Abydos (BC 520-490) EL 1/3 Stater

ca 500 BC. EL Trite - 1/3 Stater (4.66g). Eagle standing left, with closed wings, looking backwards / Rough incuse punch.
Of the highest rarity, apparently only the second specimen known. Struck on a narrow flan, otherwise aEF.

Attributing uninscribed electrum coins of this period without assured badges is extremely difficult, as is with this trite. Abydos is an obvious possibility since the eagle was a common feature of its coinage. For other common coins see an electrum stater in the British Museum catalogue of Ionia (pl. I, no. 23) (eagle of similar proportions and identical pose, perched upon what is described as a hare). See also some early silver fractions attributed to Abydos with incuse punch reverses (SNG Cop. 1-2; SNG Klein 292), though they show a bird of a different character, without its head reverted.