TYPE Ancient Greece, uncertain of Caria, 400-340 BC, silver hemiobol?, 0.39g DESCRIPTION . Obv: Lion's head 3/4 left, in linear circle Rev: Head and neck of bull l., Greek 3-letter sequence (Y flanked by M/A/D on left, Y/T on right) above, Greek 'theta' before, Lycian 'theta' below, all in shallow incuse circle REFERENCE: Kay 990 var., Kec 862 var., Ros -, Wilk -, SG -, Del - GRADING: VF+, deep toning, some roughness and pitting, rare ORDER INFO: G2328, $145 A rare and interesting type. We present three variant specimens in the current listings, all sharing the basic fabric and charactereristic design: obverse with a 3/4 left facing lion's head (viewed slightly from above), and reverse a bull's head and neck in profile left, with markings on three sides (though not on flan in all cases) - before the bull (Greek 'phi' or 'theta'), above it (Greek MY or AYT or similar), and below neck (Lycian 'theta' - a pair of outward facing crescents). The Kayhan collection features a variant which has no reverse markings while sharing the remaining design, and cites another (CNG Keckman I, 862) with an unspecified "Karian legend". The lion/calf design is known from early Lesbos electrum, and it would be tempting to associate the reverse legend (in one case rather clearly MY, in another possibly MYT and in the third off the flan) with its capital Mytilene, though there is no other supporting evidence for this. Acquired as a possible rare issue of Samos of 499-495 BC (cf. BMC XXXIV, 24).