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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Greek Coins| ▸ |Geographic - All Periods| ▸ |Anatolia| ▸ |Lesbos||View Options:  |  |  | 

Lesbos

Lesbos is the third largest Greek island, located in the northeastern Aegean Sea, separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait. Abundant pottery finds and the worship of Cybele suggest cultural continuity of the population from Neolithic times. Greek emigrants, mainly from Thessaly, arrived probably beginning in the Late Bronze Age. When Cyrus defeated Croesus in 546 B.C. the island became subject to Persia, until the Persians were defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis in 480 B.C. The island was governed by an oligarchy in archaic times, followed by quasi-democracy in classical times. For a short period it was a member of the Athenian confederacy, its apostasy from which is described in a stirring chapter of Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War. In Hellenistic times, the island belonged to various successor kingdoms until 79 B.C., when it passed into Roman hands. The most powerful cities were Mytilene and Methymna. In addition to the local coins bearing the names of the various Lesbian cities, there were two important coinages, one in billon and another in electrum, both of which doubtless had a general circulation throughout the island. The word lesbian is derived from the name of the island, owing to the poems of the 6th-century B.C. poet Sappho, who was born on Lesbos and who wrote with powerful emotional content directed toward other women.

Mytilene, Lesbos, 521 - 478 B.C., Ancient Counterfeit

|Lesbos|, |Mytilene,| |Lesbos,| |521| |-| |478| |B.C.,| |Ancient| |Counterfeit||hekte|
Counterfeiting began almost immediately after the first coinage was introduced. The official Mytilene coin was solid electrum, a mixture of gold and silver. This coin is plated with electrum over a base core, struck by a criminal counterfeiter in ancient times, intended for circulation as the official prototype. The low weight identifies this as is a plated coin.
GA114610. Fouree electrum plated hekte, cf. Bodenstedt 9.1, HGC 6 933 (official Mytilene mint prototype, solid electrum), VF, rough spots, weight 2.086 g, maximum diameter 10.3 mm, die axis 180o, unofficial criminal mint, 521 - 478 B.C.; obverse forepart of winged lion left; reverse incuse head of cock left, rectangular punch to right; $250.00 SALE PRICE $225.00
 


Lesbos, c. 550 - 480 B.C.

|Lesbos|, |Lesbos,| |c.| |550| |-| |480| |B.C.||1/24| |stater|NEW
A most unusual use of illusion on a coin. The two confronting boars' heads can also be viewed as the facing head of a panther.
GA114015. Billon 1/24 stater, Klein 349; BMC Troas p. 152, 18; SNG Cop 289; SNG Mün 648; HGC 6 1071 (R2) var. (M above on obv.), VF, well centered, marks, porosity, light deposits, weight 0.579 g, maximum diameter 8.5 mm, uncertain Koinon of Lesbos mint, c. 550 - 480 B.C.; obverse confronting boar heads, creating the illusion of a facing head of a panther, ΛΕΣ above; reverse quadripartite incuse square; very rare; $100.00 SALE PRICE $90.00
 


Lesbos, c. 500 - 450 B.C.

|Lesbos|, |Lesbos,| |c.| |500| |-| |450| |B.C.||1/12| |stater|NEW
A most unusual use of illusion on a coin. The two confronting boars' heads can also be viewed as the facing head of a panther.
GA114944. Billon 1/12 stater, SNGvA 7712; SNG Munchen 646; Rosen 542; BMC Troas p. 151, 15; HGC 6 1069 (R2); SNG Cop -, VF, dark toning, rev. encrusted, weight 1.175 g, maximum diameter 9.7 mm, uncertain Koinon of Lesbos mint, c. 500 - 450 B.C.; obverse confronting boar heads, creating the illusion of a facing head of a panther; reverse incuse square punch, M in one quarter; $100.00 SALE PRICE $90.00
 







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REFERENCES|

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Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, United States, Burton Y. Berry Collection, Part 2: Megaris to Egypt. (New York, 1962).
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Wroth, W. A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Troas, Aeolis and Lesbos. (London, 1894).

Catalog current as of Thursday, March 28, 2024.
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