CNG 108, Lot: 170. Estimate $2000. Sold for $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 450-330 BC. EL Hekte – Sixth Stater (10mm, 2.64 g). Eros standing left, astride bull crouching left, which he holds by its horns; below, tunny left / Quadripartite incuse square. Hurter & Liewald I 9b corr. (Eros, not Nike); Von Fritze I –; Boston MFA –; SNG BN –; SNG von Aulock 1212; G.K. Jenkins, “Greek Coins Recently Acquired by the B.M.” in NC 1955, 15 corr. (same); CNG 96, lot 388 corr. (same); CNG 69, lot 351 corr. (same); Gorny & Mosch 204, lot 1457 corr. (same); Lanz 165, lot 88 = Lanz 160, lot 175. Good VF, lightly toned. Extremely rare, the finest of seven known.

Prior to the discovery of the present piece, all examples of this issue, including the unique stater, were not very well preserved. As such, previous numismatists identified the figure on the obverse as Nike, but the cataloger of the Lanz 160 hekte thought that the physique of the figure was more akin to a male, and thus the figure must be Eros. However, all the characteristics of the figure were not definitively clear even on that piece, leaving the interpretation still questionable. On the present coin, though, certainly the finest of this issue, not only is Eros' male musculature distinctly visible, so is his penis, which settles any dispute over the question of the figure’s gender.