★ Kranaos of Caria ★

Caria. Kranaos circa 300-280 BC.
Bronze Æ

10 mm., 1,18 g.

Radiate head of Helios facing slightly right / KPAN, bunch of grapes on stem, shrimp in lower left field.

very fine, lovely light green patina

SNG Keckman 219-220; Rhousopoulos 2667; Klein 535; Walker, "A New Mint in Caria", SM 112 (November 1978), pp. 86-88.

Formerly attributed to the island of Cranae (ΚΡΑΝΑΗ), an island in the Laconian gulf, opposite Gytheium, whither Paris carried off Helen from Sparta. Walker in "A New Mint in Caria" cites four examples found in Caria and the island of Rhodes, prompting the new identification.