Second Known

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 206. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $37500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CARIA, Knidos. Circa 350-330/20 BC. AR Tetradrachm (15.44 g, 12h). Arkesilas, magistrate. Head of Aphrodite right, wearing stephane, triple-pendant earring, and necklace / Head and foreleg of lion right; KNI above, APKEΣIΛAΣ below. Ashton, Late, p. 94, pl. XII, I = Giessener Münzhandlung 60, lot 214 (same dies); otherwise unpublished. Near EF, toned, slight die shift. Extraordinary style in high relief on a broad flan. Extremely rare, one of two known.

R. Ashton, in his study of the Knidian coinage of this period, doubted the authenticity of the previously unique example from these dies that appeared in Giessener Münzhandlung 60 (1992). He apparently did not see the specimen in hand, but found the style “unique [and] very odd.” The present example, apparently the second known, clearly is of ancient manufacture. Certainly the style is distinct from the regular issues of this period, and the fact that only two are known suggest they are part of a limited, special issue.