Sale: Nomos 3 & 4, Lot: 1062. Estimate CHF250.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 May 2011.  Sold For CHF1700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Herakleia Trachinia. Circa 370s-350s BC. Obol (Silver, 0.87 g 7). Head of lion to left, with mouth open and protruding tongue; below, Ε. Rev. ΗΡΑ Club downwards; to right, two ivy leaves. BMC 2 = Traité IV, 446 and pl. CCLXXXVII, 9. Very rare. Very fine.

Acquired from A. H. Baldwin in June 1971 (£15).

The coinage of Herakleia can be divided into two distinct groups depending on the way the lion’s head is made. One, as this, has a lion with an open mouth and protruding tongue; the second (as lots 1060 and 1063) has a lion with a closed mouth. These styles seem to have alternated or have been used interchangeably; in any case, they must have ended by c. 350 when the city became the mint for the Oitaians.