Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Mysia, Kyzikos EL Hekte - 1/6 Stater. Circa 450-330 BC. Lion to right, gnawing on the leg of a prey animal (or weapon?), 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 var. (stater); Greenwell 108 var. (same- weapon); Boston MFA 1502 (same); SNG France 322 (same); BMC -; Gulbenkian 621 (same- weapon); Jameson 2204 (same); Hurter & Liewald II, 177; Callataÿ, F. 'Prolegomen to a Die Study of Electrum Coinage of Cyzicus' in 'White Gold, Studies in Early Electrum Coinage' 2020, p. 658. 2.65g, 11mm.
Extremely Fine. Very Rare.
From the inventory of a Swiss dealer.
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. Very Rare.
From the inventory of a Swiss dealer.
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.