IONIA. Uncertain mint. Circa 480-450 BC. Hemiobol (Silver, 7 mm, 0.57 g). Male head to left, of Archaic style with long hair and a frontal eye (Apollo?). Rev. Stellate design of a four-pointed star with blossoms in each quarter; all within a dotted frame in an incuse square. Seemingly unpublished. Extremely rare if not unique. With an endearingly attractive obverse. Uncleaned as found, with considerable earthen deposits in the design, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.

From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, and from that of L. Mildenberg, acquired on 31 July 1973.

This coin looks very familiar, but when it was searched for it proved stubbornly unwilling to be found! The obverse is reminiscent of the those on the well-known fractions with the head of Apollo from Colophon; while the reverse immediately calls to mind the stellate patterns on the reverses of the astonishingly common fractions from Miletos, and those on the rarer types from Ephesos. Thus, the likelihood that this piece comes from an Ionian mint is very high.