The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

QUAESTIONES CYKENAICAE. 55
Rev. Gazelle standing on dotted line 1. ; in field above,
silphium plant in pericarp, with button in
cleft, point upwards; to L, silphium plant
with one pair of leaves and one umbel, above
which, K beneath ; gazelle's belly, K all in
;
incuse square.
Ai. 0-9. Wt. 2644 grs. B. M. Num. Chr., 1861,
p. 201.
1 A. Obv. Similar; arrangement of whorls varied; on
either side of base, a silphium fruit.
Rev. Similar, but silphium plant has two whorls and
two umbels exactly as on obverse ; beneath
gazelle's belly, ^.
JR. 0-9. Wt. 259-3 grs. Paris = Tr. 2012,
PI. Ixiv. 11 = M. i. 24.
The latter coin has already been published by Babelon
in his Traite. There the letter beneath the belly
of the gazelle is called (following Muller) "objet
incertain ". A comparison with the coin in the British
Museum, however, suffices to show that though lying
on its back 6 it is the same letter as appears on No. 1.
r
hether there was a second K on the reverse of No. 1 A
is uncertain ; certainly there would not be room for it in
the same place as on No. l,for the silphium on the reverse
of No. 1 A is much taller, reaching right up to the cliin of
the gazelle.
There would, however, possibly be just
space for it in the right-hand top corner, which is off the
coin an unfortunate accident, as the inscription is very
puzzling. The two letters cannot both form part of
the same word, and it is impossible not to recognize one
or other as the initial letter of Kvpavatov. Poole, who
6
Cp. the somewhat later drachm of Collection, No. 25, below,
Euesperides
where the inscription
in the Paris
EV on the
rever&e appears upside down.