Uncertain mint in the Aegean Islands
Stater circa 600, AR 12.32 g. Head of horse r. Rev. Incuse square punch. For type, cf. CNG sale 91, 2012, 343 (twelfth stater). Regling Kunstwerk 26 (as Cyclades and Sporades and located in Berlin). Of the highest rarity, apparently only the second specimen known and the only one in private hands. A very intriguing issue struck on a broad flan. Good very fine Ex Tkalec sale 29 February 2000, 74. This unique silver stater from the earliest period of Greek coinage after the parting of electrum into gold and silver was produced at an uncertain mint. The horse head is known as a type on several emissions of early fractional silver variously attributed to Asia Minor and the Thraco-Macedonian region. However, the apparent use of the Aeginetan weight standard for the stater seems to point to a mint in mainland Greece or the Aegean islands more strongly than to Asia Minor. Although the stater features a different incuse punch design on the reverse and a less dynamic pose of the horse head, the dotted treatment of the animal’s mane seems to suggest a potential stylistic relationship with other unpublished fractional issues (e.g., CNG EA 370, lot 138; CNG EA 466, 120). Unfortunately, this possible connection of style does not help much to identify the originating mint.