Sale: Nomos 9, Lot: 141. Estimate CHF5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 20 October 2014.  Sold For CHF4600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LESBOS, Mytilene. c. 521-478 BC. Hekte (Electrum, 9mm, 2.53 g 12). Gorgoneion facing, surrounded by snakes and with a protruding tongue. Rev. Bearded head of Herakles to right, wearing lionskin headdress; neck truncation formed by two rows of small squares, four above and six below; behind head, rectangle with irregular field; all incuse. BMC 14. Bodenstedt 19.1 (c/γ). SNG von Aulock 1691. A splendid, toned and beautifully struck example. Extremely fine.

Ex Gemini VI, 10 January 2010, 141.

This is an exceptionally bold example of a series of issues from Mytilene that is characterized by having a complete type in incuse on the reverse, rather than the traditional incuse square. However, to remind the user of that original style of incuse reverse, utilized by all the early minters of electrum, a tiny square appears on the reverse behind the main type.