★ Lactating Lioness ★

THRACO-MACEDONIAN REGION, Uncertain. Late 6th-early 5th centuries BC. EL Stater (20.5mm, 14.00 g). Lydo-Milesian standard. Lioness standing left, head lowered and facing, devouring prey, teats bulging / Rectangular incuse divided into six compartments by interior lines. Adams I 39 ( this coin ); Athena Fund I 50 = NFA XXV, lot 62 (same obv. die); Athena Fund II 653 (same dies); A. Tsintsifos, Perix Pangaion Epeiros, The dawn of coinage, Part I, p. 124, 9 = Gorny & Mosch 175, lot 63 (same dies); Künker 62, lot 55 (same obv. die); Leu 52, lot 49 (same dies); NFA XVIII, lot 95 (same dies). Flan crack. VF. Extremely rare, one of approximately seven known.

From the Jonathan P. Rosen Collection. Ex Dr. Lawrence A. Adams Collection (Part I, Classical Numismatic Group 100, 7 October 2015), lot 39; Classical Numismatic Group 29 (30 March 1994), lot 110.

The attribution of this type to northern Greece is based on the similarity of the incuse to that on a variety of staters that were found in a hoard in Thrace (see M.J. Price, “A Field in Western Thrace” in CH II). The NFA catalogs, noting the provenance of their pieces and the presence of a lioness on early issues of Akanthos, attributed this issue to that city, but there is little evidence to substantiate an electrum issue from there (see note to Leu 52). Nevertheless, the type is exceptional, particularly for its portrayal of the lioness as lactating. Perhaps this unusual feature is the key to attributing this issue with more certainty?