Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXIII 24-25 Mar 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Mysia, Kyzikos EL Stater. Circa 500-450 BC. Forepart of winged lioness to left; tunny fish behind / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze 96; SNG BnF 237; Boston MFA -. 16.09g, 19mm.
Near Mint State. Very Rare; one of the finest and most complete specimens offered to the market in the past 20 years.
Ex Long Valley River Collection, Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XX, 29 October 2020, lot 213;
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction IX, 22 March 2015, lot 322.
Kyzikos, purportedly the first Milesian colony, was located on the southwest shore of the Propontis in ancient Mysia next to the river Aisepos. Its prosperity was due principally to its two fine harbours, which made the city a convenient stopping point for merchant ships trading between the Aegean and Black Seas. Its principal export was the tunny, of which its waters had abundant stock.
The prevalence of winged beings in Kyzikene coinage is a reflection of archaic mythological convention that assigned wings to most divine or sacred entities as an immediately visible and understandable symbol of their nature, and in the case of gods, of their power to move at will across great distances. In the case of the winged animals, we should probably understand these to be attributes of or animals sacred to a particular Olympian god.
Near Mint State. Very Rare; one of the finest and most complete specimens offered to the market in the past 20 years.
Ex Long Valley River Collection, Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XX, 29 October 2020, lot 213;
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction IX, 22 March 2015, lot 322.
Kyzikos, purportedly the first Milesian colony, was located on the southwest shore of the Propontis in ancient Mysia next to the river Aisepos. Its prosperity was due principally to its two fine harbours, which made the city a convenient stopping point for merchant ships trading between the Aegean and Black Seas. Its principal export was the tunny, of which its waters had abundant stock.
The prevalence of winged beings in Kyzikene coinage is a reflection of archaic mythological convention that assigned wings to most divine or sacred entities as an immediately visible and understandable symbol of their nature, and in the case of gods, of their power to move at will across great distances. In the case of the winged animals, we should probably understand these to be attributes of or animals sacred to a particular Olympian god.