MYSIA. Kyzikos. Circa 170-150 BC. 1/4 Stater (Gold, 10 mm, 2.00 g, 1 h), Attic standard. Head of Kore to right, wearing wreath of grain ears. Rev. KY-ZI within oak wreath; above, A; below, two monograms. Hess-Leu 31 (1966), 402 (same dies). SNG Berry 946 (same dies). SNG Paris 447 = Waddington 690 (same dies). Exceedingly rare, one of apparently just four known examples, and perhaps the only one still in private hands. A very unusual issue of great numismatic and historical interest. The reverse struck slightly off center, otherwise, very fine.



The gold quarter-staters of Kyzikos rank among the greatest rarities: to the best of our knowledge, only six specimens in three varieties are known to exist. Three are preserved in the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris (SNG Paris 446-448), another - the piece from the Burton Y. Berry Collection - is housed in the ANS. A fifth coin was auctioned in Hess-Leu 31 in 1966; its present whereabouts remain unknown. The final example recorded to date is our specimen, acquired by our consignor in the Kricheldorf XXXII sale of 1977 for 2,400 DM.

The provenances of these pieces can be traced far back. The first, die-identical to our specimen, was acquired in 1859 by the Bibliothèque nationale from the well-known French dealer H. Hoffman. Two more entered the collection in 1897 from that of W. H. Waddington; these were struck from different dies and have different reverse controls: SNG Paris 446 bears an I instead of an A above the wreath and has a different single monogram in the exergue, while SNG Paris 448 shows a Φ above the wreath but, like SNG Paris 447 and our piece, carries the same monogram in the exergue.

The classification of these unusual issues has posed certain difficulties, which may explain why they have often been overlooked or only briefly mentioned in the literature - or, as in SNG Paris, even accompanied by the note 'Les trois pièces suivantes en or ont été considérées douteuses' ('The following three gold coins were considered doubtful'). Unfortunately, no reasons are given, nor is it stated by whom this suspicion was raised. E. Levante, the editor of the volume, clearly regarded them as genuine - otherwise, he would not have included them in the catalogue.

It also seems implausible that a forgery series should have been created before 1859, with only six examples in three varieties surfacing sporadically over the course of nearly 120 years. Since the coins also display no technical signs of forgery, the cautious objection of SNG Paris can safely be disregarded.

Civic gold coinage in Asia Minor is extremely rare - all the more so in Kyzikos, renowned above all for its early electrum issues - though larger gold denominations are known from other cities such as Ephesos and Magnesia on the Maeander. On stylistic grounds, the quarter-staters most likely belong, as H. Seyrig already observed (Monnaies Hellénistiques, RN 1963, p. 19 n. 2), to the 2nd century BC, and more precisely to the period of the Kyzikene stephanophoroi, circa 170-150 BC.

The exact historical context remains uncertain. The period after the Peace of Apameia in 188 BC, however, was far from stable: the withdrawal of Seleukid power, the rise of Pergamon and its subsequent wars with Bithynia and Pontos, together with the constant Galatian threat, provided ample circumstances for a one-off emergency issue in gold. Conceivably - as known from Athens or Sicilian cities in the Classical period - gold reserves from a temple treasury might have been coined in a moment of crisis, though this must remain speculative.

Nonetheless, the quarter-staters of Kyzikos represent an absolute rarity within the civic coinages of Asia Minor. The present specimen is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to appear on the market in nearly half a century, and perhaps the only one still in private hand.