IONIA, Teos. Circa 510-500 BC. AR Staters (22mm, 11.90 g; 21mm, 11.91 g; 20mm, 11.94 g). Griffin seated right, raising forepaw; swan to lower right / Quadripartite incuse square. Balcer group V (unlisted dies); SNG Copenhagen 1437. VF, a few die breaks. Three (3) coins in lot, struck from the same combination of dies (each unrecorded by Balcer), but at different states of die deterioration.
From the wear displayed by the examples with more pronounced die breaks, this obverse die began to deteriorate almost immediately, and the wear quickly increased throughout it use. This rapid deterioration of the die certainly limited its output, and is probably why there were no examples of it for Balcer to record. A survey of other examples suggests that this was not an uncommon phenomenon in the early period of minting at Teos. It is possible that these early dies were made from metal that was not suitable for the purpose of striking coins. By the early Classical period, though, this appears to have been rectified. A numismatically interesting offering.
