Nomos 18

LESBOS. Antissa. Circa 400 BC. Obol (Silver, 8 mm, 0.71 g, 6 h). Youthful male head (apparently a sub-Saharan African). Rev. Club, shown vertically with the head below, dividing Α - Ν; all within lozenge-shaped incuse. Apparently unpublished and unknown. A fascinating and intriguing coin, toned and clear as found. Very fine.

Acquired in Munich in the late 1990s or early 2000s as "vermutlich Ainos".

There are quite a number of ancient coins that have clear types and easily decipherable legends, yet they still remain uncertain in their attribution. This piece was long thought to be from Ainos, probably because of its lozenge-shaped incuse and the supposed Α - <Ι> - Ν legend could be paralleled by the early silver diobols of Ainos (May 22 ff.). The fact that those coins clearly have the legend Α - Ι, rather than the Α - Ν that appears on the present piece, was explained by viewing the club as being a large Ι: this does seem to be reaching a bit! The possible attribution to Antissa, a town on Lesbos, has more to recommend itself. There are a number of late 4th/3rd century AE coins from Antissa (probably chalkoi - as Waddington 635), which have the same reverse type and legend. In addition, early 5th century billon obols, commonly attributed to Mytilene, bear the head of a young African male on their obverses: yet one, as Traité 2, I, 599 and pl. xv, 9, has a clear Α on the reverse (in a lozenge-shaped incuse!), thus suggesting the series was minted in Antissa too.