It is almost a century since the disastrous end of the Greco-Turkish War ended the almost three millennia of Greek presence in Western Asia Minor. The Greek cities of the region played a pivotal role in shaping Greek culture and Western Philosophy. They were also along with the Lydians candidates for minting the first coins.
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Greek settlements in western Asia Minor, Ionian area in green. (Source: Wikipedia)IONIA, Uncertain. Circa 650-600 BC. EL Hemistater (16mm, 7.26 g). Lydo-Milesian standard. Flattened striated surface / Two incuse squares. Weidauer Group II, – (unlisted denomination); Karwiese, Artemision, Type I.6; Elektron –; Rosen –; Traité –; SNG Kayhan –; SNG von Aulock –; Linzalone LN1026 (same punches); Triton VIII, lot 433 (same punches). EF. Extremely rare hemistater without central linear punch between the two squares. Source: Classical Numismatic Group, LLC https://cngcoins.com/IONIA, Uncertain. Circa 650-600 BC. EL Hekte – Sixth Stater (10.5mm, 2.39 g). Lydo-Milesian standard. Flattened striated surface, with unusual form: two sets of uniformly parallel lines, each perpendicularly bisected by a single line / Two incuse squares. Unpublished, but for similar pieces, cf. Berk BBS 186, lot 2 for a similar hekte, and cf. Heritage 3054, lot 32046 and Gorny & Mosch 199, lot 412 for similar myshemihektai. Good VF, as made. Extremely rare. Source: Classical Numismatic Group, LLC https://cngcoins.com/IONIA, Uncertain. Circa 625-600 BC. EL Trite – Third Stater (12mm, 4.64 g). Lydo-Milesian standard. Geometric figure resembling a star, composed of a cross centered upon a polygon of eight sides / Rectangular incuse divided horizontally and vertically into four compartments by two perpendicular lines; the upper two compartments divided into halves by a single line, the upper halves each containing a pellet, the lower halves bisected by two small vertical lines; the lower two compartments divided into thirds by two parallel lines. McFadden 1; Konuk & Lorber fig. 14; Elektron I 16; Rosen Sale 12; Traité –; Zhuyuetang 2; SNG von Aulock –; SNG Copenhagen (Cyprus, etc.), pl. 10, 318; SNG Kayhan 697. Near EF. From the L. Shea Collection, purchased from J. Cain, March 2014. Source: Classical Numismatic Group, LLC https://cngcoins.com/IONIA, Uncertain. Circa 650-600 BC. EL Hekte – Sixth Stater (9.5mm, 2.35 g). Lydo-Milesian standard. Plain globular surface; letters of an unknown script along part of edge / Incuse rectangle with geometric pattern. Heritage 3054, lot 30097 (same dies); Heritage 3020, lot 24985 (same dies); otherwise unpublished. As made. Very rare. Source: Classical Numismatic Group, LLC https://cngcoins.com/MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 600-550 BC. EL Hemihekte – Twelfth Stater (8mm, 1.32 g). Hurter & Liewald III 5.2; cf. Von Fritze I 2 (hekte); SNG France –; Boston MFA –; CNG 82, lot 586. Good VF. Extremely rare, only one example listed by Hurter & Liewald. Source: Classical Numismatic Group, LLC https://cngcoins.com/IONIA, Uncertain. Circa 600-550 BC. EL Hemihekte – Twelfth Stater (7.5mm, 1.33 g). Phokaic standard. Scorpion / Incuse square. Weidauer –; Elektron –; cf. Traité I 113 = BMC p. 12, 57 (forty-eighth stater); Boston MFA –; Rosen –; SNG Kayhan –; SNG von Aulock –; Leu 30, lot 173 (same die and punch). Good VF, some die rust on reverse. Extremely rare. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 92, Part II (24 May 2016), lot 1477. Source: Classical Numismatic Group, LLC https://cngcoins.com/
