Uncertain (BC 600-550) EL Hekte

ca 600-550 BC. EL Hekte (2.73g), probably on the Phokaian weight standard. Scorpion / Irregular incuse square. Apparently unpublished and unknown. Some minor marks, otherwise EF. Ex Gorny & Mosch 190 (10/2010), 245.

This is an extraordinary piece, quite clearly on the Phokaian standard (as is the piece in the Leu sale - there are lighter electrum pieces with scorpions, as Weidauer 170, but they seem to be on the Milesian standard). The possibility that this piece may have been produced in Thrace or Macedon, given the well known bee that is found on uncertain silver coins from that area (CNG Auction 88, 75) is not unlikely, especially given the rather rough incuse square. There is also a very similar scorpion on some slightly later silver coins that are now also attributed to northern Greece since some have been found there (as SNG Copenhagen 377 and SNG con Aulock 6664 - both published as being from Asia Minor).