CNG 99, Lot: 170. Estimate $500. Sold for $1700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Kyzikos(?). Circa 600-550 BC. EL Hemihekte – Twelfth Stater (8mm, 1.30 g). Hurter & Liewald III p. 14, 3, otherwise unpublished. VF. Extremely rare, only one example noted by Hurter & Liewald, who also cast doubt on the attribution of the issue to Kyzikos.

The only extant species in the genus Luvarus and the family Luvaridae, the louvar, known in German as the Dianafisch and in Spanish as the emperador, dates from the Paleogene period, and is closely related to the surgeonfish. A large ellipsoidal fish, it can grow up to 2m (over 6 feet) in length and is considered a delicacy, but is rarely found in fish stores and is usually caught ‘by-catch.’