Lactating Lioness

CNG 100, Lot: 39. Estimate $20000. Sold for $25000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACO-MACEDONIAN REGION, Uncertain. Circa 500 BC. EL Stater (20.5mm, 14.01 g). Lioness standing left, head lowered and facing, devouring prey, teats bulging / Rectangular incuse divided into six compartments by interior lines. A. Tsintsifos, Perix Pangaion Epeiros, The dawn of coinage, Part I, p. 124, 9 = Gorny & Mosch 175, lot 63 (same dies); Künker 62, lot 55 (same obv. die); Leu 52, lot 49 (same dies); NFA 25, lot 62 (same obv. die); NFA 18, lot 95 (same dies). VF, flan crack. Extremely rare.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 29 (30 March 1994), lot 110.

The attribution of this type to northern Greece is based on the similarity of the incuse to that on a variety of staters that were found in a hoard in Thrace (see M.J. Price, “A Field in Western Thrace” in CH II). The NFA catalogs, noting the provenance of their pieces and the presence of a lioness on early issues of Akanthos, attributed this issue to that city, but there is little evidence to substantiate an electrum issue from there (see note to Leu 52). Nevertheless, the type is exceptional, particularly for its portrayal of the lioness as lactating. Perhaps this unusual feature is the key to attributing this issue with more certainty?