Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 215. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SIKYONIA, Sikyon. Circa 400-330 BC. AR Stater (12.24 gm). Chimaera left; wreath above, SE below / Dove flying left; I before, all within wreath. BMC Peloponnesus pg. 40, 56; SNG Copenhagen 48 var. (N on reverse); SNG Lockett 2326; Weber 3904. Lightly toned EF, nicely centered, choice flan. Exceptional. [See color enlargement on plate 6] ($3000)

Sikyon’s major output of staters on the Aeginetan weight standard can possibly be attributed to the local tyrant Euphron, who established a democracy circa 367-365 BC and confiscated private property on a grand scale (Xenophon. Hellenica VII, 1, 46). The highly developed late-classical style and precision engraving of the issue may be connected to the school of native bronze sculptors, the brothers Lysippos and Lysistratos, active circa 370-315 BC and famous for producing gods, heroes, portraits, and animals. The curious choice of the Chimaera, a form of 'she-goat', as city badge for the obverse may be connected with Aigialeia, an ancient name for Sikyon, while the reverse dove alludes to the local cult of Aphrodite.