Kierion. Lot of 3 coins.

Triton XV, Lot: 108. Estimate $150. Sold for $950. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Lot of 3 coins.

(108.1) THESSALY, Kierion. Second half of the 4th century BC. Æ Trichalkon (21mm, 8.53 g, 4h). Laureate head of Apollo r. / ΚΙΕΡΙΕΩΝ l. up, Zeus, naked, striding r., hurling thunderbolt from his r. hand (off flan here) and with eagle perched on his outstretched left (off flan here); in field r., Arne half-kneeling to her l., looking back and playing with knucklebones to her r. SNG Cop. 37 (same obv. die). Good VF, dark green patina with some dark red areas; rev. softly struck.

The style of this bronze is clearly not as fine as that of lot 101 above but it may be that the difference is due to the inferior die-cutting rather than to a chronological gap.

(108.2) THESSALY, Kierion. 3rd century BC. Æ Trichalkon (20.5mm, 7.42 g, 1h). Laureate head of Apollo r. / ΚΙΕΡΙΕΩΝ l. up, Zeus, naked, striding r., hurling thunderbolt from his r. hand and with eagle perched on his outstretched left; in field r., Arne half-kneeling to her l., looking back and playing with knucklebones to her r. This combination of style and type not found in reference sources consulted. Near VF, dark olive - brown patina with some red undertones.

This style head also occurs with the horse reverses (see lot 108.3 below) and it seems to this writer that these issues should be down-dated to the 3rd century BC. On the other hand it could be argued, not very convincingly though, that a stylistic deterioration of Apollo’s portrait - if it is Apollo, some reference works suggest Poseidon - does not necessarily mean a lower date.

(108.3) THESSALY, Kierion. 3rd century BC. Æ Trichalkon (20mm, 6.69 g, 1h). Head of bearded and wreathed Poseidon (?) r. / ΚΙΕΡΙΕ[ΩΝ] l. up, bridled horse springing to right; below, Arne, half-kneeling to l., her r. hand playing with knucklebones but her l. raised as if to protect her from the huge horse above her. Rogers 177, fig. 74; SNG Cop. 36. VF, green patina with some darker red areas, mostly on the reverse.

These are probably the last issues of Kierion; there exist similarly styled coins with very poor engraving and significantly lower weight; dating them as late as the end of the 3rd or even the beginning of the 2nd centuries BC would not be unreasonable.