Among the Earliest Representations of a Ship on Coinage

271, Lot: 21. Estimate $2000. Sold for $6000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYCIA, Phaselis. Circa 550 BC. AR Stater (19mm, 10.88 g). Prow of galley left, terminating in a forepart of a boar / Rough incuse punch. Cf. Heipp-Tamer series 1. EF, toned. Apparently unique.

Property of Princeton Economics acquired by Martin Armstrong. Ex Triton II (1 December 1998), lot 448.

This piece, with the prow in schematic style and a plain, rough incuse, clearly belongs to Heipp-Tamer’s first series. Only right-facing prow types had been previously known for this earliest phase of the mint (and Heipp-Tamer only knew of two coins - a stater and a drachm - for the entire series!).