Redating Late Hera Mint Issues

Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 2262. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $120. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ELIS, Olympia. 111th-114th Olympiad. 336-324 BC. AR Hemidrachm (2.20 g, 8h). Hera mint. Head of the nymph Olympia right / Eagle standing left, wings folded; to right, leaf and grape bunch on vine. BCD Olympia 336.9 (same dies) and 203 (same obv. die, different rev. type); SNG Copenhagen -; BMC -; Traité -; Pozzi -; Weber -; McClean -. Fine, toned, struck from worn dies.

Ex BCD Collection (not in LHS or Leu sales); Lepczyk 62 (17 May 1985), lot 47.

This coin undermines part of the chronology set out in BCD Olympia for these late Hera mint issues. In the note accompanying BCD 203, it is asserted that the closed-wing eagle issues precede those of the spread-wing eagle issues, and the two issues are dated to the 330s BC and 320s BC, respectively. This coin, however, while having a closed-wing reverse, shares an obverse die with a coin from the spread-wing group (BCD 203). Moreover, the die wear on the obverse is clearly more advanced on this coin, conclusively showing it to have been struck later than the coin with the spread-wing reverse. A detailed die study would clarify the issue, but these two eagle types were apparently struck contemporary to each other, at least in part, perhaps by separate officinae within the mint. Accordingly, we have preferred to combine the dating of these issues into a single period.