Hoard of Coins of Lysimachia from Asilbeyli in the Kırklareli Museum

Abstract

This hoard, found in 1993 in the village of Asilbeyli (district of Kırklareli) and kept in the Kırklareli Museum, consists of ca. five hundred bronze coins of the city of Lysimachia. We publish here not the entire hoard, but only the 305 coins which have been inventoried. These coins were struck in Lysimachia (Thrace) between 309 and 220 B.C. In SNG Copenhagen nine different groups of bronze coinage were proposed, arranged in decreasing order of size, among which our hoard includes coins from groups 3, 4, 7 and 8. Group 3 : on the obverse is depicted the head of Herakles in his youth, and on the reverse, Artemis holding a torch. All the coins bear the legend AYEIMAXEON. There are 28 coins from this group. Group 4 : on the obverse is depicted the veiled head of Demeter, and on the reverse, Nike holding a wreath. There are 21 coins from this group. Group 7 : on the obverse is depicted the head of Herakles in his youth, and on the reverse, Nike holding a wreath. There are 222 coins from this group. This hoard from Lysimachia at Asilbeyli of ca. 500 bronze conis is the largest hoard ever found from that city. The hoard is also remarkamle because it contains four different groups, and because half of the coins were overstruck twice, three time sor even four times. The overstruck coins all belong to Group 7. The overstrikes are more visible on conis from Groups 3 and 8, on which the previous types can be more clearly distinguished.