KYRENAICA. Kyrene. Circa 5th century BC. Tessera (Lead, 25 mm, 14.34 g). Silphion plant; to left and right, silphion fruit. Rev. Forepart of a lion right; to left, traces of letters (?); all within incuse square with indentations at the top margin. Cf. Leu Web Auction 38 (2025), 1033 (similar type, but as a seal). Slightly rough and with a test cut on the obverse, otherwise, very fine.
This extraordinary piece purports to be a tetradrachm of Kyrene dating to circa 490-475 BC, yet it is struck not in silver, but in lead! Given the combination of competent technical and stylistic execution with an entirely inappropriate metal, it is difficult to regard it as a crude contemporary forgery; perhaps it was instead intended as a coin weight or tessera. The test cut, however, suggests that the piece did at some point enter circulation, where a suspicious contemporary tested it for its silver content. Since it is not plated but made entirely of solid lead, however, we cannot know whether the person who tested it recognized it as an imitation