Obverse: Forepart of a Pegasus facing left, surrounded by a grapevine.

Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square.

Mysia was an ancient district in northwest Anatolia (modern Turkey) adjoining the Sea of Marmara on the north and the Aegean Sea on the west. Mysia designated a geographic rather than a political territory and encompassed Aeolis, Troas, and the region surrounding the great city- state Pergamum. Lampsakos, originally called Pityussa, was a Mysian city located on the southern shore of the Hellespont opposite Kallipolis. It had a good harbor, and was said to have been founded by the Milesians or the Phokaians. During the 6th and 5th c. B.C. it belonged to Lydia, and then to the Persians; it joined the Athenian League, paying 12 talents, and was an object of contention among the Athenians, Spartans and Persians from 411 B.C. until the Hellenistic period. Ultimately, it allied with Rome in 190 B.C. and prospered thereafter.

How many hands have touched a coin in your pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the coin traversed on its journey into our possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of who might have touched the coin before us, or where the coin will venture to after it leaves our hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of the state that struck them, of a specific time and location, whether contemporary currencies or artifacts of a long forgotten empire. This stunning hand-struck coin reveals an expertise of craftsmanship and intricate sculptural detail that is often lacking in contemporary machine- made currencies. This magnificent coin is a memorial to the ancient glories of Lampsakos and greater Mysia passed down from the hands of civilization to civilization, from generation to generation.