Obolos 43

ASIA MINOR, Uncertain. late 6th-early 5th century Bc. Obol (Silver, 7.5 mm, 0.61 g). Quadruped (possibly a griffin or a goat) standing to right, with a triangular-shaped object on his back, behind his neck, and something else on his back above his rump. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Apparently unpublished, but struck from the same dies as Heritage 61356, January 2024, 25009 and Leu (WH) e32, December 2024, 665. Very rare; toned. Very fine.

On the other known examples their cataloguers identified the animal on the obverse as a camel; which implies that those people never actually saw a camel! They also dated it solely to the 5th century BC, which is definitely too late. It is clear from this coin (and the Heritage piece) that our animal has a horn on its head (rarely if ever found on camels, even those from ancient Asia Minor) and, while there is something on his back, it is not a hump. The small, seemingly curved horn on his head is reminiscent of a griffin's horn - perhaps the protuberance on his back behind his neck is a kind of wing (?); while the other thing on his back, above his rump, is reminiscent of the bird perching on the back of the donkeys at Mende. In fact, this creature is almost certainly a griffin: its head is similar to that of the griffin found on the early coins of Assos.