. Miletus. Ca. 600-550 BC. EL stater (22mm, 13.47 gm, 12h). NGC XF 4/5 - 3/5. Lydo-Milesian standard. Recumbent lion right, head turned to left, within rectangular frame decorated with hash marks / Three incuse punches: square punch on left with head of goat or horned and bearded deity to left (Zeus-Ammon or Achelous?); central oblong punch containing fox running left; punch on right pelleted X pattern. Weidauer --; Traité --; SNG Kayhan --; Boston MFA --; Rosen –. Toned, with clear designs both sides. Excessively rare with lion reclining to right; apparently unrecorded with goat/deity's head in incuse on reverse!
One of the reverse incuse squares on this extraordinary stater bears a mysterious left-facing head of a horned, bearded male entity with pointed ears and rams horns; since the very front of the face is off-flan, the head could also be a goat or ram, although the positioning of the neck below rather than behind the head looks more human than animal. It is possible the head represents an extremely early rendering of Zeus-Ammon, a polyglot Greco-Egyptian god later widely revered in the Hellenistic world. The Greeks of Cyrenaica evidently worshiped the god in this form (a bearded man with ram horns and pointed ears) in the 6th century BC. It could also represent Achelous, the horned, bull-eared and bearded god of a river of the same name in central Greece which empties into the Ionian sea. Either way, the type appears to be completely unrecorded in the standard references covering electrum coinage of Miletus and Asia Minor.
Estimate: 10000-13000 USD