Fine Style Teos Stater

164, Lot: 75. Estimate $750. Sold for $1110. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Teos. Circa 440-420 BC. AR Stater (23mm, 12.14 g). Griffin seated right, facing panther's head below lifted paw / Quadripartite incuse square. Balcer 103; BMC Ionia p. 311, 19. Good VF, lightly toned, some striking weakness.

Teos was founded at an early date by colonists from Orchomenos, followed by later settlers from elsewhere in Boeotia and Athenians. Perhaps this mixture of components lead to their adoption of the griffin as a civic symbol, a creature of both land and air. The griffin was also most appropriate as a coin type, a mythical beast who protected the gold deposits in the land of the Arimaspi in the far north and those of distant India. The fine silver coinage of Teos was just as secure. The griffin followed the Teans when they abandoned their city to found a new colony at Abdera in Thrace,