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Greek coins, Uncertain mint, Hemistater

Currency:CHF Category:Coins & Paper Money / Coins: Ancient Start Price:28,000.00 CHF Estimated At:35,000.00 - 43,750.00 CHF
Greek coins, Uncertain mint, Hemistater
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Greek coins, Uncertain mint, Hemistater 5th century BC, AR 6.05 g. Cow standing l., head reverted and tail flicking up over back, with calf suckling r. Rev. Incuse head of a negroid man l. Gemini sale 4, 2008, 195 (these dies). Of the highest rarity, apparently only the second and by far the finest specimen known. Lightly toned and extremely fine From a Swiss private collection. This inventive issue seems to be unrecorded except at auction, and since its design offers nothing to help with its attribution, its place and date of mint remain a matter of conjecture. A mint in Caria or Lycia in the 5th Century B.C. has been suggested, and its weight of 6.05 grams suggests it was intended as a half-stater of the Aeginetan or Samian standard. Though the design of a cow suckling a calf occurs on coinage in Greece, Northern Greece and Asia Minor, the Negroid head rendered in incuse is a point of curiosity. It is unlikely that any Western coins with this design would have been a source of inspiration, and if a numismatic inspiration must be found, it probably would have derived from an issue of Northern Greece or Asia Minor. With that in mind, the most likely source might have been the electrum sixths of Phocaea attributed by Bodenstedt (Ph24 and Ph54), respectively, to before 522 B.C. and to the period 477-388 B.C. This might be especially relevant since the Phocaean sister-coinage of Mytilene of c. 521-455 B.C. uses for its reverses the heads of animals and the head of Heracles, all of which are rendered incuse.