MYSIA. Lampsakos. Circa 411 BC. Stater (Electrum, 21 mm, 15.22 g). Forepart of Pegasos to left; Ξ below; around, grapevine. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square; two quarters raised. Baldwin, Electrum, p. 9 (this coin) and pl. I, 12a-k. BMC pl. XVIII, 8 (same dies). Jameson 1432 (same dies). Kraay & Hirmer 727 (same dies). SNG Paris 1112 (same dies). SNG von Aulock 1292 (same dies). Traité pl. VIII, 4 (same dies). Warren 1591-1592 (same dies). Rare and with an illustrious pedigree. A wonderful piece, beautifully toned and of exceptionally fine style. Light scratches and minor deposits on the reverse, otherwise, good very fine.



Precisely when the electrum staters of Lampsakos were struck has long been debated. They were once thought to predate the Athenian Currency Decree of circa 449 BC, but the appearance of the Pegasos type in the Vourla Hoard of 1875, buried around 410-400 BC, led scholars to lower the series into the late fifth century. It is now generally associated with the revolt of Lampsakos against Athenian supremacy following the arrival of the Spartan general Derkylidas in north-western Asia Minor in 411 BC, thus providing a plausible and relatively narrow window during which these beautiful staters were likely struck.

Athenian power had been in decline since the catastrophic Sicilian expedition of 415-413 BC, and in the years that followed revolts spread throughout the Delian League, many of them encouraged, if not actively instigated, by Sparta. For the Lampsakenes, however, this moment of freedom proved brief. Athenian naval strength remained formidable, and the city was soon retaken by the admiral Strombichides, who sailed from Chios, defeated the local defenders on land, and stormed the still unfortified polis (Thuc. 8.62.1-2). In the years that followed, Athens won several important victories over Sparta, above all at Kyzikos in 410 BC, where the Athenian fleet under the ingenious, though untrustworthy Alkibiades sunk half of the the Spartan navy while capturing the rest. Only after the disaster at Aigospotamoi in 405 BC did the Athenian maritime empire become untenable. Lampsakos then fell to Lysander, who accepted Athens’ surrender in 404 BC. It seems likely that the Vourla Hoard was buried in these perilous years, perhaps even containing plunder from the sack of Lampsakos.

The coin itself offers a further point of interest. The delicately engraved grapevine around Pegasos may allude to the vineyards for which Lampsakos was famous in antiquity. The literary sources bear this out. Strabo, speaking of neighbouring Priapos, remarks that the region was 'abundantly supplied with the vine' and adds that 'Xerxes gave Lampsakos to Themistokles to supply him with wine' (Strab. XIII.1.12). Thukydides preserves the same tradition, describing Lampsakos as 'the richest wine country' and noting that it was assigned to Themistokles 'for wine' (Thuc. 1.138.5), while Plutarch likewise includes Lampsakos among the cities given him for 'bread, wine, and meat' (Plut. Them. 29).