Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 2126. Estimate $150.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $150. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SIKYONIA, Sikyon. Circa 330/20-280 BC. AR Triobol (2.74 g, 12h). Chimaera standing left, raising forepaw; ΣI below / Dove flying left; four pellets above tail. BCD Peloponnesos -; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC -; Traité -; Winterthur -; Pozzi -; Weber -; McClean -. Good VF, toned, a little rough. Variety with four pellets unpublished in the standard references.

Ex BCD Collection (not in LHS sale).

Although the reverse appears to have been struck from a fairly new die, the possibility that one of the pellets is a die break could account for the appearance of a fourth pellet. Under magnification, however, all four pellets appear to be engraved in the die, which is also suggested by the alignment of the pellets in such an orderly manner. Interestingly, the three pellet issue (cf. BCD 294), among Sikyon’s largest series, was supplemented by a smaller issue featuring four pellets (cf. BCD 295-6). On the published specimens of that series, the fourth pellet was placed below the dove’s tail. Perhaps this coin is from a rare, transitional series where the fourth pellet was included in the group above the tail?