Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 2491. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $710. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARGOLIS, Epidauros. Circa 295/80-250 BC. AR Hemidrachm (2.65 g, 8h). Laureate head of Asklepios left / Retrograde EΠ monogram within wreath. Requier, Monnayage, series 1, dies D3/R3; BCD Peloponnesos 1230 (same dies). Good VF, toned. Rare.

Ex BCD Collection (not in LHS sale).

For the Epidauros drachms and hemidrachms of third century BC, we are maintaining the series scheme outlined by Requier. His assignment to two series is based on the typology of the coins rather than wear, and he justified this particular arrangement of the two series by the fact that the coins of his second series were in use when the weight reduction occurred. The revised arrangement of the series provided in the LHS sale may eventually be adopted, but the evidence of wear is too subjective based on a single hoard alone. That said, some modifications to the chronology are being made here. LHS notes that the date of the deposit of the Epidauros Hoard should be lowered to “c. 240/235.” Although LHS bases this date on the subjective evidence of wear on the Ptolemaic coins in the hoard, other evidence that the weight reduction throughout the region may be as late as 239 BC supports a lower date, and so the proposed dating by LHS is certainly reasonable. We also agree with LHS that the series 1 drachms are contemporary with the series 2 hemidrachms, as their styles are highly consistent. On the other hand, apart from the fact that the hoard contained coins on both sides of the weight reduction, other, more specific dates are not directly discernible from this find. What is certain from this hoard is that each series, with their respective tight inner die links, were each struck over a very short period of time, perhaps less than a single year. Hemidrachm series 2 is perhaps the easiest to date. Beginning with a few coins struck on the heavy standard, it then quickly changed to the light standard. As the transition in weight standards must have occurred between 250-240 BC, and the series was apparently very short, all of the series 2 hemidrachms, heavy and light, must fit within this timeframe. Consequently, both series of drachms, which were contemporary to the series 2 hemidrachms, must be confined to these dates as well. We must be mindful, though, that all of these conclusions are based on the single find of coins analyzed by Requier. It is possible that future finds may produce dies earlier than his series 2 hemidrachm obverse die O1, which could extend the series backward in time. Also, it is equally possible that future finds may produce dies that extend the series forward, perhaps until the deposit of this hoard, circa 235 BC. A hoard of highly die-linked coins, such as this, would normally suggest that such future finds of new dies are very unlikely. The limited circulation pattern of these coins and the fact that the hoard was found local to Epidauros, however, makes the likelihood of such an assumption less plausible. In any event, dating Requier’s series 1 hemidrachms is all that remains. While both series 1 and 2 are tightly-knit groups, the hoard evidence is inconclusive with respect to the continuity of these series; some time may have lapsed between them. So, while the series 1 hemidrachms were certainly struck within a short time frame, the window containing that time frame is necessarily wide. Requier’s series 1 hemidrachms are dated here to circa 295/80-250 BC.