Nomos 15

MYSIA. Kyzikos. Circa 550-500 BC. Stater (Electrum, 21 mm, 16.03 g). Galley prow to left, the ram in the form of the forepart of a winged wolf. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze I 80. Extremely rare, and with a very clear and well-preserved depiction of the winged wolf ram. Minor edge breaks, otherwise, good very fine.

Ex Triton XVIII 6 January 2015, 571 and from the Antiqua FPL of 2012.

This is one of five known examples: 1) The de Luÿnes example in Paris, de Luÿnes 2459 = Greenwell 170 = von Fritze I 80 = Traité II 2797, pl. CLXXVII, 33 = SNG BN 210; 2) Berlin, ex Imhoof-Blumer; 3) Leu 52, 1991, 82; 4) Ars Classica XII, 1926, 1721 = Egger XXXIX, 1912, 304; 5) The present example. The use of a prow as a coin type during the late 6th and early 5th centuries is only paralleled by the coinage of Phaselis, though those coins were not as well designed as this one. It has been suggested that this represents Jason's ship the Argo (named after its builder Argus), which was supposedly the first ship to sail on the ocean, and which carried the Argonauts to Colchis in the quest for the Golden Fleece.