Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 1182. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $550. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOEOTIA, Thebes. Circa 395-338 BC. AR Stater (12.19 g). Theog-, magistrate. Struck circa 379-368 BC. Boeotian shield / Amphora; above, kerykeion left; ΘE-OΓ across central field; all within concave circle. BCD Boiotia 503 (same rev. die); Hepworth 58; Myron Hoard pl. Δ, 24-6; BMC 145; SNG Copenhagen 338. VF, underlying luster, usual die rust on obverse.

The reverse dies of this magistrate are of particularly high quality artwork according to Hepworth, p. 64, 14. This is understandable, given that they were issued immediately after the Spartan yoke was lifted off the Kadmeia. It was the time when Thebes was looking forward to the increasing military power and political assertion in the area that came with independence and which led to the glorious years of Epaminondas' heyday.