UNCERTAIN EAST. Circa 2nd-1st centuries BC. AE (Bronze, 20 mm, 4.24 g, 12 h). Bearded bare male head to right. Rev. Turreted and draped bust of the city-goddess to right; behind, Z (?), all within wreath. Leu Web Auction 5 (2018), 411 (same obverse die). Of the highest rarity, perhaps the second known example. Good fine.


The two pieces resemble the bronzes with a head of Zeus on the obverse that are commonly attributed to 'Simyra' (see lot 930 below). On our specimens, however, the obverse does not show Zeus, but rather a bare-headed face whose individualized features suggest the portrait of a ruler or dynast rather than that of a god. Yet we know neither where the coins were struck - the attribution to Simyra is merely conjectural - nor whom the portrait may represent.