430, Lot: 191. Estimate $200. Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CYPRUS, Uncertain. Early 5th century BC. AR Stater (18.1mm, 10.78 g, 12h). Ram walking left, upon which an ankh symbol is superimposed / Laurel branch with bud at top, and a leaf and fruit on each side; ankh symbol to right; all in dotted square within incuse square. Zapiti & Michaelidou 2 var. (no symbols in field on rev.); Asyut pl. 32, N-O var. (same); E.S.G. Robinson, “Greek Coins Acquired by the British Museum, 1938-1948” in NC 1948, 5 var. (same) [all struck from the same obv. die]. VF, severe test cut, struck from a worn obverse die. Rare, one similar in CoinArchives (CNG E-Sale 427, lot 275), and the four published pieces are all in museum collections (ANS [2], BM, Bank of Cyprus).

See H. Troxell and N.M. Waggoner, “The Robert F. Kelley Bequest,” MN 23 (1978), pp. 33–6, for an examination of this coinage. The obverse die was used to strike three different issues, all with different reverses. These were struck in succession, with the present type belonging to the third issue, when the ankh was engraved over the ram, and the obverse die was in a heavily worn state. The present variety, which adds a subsidiary symbol to the field on the reverse, is apparently unpublished, and is likely one of the latest in the issue.