Triton XV, Lot: 133. Estimate $1500. Sold for $55000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Larissa. 479/475 - circa 460 BC. AR Hemidrachm (14mm, 2.54 g, 7h). Head of Jason to l., wearing petasos with strings fastening behind his head; border of dots / ΛΑ below, 𐌔ΑΕ above, retrograde and upside down, sandal of Jason l. in incuse square. See Nomos 4, 1096 (same rev. die). Good VF, toned, a few light scratches on the obv. field and a small old bump on the front of the petasos.

From the Gillet collection, photofile no. 872, acquired privately in January 1974 for CHF 8500.

One of the very few coins that were smaller than a drachm in this magnificent collection. This writer should now correct his previous statement in the BCD note after lot 1096 in Nomos 4. ASW was right, the letters R and Ι were never included on this reverse die. It is evident though that these letters can be formed by the intricate design of the leather straps of the sandal. The early Greek die-cutters had a very subtle sense of humour that often shows as a disguised play on words or a design puzzle such as this in their artwork.