Mytilene (BC 521-478) EL Hekte - B21 var

ca 521-478 BC. EL Hekte (2.50g, 10mm). Head of ram left, cock standing right, pecking at ground. Letter E (retrograde) below. / Incuse head of bearded Herakles wearing lion’s skin headdress facing right. VF. Carr coll.

This appears to be a ‘double variant’ emission. The coin is ‘clearly’ a hybrid of an obverse of Bodenstedt 21 (ram's head left with cock below) and the reverse of Bodenstedt 2, 15, 16, 20, or 26 (incuse lion's head right). There appear to be only 6 of this variant, this being the 6th. On the other hand, it is a variant in respect to the other 5 variant examples and the normal B21, as there is a letter “E” (retrograde) below the cock on the obverse. CNG Auc. 105, lot 238 (5/2017) is a similar coin, but it has an additional letter () below the cock. Hekte emissions of Mytilene that include the letters E are B14, B20, B23, B28, B35 and B-unknown CNG Triton XX (1/2017), lot 259 - these letters have been taken to denote the island of Lesbos. CNG suggest these B21 variants should be considered a new emission as, in addition to a different type combination, none have die matches with other dies.