CNG 93, Lot: 583. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DYNASTS of LYCIA. Khinakha(?). Circa 470/60-440/20 BC. AR Diobol (11mm, 1.34 g, 12h). Attic standard. Helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing facing with spread wings; olive leaves to upper left and right; all within incuse square. Unpublished. Good VF, toned, porous.

This coin is obverse die linked to Peus 407, lot 725, a diobol of the Lycian dynast Khinakha (c. 470/60-440/20 BC), establishing this coin as a Lycian issue. Circa 462/1 BC, the Peace of Kallias was effected between the Athenians and Persians. The boundary established by this treaty placed most of Lycia in the Delian League (Keen pp. 118-9). However, this political alighnment was relatively short-lived, as Lycian cities no longer appeared in the tribute lists by 442 BC (Keen p. 123; see also Mørkholm & Zahle II p. 76). Mørkholm and Zahle note that during this period, the Attic standard replaced the previous local standard (Mørkholm & Zahle II pp. 58 and 76). The present coin easily equates to an Attic diobol. Moreover, these authors note the widespread copying of Athenian types (primarily the head of Athena) on Lycian coinage during this period (Mørkholm & Zahle II pp. 75ff). The obverse die link with Peus 407, lot 725, clearly places this piece within this period of Athenian influence in Lycia. The owl reverse type on our coin is undoutedly an imitation of the famous dekadrachms of Athens, which were struck circa 469/5-460 BC, around the time of the Peace of Kallias. Regarding the owl type, Mørkholm and Zahle note that while Athena's owl was used in Lycian coin iconography, is was mostly as a subsidiary symbol, although the owl was used as a type on the reverses of dynastic issues from Phellos (Mørkholm & Zahle II pp. 73-4). It is likely that this coin is an issue of Phellos, datable to the mid-5th century BC, probably struck under Khinakha.