APAMEIA SILVER CISTOPHORUS – UNPUBLISHED AND UNIQUE ISSUE WITH MAEANDER SYMBOL – CHOICE XF NGC GRADED GREEK PHRYGIA COIN (Inv. 18920)

$1,600.00

18920. PHRYGIA. APAMEIA. Ca. 133–67 BC.
Silver Cistophorus, 12.71 g, 27 mm. Issue of ca. 166–160 BC.
Obv. Cista mystica within ivy wreath. Rev. AΠA, snakes around quiver, ΣAT control monogram above, maeander pattern in right field.
Kleiner & Noe –, but cf. Kleiner & Noe, Series 5 (Tralles), with the maeander symbol; Kleiner, Late –; Carbone et al, Local Coinages in a Roman World, –.
Ex CNG Electronic Auction 541, 7/28/2023, lot 136.
NGC graded CHOICE XF, Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5, “brushed.”

This unpublished and enigmatic cistophoric tetradrachm seems to combine aspects of both early and late cistophori. The style of the serpents appears early and the maeander pattern on the right has parallels in the early cistophoric coinage of Tralles. However, the abbreviated, rather than monogrammatic, treatment of the ethnic is a regular feature of late cistophori. It is a truly remarkable and possibly transitional piece worthy of much further study.