City/Region:
Lesbos, Mytilene
Denomination:
EL Hekte
Composition:
Electrum (mixture of gold and silver)
Date:
circa 412-378 BC
Obverse:
Head of lo, wreathed, facing right, with small cow's horn
Reverse:
Head of youthful Dionysos, wearing ivy wreath, facing right, within linear square; all within shallow incuse square
Size:
10.38mm, 2.51g, 12h
Grade:
aEF, exquisite style, boldly struck, well centred, lustrous
Rarity:
Rare
Provenance:
ex Solidus Numismatik e.K. Premium Auction 20 (21 Oct 2017), Lot 78
References:
An exquisite example of the famous electrum coinage from Lesbos, Mytilene.
Mytilene is the capital city of Lesbos, a status which it has enjoyed the 7th centruy BC. In the 6th to 4th centuries BC, the city was famous for the production of electrum (gold and silver alloy) coinage. It is considered to be the first city in the world to experiment with the reduction of purity of metals used to produce coins.
