Usually I don't bid on a countermark unless I have some idea what it is. Unless it is going cheap. Then I buy it anyway. This one baffles me. The host coin is the common little AE from Sardes with Apollo and a club in wreath. The countermark is a four-sided (or five-sided?) something in a circle. I've gone through the usual places to find this and I am coming up with nothing. This host coin is not often countermarked (my half-baked theory is that it is too small - most countermarks that I see are on somewhat larger flans; with something this small a countermark becomes almost an overstrike (see Heraclius counterstamps (both sides) from Sicily, which are sometimes basically overstrikes if the flan is small enough). Anyway, if somebody can provide any suggestions on what the countermark's "object" might be, it would be helpful. Is there an ancient four-sided (or five-sided) cross that is resembles? A double-boomerang? Star countermarks of various sorts are out there, but nothing that looks like this thing. Lydia, Sardes Æ 15 Civic Issue (c. 133 - 1 B.C.) Laureate head of Apollo right / [ΣAΡ]ΔI [ANΩN], club, ΩΠAE monogram below. Paris AA.GR.12582; Mionnet IV, 656; GRPC Lydia 66. (Host attribution not entirely certain; monogram seemed to match Wildwinds specimen). (4.40 grams / 15 mm) Countermark: Four-sided object (cross?) in 7 mm circle obverse. Thank you. And feel free to post any Sardes countermarks you might have - I'd like to see them. Or any countermarks at all. I adore countermarks.
Interesting. It looks like a spoke to me. Sardes had some lovely coins... when they could get it in flan. A swing and a miss: Home run!
I wish I could help with the countermark, but I can't. But I agree with Ryro that they're probably (wheel) spokes rather than a cross. An oldie from Sardeis: And, since I like countermarks as well, a siglos from the people that took over the Sardeis mint after Kroisos:
..i like countermarks...even if i can't id'em..thery're kool man! ..i got one as a bonus while bingingD) on Mt. Argaeus coins Severus Alexander provincial Cappadocia bronzes,one with countermark
Thank you all for your assistance - @Ryro and @Ignoramus Maximus - that "wheel/spoke" suggestion was helpful - although I still haven't found any Sardes countermarks like this, the wheel is a much better description than the "star" I was originally thinking. Thanks again!
I don't have a photo of it, but I have one of those Cappadocia countermarks, not as nice as yours. As for the un-countermarked one, I just bought one on eBay that isn't here yet - the ones without countermarks might be more scarce than the one with them? Either way, any coin with a holy mountain on it is a good one!