WESTERN ASIA MINOR, Uncertain. 6th century BC. Hekte (Electrum, 10 mm, 2.76 g), Phokaic standard. Facing gorgoneion with protruding tongue. Rev. Incuse square. Rosen -. Savoca 19th Silver Auction (2017), 111 corr. (same obverse die, but misattributed to Kyzikos). SNG Kayhan -. SNG von Aulock -. Weidauer -. Apparently unpublished, the second and by far the finest known example. A very interesting issue with a wonderfully crude Archaic gorgoneion. Edge split, otherwise, extremely fine.


Gorgoneia appear on a number of electrum coins, most notably in Kyzikos and Mytilene. However, this charming archaic coin has nothing in common with those later issues, bearing a somewhat crude yet fierce gorgoneion that differs significantly from the much more elaborate renderings of the late Archaic and early Classical era. It must have been struck somewhere in western Asia Minor in the 6th century BC, perhaps in Ionia.