Greek Poet Sappho

CNG 100, Lot: 74. Estimate $10000. Sold for $9000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Lampsakos. Circa 394-350 BC. AV Stater (15.5mm, 8.40 g, 12h). Head of female (Sappho?) left, hair in sakkos, wearing laurel wreath / Forepart of Pegasos flying right. Leu 20, lot 118; Münzen und Medaillen AG 53, lot 89; otherwise unpublished. VF, toned, some tiny marks, light scratch in field on reverse. Extremely rare, none in CoinArchives.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams, purchased from Classical Numismatic Group, December 1991.

At the time Dr. Adams purchased this example, it was the third known, and it may remain so. Both the Leu and M&M catalogs speculate that the obverse portrait is that of the female Greek poet Sappho, a native of Lesbos, and may have served as a model for the similar female head on an issue of hektai from Phokaia (cf. Bodenstedt em. 102).