Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 214. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $1400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of THRACE. Lysimachos. 305-281 BC. AV Stater (8.47 g, 12h). Kalchedon mint. Struck circa 215-210 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right / Athena Nikephoros seated left; B to inner left; in exergue, bull kneeling left. Marinescu issue 37; Seyrig, Monnaies pl. 25, 25 var. (F to inner left); Müller 358 var. (same); SNG Stockholm 835 var. (same; same obv. die). Near EF, a few minor die breaks on obverse, slight die shift on reverse. Extremely rare, only one example noted by Marinescu (in the BM).

The occasion for this issue was probably some special event of the Bouphonia, such as those celebrated at Athens, Magnesia, and Kios, when the sacrificial bull of Zeus Poleias was encouraged to freely bend down and 'offer' itself for sacrifice.