Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 567. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $5000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire. Time of Artaxerxes I - Xerxes II. Circa 455-420 BC. AV Daric (8.39 gm). Persian king or hero in kneeling-running stance right, holding dagger and bow / Incuse punch, in which is a lion's head facing downward. Cf. Carradice Type IV, Group A (pl. XIII, 32); cf. BMC Arabia pl. XXVI, 9; Classical Numismatic Group 66 (19 May 2004), lot 731. EF. Extremely rare with design on the reverse die. ($5000)

A number of markings in the reverse dies of sigloi of this same Carradice type and group are known, including a left-turned lion's head (cf. BMC Arabia pg. 163, 110ff, and Carradice, "The Dinar Hoard of Persian Sigloi," Essays Price, pg. 71, 146-151). There are no darics recorded with these markings, however, nor is there a downward (or right) facing lion's head type among the sigloi. The significance of these designs or symbols is unknown.

See lot 564 for more information on the Achaemenid coinage.