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IONIA(?), Uncertain. Circa 550-500 BC. AR Drachm (13.5mm, 3.82 g). Attic-Euboic standard. Small square in relief with irregular contours / Rough incuse square. Cf. CNG E-589, lot 200; otherwise, unpublished in the standard references. Toned, traces of find patina, some granularity. As made. Extremely rare.
As with the CNG E-589 coin, the lack of a published example of this early coin type is not surprising. It is likely that a large amount of archaic silver coinage was melted down and restruck or used for other items, and one would expect that a typeless series such as this would be a good candidate for melting rather than reuse. The weight of this coin, though light for an Attic drachm at this time (at a theoretical 4.3 g), makes that the most logical possibility from the known early weight standards. It is a very unusual weight to have been used in the Aegean or Anatolian regions at this time. The Chian and Aeginetan standards are possible, but there are no known fractions struck at this weight before c. 500 BC.
An attribution to Ionia is not certain, but the obverse is identical to a very rare electrum series struck on the Lydo-Milesian standard (cf. Rosen 251, and M. Blet-Lemarquand & F. Duyrat, “Elemental Elemental Analysis of the Lydo-Milesian Electrum Coins of the BnF using LA-ICP-MS” in White Gold, Tab. 5, 63 = BnF inv. FG4). Early silver drachms from Kythnos in the Cyclades were also struck on the same standard as the present coin (cf. Sheedy Kithnos Series I), so it is also possible that this coin is from an issue that circulated together with them. The module and incuse found here, though, precludes an assumption that this is an unpublished issue that preceded that series on Kythnos.
Closing Date and Time: 2 July 2025 at 11:14:00 ET.
All winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer’s fee.
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