Agora Auctions, LLC
Numismatic Auction 67 20 Jun 2017
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Ionia, Uncertain mint. Ca. 600-550 B.C. EL hekte - sixth stater (11.12 mm, 2.22 g, 12 h). Horse (or unicorn?) advancing or lying left / Quadripartite incuse square. Boston MFA 1773 = Warren 1730 (apparently same obv die).
All three known examples are either on crowded flans or the horse is off center. What is fascinating is that the horses head appears to have a horn. While there are no known unicorns on ancient Greek coins. According to Der kleine Pauly: unicorns are attested by Ktesias, Aristotle, and Megasthenes, but unknown in art until Christian times, probably 5th century AD. The Roma example cites Cf. BMC pl. I, 26 (stater) for similar type, but it is this cataloguers opinion that the BMC example is quite different stylistically
All three known examples are either on crowded flans or the horse is off center. What is fascinating is that the horses head appears to have a horn. While there are no known unicorns on ancient Greek coins. According to Der kleine Pauly: unicorns are attested by Ktesias, Aristotle, and Megasthenes, but unknown in art until Christian times, probably 5th century AD. The Roma example cites Cf. BMC pl. I, 26 (stater) for similar type, but it is this cataloguers opinion that the BMC example is quite different stylistically