Cypriot Paphos silver Siglos coin: Late Archaic II (500-480 BC)

Paphos silver Siglos coin circa 500-450 BC. , 22 mm, 10.84 g, 6 h). 𐠢 ?('pu' in Cypriot syllabic script) Bull standing left.  On reverse:Head of an eagle to left, 4 dots below (guilloche pattern?) [palmette above, not visible], all within incuse dotted square. Very rare. Struck slightly off center as usual, otherwise, very fine.

Paphos started to mint coins soon after Salamis, at the same weight standard of about 11gm, at the end of the 6th century BC. The second, third and fourth king to issue them all used a bull on the inverse and eagle’s head on the reverse, as here. They are known from abbreviations of their names in Cypriot Syllabary as A (-), (-) timo, and Pny (-) the most common. If there is a ‘pu’ sign then it is probably Pni…, the first of these. After that the reverse probably became a standing eagle, and then a flying eagle. (the sequence of these two was disputed). 

BMC 6. Dikaios pl. 14, 5. Tziambazis 75. Evangeline Markou, Kyprios Character website.

Ex Sotheby's, 9-10 October 1995, lot 202.

Acquired Leu Numismatik 12th December 2020 Lot 557

Acquired Leu Numismatik 12th December 2020 Lot 557