CNG 97, Lot: 181. Estimate $300. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Erythrai(?). 6th century BC. EL Myshemihekte – Twenty-fourth Stater (7mm, 0.67 g). Phokaic standard. Stellate or floral object / Quadripartite incuse square. Unpublished in the standard references, but cf. Roma 7, lot 549 = Gorny & Mosch 199, lot 389. Good VF. Well centered. Very rare.

These stellate/floral issues, published in other denominations (cf. SNG von Aulock 7776 [trite]; Konuk & Lorber fig. 13 [hemihekte]; and SNG Berry 1021 [fourty-eighth stater]), are speculated to be the earliest electrum from Erythrai, based on the similarity of this obverse type to the reverses on the earliest silver of that city (cf. Boston MFA 1837–41).