CNG 94, Lot: 430. Estimate $300. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 480-450 BC. AR Tetrobol (9mm, 1.55 g). Head of tunny right / Quadripartite incuse square divided perpendicularly. Von Fritze II –; SNG France –; SNG von Aulock –; Rosen 517 (this coin); Rosen Sale 151 var. (incuse with K and pellet, same obv. die). VF, toned. Extremely rare.

From the Roger Liles Collection. Ex Jonathan P. Rosen Collection (not in prior M&M or NFA sales).

This coin is from the same obverse die as the following lot (as well as the Rosen Sale 151 coin), and all three appear to form a transitional issue bridging the earlier archaic coinage with the early classical silver issues of Kyzikos. Their reverses show that the mint was experimenting with new reverse types. While the present coin has the usual, perpendicularly divided, quadripartite incuse, the following coin has a diagonally divided square. Finally, on the third piece (Rosen Sale 151), the incuse is divided such that a large K is formed by the lines, supplemented by two pellets and two small lines in one segment. In the subsequent double-sided silver coinage, the ethnic K often appears on the reverse with a lion’s head, all in a shallow incuse square. In addition to this experimentation on the reverse, the obverse die used on these coins displays a progression in style from the archaic tunny heads to a more lifelike type that typified the classical period.