UNCERTAIN MINT (CARIA?) SILVER STATER – UNUSUAL BUG-LIKE DESIGN – CHOICE VF NGC GRADED GREEK ASIA MINOR COIN (INV. 19993)

$850.00

19993. ASIA MINOR. UNCERTAIN MINT (PERHAPS IN CARIA?). Late 6th–early 5th c. BC.
Silver Stater, 10.98 g, 18 mm.
Obv. Spherical form with lateral indentations, perhaps meant to be a stylized beetle. Rev. Pair of incuse punches.
SNG Copenhagen –; SNG von Aulock –; Rosen – but cf. 247–249, electrum staters, that use similar incuse punches; SNG Kayhan –, cf. 929–930 (obverse design).
NGC graded CHOICE VF, Strike 4/5, Surface 4/5.

Although this early silver stater’s obverse type and issuing mint are rather mysterious, its Aeginetic weight standard suggests probable production in the region of Caria. This standard was initially brought to Caria by Dorian Greek colonists and strongly influenced the development of coinage there. The bipartite reverse punch, which is comparable in style to those used for coins of Ialysus and Camirus on the island of Rhodes in the late sixth/early fifth century BC, also seems to support a possible Carian origin.