Second Known

Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 2424. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARGOLIS, Argos(?). Circa 370-350 BC. AR Trihemiobol (2.68 g, 10h). Head of Hera right, wearing ornamented stephanos / Wolf running left. New York Sale XVII, lot 64; otherwise unpublished. VF, find patina, minor deposits on reverse. Extremely rare, the second known.

This coin, which is not from the BCD collection, is the second known of this type to appear at auction. The attribution here to Argos rests on the similarity of its obverse type to the contemporary “temple-key” tritetartemorions (see the following lots), as well as later bronze issues (see lots 2443 and 2464ff, below). We have also interpreted the reverse type as a wolf, which is the common symbol on coins of Argos. This attribution, however, is not without controversy. Alan Walker suggests an attribution to Argos Amphilokion in Akarnania, where the head of Hera is also similarly depicted on certain silver issues. Moreover, he views the reverse type to be a dog, and has a style more in line with the dog reverse types common at that city. BCD, however, is unconvinced of either attribution, and suggests that this issue may be from a mint in western Asia Minor. As only two of these coins are known, neither of which are from any apparent hoard, the evidence is as yet too scant to attribute them with any certainty.