Sale: Nomos 3 & 4, Lot: 1359. Estimate CHF125.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 May 2011.  Sold For CHF250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Trikka. First half of the 4th century BC. Chalkous (Bronze, 13mm, 1.98 g 10). Head of the nymph Trikka to right, with triple-pendant earring and rolled hair. Rev. ΤΡΙΚ- Κ[ΑΙΩΝ] Warrior, nude but for conical helmet, charging to right, with spear held in his right hand and large oval shield in his left. G. Hirsch Nachf. 263, 22 September 2009, 2277 (same dies). Rare. An attractive coin with a dark green patina. Reverse a little weakly struck. Nearly extremely fine/ very fine.

The reverses of this and the following lot are intriguing: they are clearly different warriors; or at least, the engravers who produced their dies had completely different concepts in mind. The fighter here has a conical helmet and an oval shield, on the following lot he wears a standard Greek helmet, perhaps Corinthian and has a round shield. Perhaps the one with the conical helmet is either Podalirios or Machaon, sons of Asklepios, while the more standard representation is either Achilles or Ajax, two of the better known heros of the Trojan War.