Rare Depiction of the Dianafisch

CNG 105, Lot: 143. Estimate $500. Sold for $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 600-550 BC. EL Hekte – Sixth Stater (9.5mm, 2.67 g). Louvar left; below, tunny left / Quadripartite incuse square. Hurter & Liewald III p. 14, 3; CNG 99, lot 170; CNG E-387, lot 122; CNG Coin Shop 922164; otherwise unpublished. VF, minor flan flaw. Very rare.

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.’ See Gemini VII, lot 462 for the stater of this issue, and CNG 99, lot 170 for the hemihekte. Hurter & Liewald placed this issue in a section of coins “associated to Kyzikos”, as they doubted the attribution without further information (they knew of only one example appearing in a private collection). However, a few more of these have recently come to market alongside contemporary issues definitively placed at Kyzikos, so the attribution to that city must be accepted.