| Heritage World Coin Auctions > NYINC Signature Sale 3113 | Auction date: 8 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 30029 Price realized: 6,500 USD (Approx. 5,925 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Ancients MYSIA. Cyzicus. Ca. 550-450 BC. EL stater (20mm, 16.08 gm). NGC Choice VF 4/5 - 5/5. Sphinx crouching left, right forepaw raised; tunny fish left below / Quadripartite incuse square punch. Greenwell 100. Von Fritze I 72. Struck on a lustrous wheat flan with lovely toning around the devices. From the Wetmore Collection of Gold and Electrum. Ex Roma Numismatics, Auction XIII (23 March 2017), lot 262. The sphinx, which appears frequently on the early electrum coinage of Cyzicus, had its origins in ancient Egypt (and is here perhaps symbolic of the lucrative trade between Egypt and mainland Greece), but the Greeks quickly developed their own version of the creature, which in their variant had the body of a lion, the wings of a bird and forepart of a woman. The most famous of these was Sphinx of Thebes (the Greek city, though interestingly there is also an Egyptian Thebes), who queried travelers with a riddle, then devoured them, when they could not answer. This went on until she encountered Oedipus, who successfully answered the riddle, whereupon the Sphinx flung herself from a cliff. https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-mysia-cyzicus-ca-550-450-bc-el-stater-20mm-1608-gm-ngc-choice-vf-4-5-5-5/a/3113-30029.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3113-01082024 HID02906262019 © 2023 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved Estimate: 6000-10000 USD |  |
