CNOSSUS SILVER STATER – CRUCIFORM LABYRINTH ISSUE – CHOICE VF NGC GRADED GREEK CRETE COIN (Inv. 20601)

$6,500.00

20601. CRETE. CNOSSUS. Ca. 330-270 BC.
Silver Stater, 10.14 g, 24 mm.
Obv. Head of a goddess left. Rev. Labyrinth in a cruciform clockwise maeander pattern, K at center.
Svoronos, Crète ancienne, 40 (pl. V, 16, likely same obv. die) and 41 (pl. V, 17, for similar reverse die); Le Rider, Cretoises pl. VII, 1 (same obv. die) and pl. XXXII, 22 (same rev. die).
Ex Davissons 40, 3/3/2021, lot 60; Stack’s Bowers Galleries 1/17/2020, lot 20034.
NGC graded CHOICE VF, Strike 3/5, Surface 3/5, “lt graffito,” areas of weak strike, planchet crack, graffiti on obverse.

This stater is remarkable for its representation of the famous labyrinth, the intricate maze where the mythical King Minos kept the monstrous Minotaur imprisoned. The labyrinth was a common image on the coins of Cnossus, but it is usually depicted in a square or circular shape. Here, however, it is shown in a rare cruciform shape.