★ Ex Prospero Collection ★

THRACO-MACEDONIAN REGION, Siris. Circa 525-480 BC. AR Stater (20mm, 9.89 g). Ithyphallic satyr standing right, right hand grasping right wrist of nymph fleeing right, his left hand supporting her chin; three pellets around (only two visible) / Quadripartite incuse square, diagonally divided. Smith Group 6 (Lete); Peykov A0030 var. (no symbols); HPM pl. VIII, 8–9; AMNG III/2, 14 (Lete); HGC 3, 531 (‘Lete’); SNG ANS –; Rhousopoulos 877. Toned, edge marks from prior bezel. VF. Very rare Group 6 stater, only two examples noted by Smith.

Ex Berk BBS 199 (29 September 2016), lot 45; Berk BBS 196 (4 February 2016), lot 54; Prospero Collection (New York Sale XXVII, 4 January 2012), lot 258, purchased from Spink, 31 May 1984; A. Hess 251 (7 May 1981), lot 24; A. Hess 249 (13 November 1979), lot 139; Spink Numismatic Circular LXXXIV.3 (March 1976), no. 1720.

Smith considered Group 6 to be a transitional issue, where the figures developed into more lifelike forms, and the reverse punch was transformed from a rough, deep square with thin diagonal lines into a flat, shallow square with thick lines, which allowed the flans to spread into a more broad and flat form when struck. The subsequent, and much larger, Group 7 further developed the refinement of the figures, and the partitions of the reverse square changed from diagonal to rectilinear lines.