CNG 96, Lot: 501. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CARIA, Uncertain. Circa 490-470 BC. AR Hemistater (15mm, 5.85 g, 12h). Aeginetic standard. Forepart of winged man-headed bull left / Head of female left in dotted square border within incuse square. Konuk, Orou 1.1; cf. SNG Ashmolean 349–50; SNG Copenhagen –. VF, lightly toned. Extremely rare, one of nine hemistaters known.

Konuk’s comprehensive investigation of the coinage of the heretofore-called “Uvug” conclusively shows that metrologically, stylistically, and linguistically, it belongs to Caria, not Lycia. Although the particular mint is unknown, it is likely a town situated near the valley of the Indos River. The series begins with the anepigraphic issues, which comprise a wide range of denominations, from hemistaters to sixteenth-staters struck on the Aeginetan standard. Hoard analysis allows a confident dating of these coins to circa 490-470 BC, which probably comprise a civic series, as the issues signed Orou (in Carian) were struck a little bit later, circa 450-400 BC. Konuk surmises that Orou was a local dynast who ruled over this town in the second half of the fifth century BC.