Sale: Nomos 6, Lot: 73. Estimate CHF1400.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 May 2012.  Sold For CHF1900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARGOLIS, Kleonai. Circa 500-490 BC. Twelfth Stater (Silver, 0.98 g). Forepart of lion crouching to right. Rev. Millsail pattern incuse. BCD Peloponnesos -. Apparently unpublished and unique, a fascinating coin. Good very fine.

The crouching form of the lion here is immediately reminiscent of the earliest Argive triobols, as BCD 1004 ff., but the style is earlier and it probably precedes them in time. As at Phlious, Kelonai used a weight standard that was basically Asiatic in origin: it must relate to ancient trade patterns.