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Research Coins: Feature Auction

 
CNG 93, Lot: 429. Estimate $200.
Sold for $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DYNASTS of LYCIA. Uncertain dynast. Circa 380-370 BC. AR Obol (10mm, 0.56 g, 12h). Murex shell / Sea serpent (ketos?). CNG 70, lot 305; otherwise unpublished. VF, toned, porous. Extremely rare.


For an obol of Mithrapata with the same obverse type and style, cf. Klein 606 and BMC Lycia 8. While the similarity of the obverse of this type to the Mithrapata issue suggests an attribution to that dynast, all of his coins bear at least a portion of his name, and there are no letters on this coin. As types tend to be transferred from dynast to dynast, it is possible that this issue is from a contemporary of Mithrapata. The sea serpent, though, is not present on any published specimen of a Lycian dynast, which suggests that these coins may not be from the dynasts' series at all.