Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Stater
| Issuer | Uncertain Cypriot city (Cyprus (ancient)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 450 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 10.62 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Deeply incuse square with a bull standing to left, its head turned frontally in the characteristic Cypriot manner, depicted in bold relief within the incuse punch. Beneath the bull, an owl-face (gorgoneion-like) device is prominently displayed, likely a civic badge of the issuing city. The granular or striated border of the incuse square is clearly visible. The reverse design mirrors the obverse iconography within the standard incuse punch technique typical of early Cypriot silver coinage. No legend is present. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Fifth-century Cyprus was a patchwork of city-kingdoms — Salamis, Paphos, Kition, Amathus, Idalion, and others — each striking independently and often without consistent identifying marks. Attribution of unsigned Cypriot staters from this period remains genuinely contested, and SNG France 440 places this piece among issues where the minting authority cannot be assigned with confidence. The island sat between Achaemenid Persian administrative pressure and residual Greek cultural pull, and coinage policy reflected that tension: some cities struck on the Persic weight standard, others on lighter local systems.
The 450s BC saw Cimon of Athens lead an expedition to Cyprus that ended with his death at the siege of Kition — the last major Athenian military push in the eastern Mediterranean for decades.