Uncertain mints. Siglos circa 480, AR 10.81 g. Lion crouching r.; in exergue, go or ko in Cypriot characters. Rev. Bull standing l.; below, go or ko in Cypriot characters, within incuse square. Traité II 1355 and pl. CXXXVI, 8 (Golgi). BMC p. xlv and pl. XXV, 9 (Golgi) and p. 69, 2, pl. XIII, 6 (uncertain mint). Weber 7740 (these dies). Jameson 2331 (this obverse die). Tziambazis –. SNG Copenhagen 65 (Soli or Golgi). Boston 2145 (these dies). SilCoinCy A1900.
Extremely rare and an issue of tremendous importance and fascination.
Old cabinet tone and about extremely fine

Ex Leu sale 20, 1978, 151 and previously privately purchased from Spink in May 1966.

This siglos type has traditionally been attributed to the minor Cypriot city of Golgi based on the initial (an epichoric gamma) of this city’s name that appears in the exergue on both obverse and reverse. Little is known about the history of Golgi beyond that it was said to be a colony founded on Cyprus by a group of Sikyonians under the leadership of a certain Golgos and that the city was home to a very old cult of the goddess Aphrodite known as Aphrodite Golgia--most likely a form of the Astarte cult brought to Cyprus by the Phoenicians who preceded the Greeks in settling the island. Alas, while it would be nice to add a coinage to the very short list of things we know about Golgi, this attribution is now doubted by modern scholarship. The types of bull and lion are little help in suggesting an alternative attribution since they are fairly generic Near Eastern emblems of royal and divine power.