TheNewYorkSaleauctionXL

1068

Corinthia, Corinth. Silver Stater (8.42 g), ca. 515-450 BC. Koppa below, pegasos flying left. Rev. Head of

Athena right, wearing Corinthian helmet, within incuse square. (Pegasi 55; Ravel 150 (P95/T113); BCD -;

SNG Copenhagen 7; SNG Lockett 2024). Scrape on edge and minor porosity on obverse. Toned. Choice

very fine.

$ 1,650

1069

Corinthia, Corinth. Silver Stater (8.54 g), ca. 375-300 BC. ‘Koppa’ below, Pegasos flying left. Rev. Helmeted

head of Athena left; in left field, A; behind neck guard,

and trophy. (Pegasi 411; BCD Corinth -). Nearly

extremely fine.

$ 500

1070

Sikyonia, Sikyon. Silver Stater (12.15 g), ca. 335-330 BC.

E below, chimaera prowling left; above, wreath.

Rev. Dove flying left; before, I; all within wreath. (BCD Peloponnesos 219; SNG Copenhagen -). Lustrous.

Nearly Mint state.

$ 3,000

Although they are perhaps sometimes underestimated, the staters of Sikyon in the fourth century BC were some of the most

important coins struck in the Peloponnesos. Without them, the Spartans could not have financed the conflicts with Athens leading

up to and during the great Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). The Spartans famously refused to strike any coinage of their own

during the Classical period except for iron coins that were useless outside of Lakedaimon and thus Sikyon became a proxy mint for

Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Aigina with its widely recognized turtles was lost as a pro-Spartan mint when the Athenians

expelled the Aiginetans from their island in 431 BC. While the dove refers to the local cult of Aphrodite, it remains unclear why

the chimaera was chosen as the main obverse type for Sikyonian staters. It has been variously (and unconvincingly) suggested that

the legend of Bellerophon (a Corinthian hero) slaying the beast in Lycia was somehow transferred to Sikyon or that the goat (

aigos

)

head of the beast referred to Aigialeia, an old name of Sikyon.