Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIV 21 Sep 2017
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Mysia, Kyzikos EL Stater. Circa 450-330 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 right / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze 177; Greenwell 108; Boston MFA 1502; SNG France 322; BMC -; Gulbenkian 621; Jameson 2204; Weber 5009. 16.03g, 19mm.
Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare.
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.
Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare.
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.