Nomos 34

MYSIA. Kyzikos. Circa 400 375 BC. Stater (Electrum, 20 mm, 16.08 g). Head of bearded Pan to left, wearing an ivy wreath and with a goat’s ear; below truncation, tunny fish to left. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. BMFA 1564. Gulbenkian 662 (same dies). SNG Paris 330. Von Fritze 191. Rare. A splendid, toned coin, struck in high relief and of the finest Classical style. Minor marks, otherwise, good extremely fine.

Property of a Late Collector, ex Tradart 8 November 1992, 98 (illustrated on the front cover).

This magnificent head is immediately reminiscent of those that appeared on the first staters of Pantikapaion, thus making the likelihood that it represents Pan almost certain (it has long been given the generic term ‘Silenos’). The close relations between Kyzikos and Pantikapaion would have made Kyzikene issues quite familiar to everyone in the Crimean city. We can be almost certain that this coin helped to inspire the design of the slightly later gold issues of Pantikapaion that bore virtually the same head, albeit in a more Skythian-Greek style.