CILICIA OR THE LEVANTE. Uncertain. Late 5th to 4th centuries BC. Hemiobol (?) (Silver, 8 mm, 0.29 g). Eagle flying right, holding branch (or animal?) in its talons; above, winged solar disk. Rev. Diademed and bearded male head (of the Persian Great King?) to right in incuse. Göktürk -. Klein -. Roma E-Auction 99 (2022), 336 (same dies). SNG Levante -. SNG Paris -. Extremely rare. Somewhat rough, otherwise, very fine.


Based on the iconography of this piece - a bearded head of the obverse and a solar disk on the reverse - and its small module, an attribution to Cilicia or the Levant is likely, although the lack of an ethnic hampers further attribution. The attribution to Magnesia ad Maeandrum (let alone Archepolis!) proposed in the Roma sale, and followed by Naumann, on the other hand, is almost as improbable as the suggestion that this is some sort of a minting error. In fact, the convex pearl rim and the incuse image on the reverse make it abundantly clear that we are dealing with a deliberate design, not a brockage mint error from an otherwise unattested type.