Unpublished Electrum Issue

Triton XIX, Lot: 168. Estimate $25000. Sold for $43000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Uncertain. Possibly a colony or outpost of Kyzikos. 5th-4th cenutries BC. EL Stater (18.5mm, 16.05 g). Phokaic standard. Forepart of Pegasos left, legs splayed forward; below, spearhead left / Quadripartite incuse square of windmill pattern with stippled quarters. Unpublished. Choice EF. Unique.

At first glance, the Pegasos forepart left on an electrum stater suggests an issue of Lampsakos. That city did strike a well known series of electrum staters featuring this exact type over a long period. However, other aspects of this coin suggest it has nothing to do with these Lampsakene issues. First and foremost, the weight of this piece appears to belong to the Phokaic standard of 16.1 grams to the stater, used for electrum at Phokaia, Mytilene, and Kyzikos, while the issues of Lampsakos were on the Milesian standard of 14.1 grams. There does not appear to be any time at which Lampsakos ever used the Phokaic standard for any of its coinage. Second, the windmill style incuse here is exactly of the type used at Kyzikos; the staters at Lampsakos have the more canonical quadripartite incuse with thin dividing lines and quarters that are uniformly depressed. Finally, on the Lampsakos electrum staters, the appearance of Pegasos is exactly consistent across all issues, showing the legs folded below. The splayed form of Pegasos’ legs here is not consistent with this model. At Kyzikos, though, there are some issues depicting the forepart of a mythological creature with the forelegs splayed as here (see, e.g., von Fritze I pl. II, 7 and 24).

Accordingly, the present coin is consistent in weight standard, obverse style, and punch design with the electrum coinage of Kyzikos. However, it is lacking the civic badge of Kyzikos, the tunny, which is present on every known electrum issue of that city from the 6th through 4th centuries BC. The absence of a civic badge also discounts an issue from Phokaia, which did strike a couple staters early in its coinage, but not without some form of a seal or griffin appearing on the coin. The final electrum-issuing city that used the Phokaic standard, Mytilene, is also highly unlikely. It never issued staters, and its incuses always took the form of some creature or deity.

While the attribution of this coin remains tentative, its connections to the Pegasos type of Lampsakos, and to the weight standard and distinctive incuse of Kyzikos, clearly locate the mint in Mysia. We might suggest a colony or outpost of Kyzikos, perhaps striking with influence from a Lampsakene element, while the spearhead may indicate a military context. The similarities to the coins of Kyzikos and the high quality of engraving may suggest that the issuer was employing Kyzikos mint personnel. Further research is needed. A close study of the literary record may identify historical circumstances that could account for the characteristics of this coin. At the same time, a comprehensive comparison of the present reverse to the known Kyzikos reverses might identify a match that would prove a Kyzikene connection.