CYCLADES, Kythnos. Circa 530/20-500 BC. Drachm (Silver, 15 mm, 4.03 g). Head of a boar to right. Rev. Irregular incuse punch. Kyrou & Artemis pl. 52, 43. Sheedy series 1 (unlisted dies). SNG Delepierre 2461 (as 'incertaine'). Weber 8571-8573 (as 'incertum'). Very rare and in exceptional conditon for the issue. A superb, toned example with a very attractive stylized boar head. Extremely fine.


Kythnos is one of the smaller Cycladic islands: it guards the entrance to the Saronic gulf and is unique in that it was originally populated by the pre-Greek Dryopians. The early coinage of Kythnos consists of drachms or tetrobols of 4 g and some fractions, all of which show a boar head to the right on the obverse. While these coins have been known since the 19th century, their origin was only discovered through a hoard that came to light on Kythnos in 1976 and some later finds on the island. The present piece, with its wonderfully archaic boar head, is from the earliest series, dated by Sheedy to the last quarter of the 6th century BC.