391, Lot: 206. Estimate $3000. Sold for $9000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 450-330 BC. EL Stater (16.5mm, 15.98 g). Head of young female left, hair in thin band, on round disc (a shield?) set on tunny left / Quadripartite incuse square. Hurter & Liewald I 20a = Mildenberg, Cyzicenes 24; Jameson 2566; otherwise unpublished in the standard references. VF, off center. Extremely rare, Hurter & Liewald note only two examples, none in CoinArchives.

There are a couple of issues of Kyzikos that feature an obverse type upon a circular disc (cf. von Fritze 105 and 221–3). These discs are often described as a shield, but this identification is uncertain. Alternative interpretations are that these may be depictions of “a coin on a coin”, but none of the types closely resemble particular coin issues from cities that would be logical for Kyzikos to replicate. All of these issues are fairly rare, with the present piece being the rarest.