Obolos 1

CARIA, Knidos. Circa 500 BC. Obol (Silver, 10mm, 1.01 g 10). Lion’s head with open jaws to right. Rev. Bust of Aphrodite to right, wearing a necklace and with her hair held in a close-fitting cap. Cahn 23. Very rare. With a rudely vigorous archaic bust of Aphrodite, of clearly local workmanship. Very fine.

From the RRG collection, acquired prior to 1978.

At the time of Cahn’s study of the coinage of Knidos he knew of only four examples of this die pair, two in museums and two in private collections (von Aulock 2594 and Niggeler I, 400); from its condition and color the present coin must surely come from the same find as the Niggeler piece. That piece was originally in the collection of Canon Greenwell (1820-1918), an English cleric famous for his erudition and, among other things, for his collection of Kyzikene electrum that was bought by E. P. Warren who then sold it to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.