Third Known Specimen

CNG 103, Lot: 272. Estimate $750. Sold for $2200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Phokaia. Circa 478-387 BC. EL Hekte – Sixth Stater (9mm, 2.51 g). Laureate head of Zeus left; to right, small seal upward / Quadripartite incuse square. Bodenstedt –, but cf. Em. 76 (citing only two examples: Boston MFA 1916 and Traité II 2124–both with a similar portrait type but without laurel wreath); Roma III, lot 209 (same dies); Roma XI, lot 321 (same dies). Good VF, toned, struck on a compact flan. Extremely rare, possibly only the third known example.

With Bodenstedt citing only two examples for his Em. 76 (Paris and Boston), it is possible that this type, with the laurel wreath, is part of the same emission, and that a celator simply added the laurel wreath to the portrait.