CILICIA. Uncertain. Circa 450-400 BC. Stater (Silver, 22 mm, 10.61 g). Highly stylized hoplite standing front, head to left, with schematic spear emerging from his body. Rev. Triskeles running right; below, highly stylized forepart of a lion to right. Leu Web Auction 19, 26-28 February 2022, 1522 (same dies). Extremely rare, one of only two examples known. A magnificent piece of endearingly crude style. Test cut on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.


Making sense out of this wonderfully abstract piece is surprisingly difficult. However, if turned at the right angle, one can clearly make out what the artist had in mind when creating his highly stylized motives: the types are derived from early staters from Aspendos showing a hoplite on the obverse and a triskeles with a lion behind it on the reverse. The coin could have been struck somewhere in the Pamphylian hinterland, but an origin in Cilicia, where many rather crude staters emerged in the 5th century, seems more likely.