- ID: 195

Submitter: Jean-Luc

Added: 1998-01-04

MYSIA. Cyzicus (?).

Electrum Stater.
Av.: Griffin seated to r., left forepaw raised, below exergual line, tunny.
Rv.: Incuse head of a lion, facing, to r., paw.
15,97 g.

BoC: 17/2, 1992/3, p.16.

FAKE – This counterfeit is an invention. The griffin is vagely reminiscent of the late fifth-century silver staters of Teos (Balcer 133-136) but it lacks the characteristic upraised ears and the knob on the forehead.The exergual line may also be traced back to Teos. Nowhere in the long series of Cyzicene staters doeas a figure or an animal stand or sit on an exergue line, rather, they are always atop the back of a tunny which thus becomes part of the representation.
It is the incuse lion´s head on the reverse, however, which makes this counterfeit so extraordinary. It must have been inspired by hektai of Mytilene of the mid-fifth century which have an incuse lion´s head  (Bodenstedt Em 30 or 53.2).