Larissa. Lot of 3 coins.

Triton XV, Lot: 384. Estimate $300. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Lot of 3 coins.

(384.1) THESSALY, Larissa. Mid 4th century BC. AR Drachm (19.5mm, 5.90 g, 12h). Head of the nymph Larissa three-quarter facing l., wearing pendant earring and plain necklace; border of dots / ΛΑΡΙΣ below, ΑΙΩΝ above, horse l., crouching and preparing to roll on solid ground line. See Nomos 2 (18 May 2010) 64 (same dies). VF, lightly toned, the rev. with some scattered roughness in the fields and double striking on the legends otherwise well centred and with an attractive obverse.

Same obverse die as lot 287, above.

(384.2) THESSALY, Larissa. Mid 4th century BC. AR Drachm (20mm, 5.85 g, 3h). Head of the nymph Larissa three-quarter facing r., wearing ampyx, pendant earring and plain necklace; her hair combed back behind the ampyx; border of dots / ΛΑΡΙ above, the P reversed, ΣΑΙΩΝ below, the N slightly higher, on the same level as the ground line , horse l., crouching and preparing to roll. See Felix Schlessinger XIII (4 February 1935) Hemitage 816 for the same obv. die and a rev. by the same hand. Good Fine, a little unevenly toned but an extremely rare reverse type (the P reversed).


(384.3) THESSALY, Larissa. Mid 4th century BC. AR Drachm (19mm, 6.10 g, 12h). Head of the nymph Larissa three-quarter facing l., wearing ampyx, pendant earring and plain necklace; her hair combed back behind the ampyx; border of dots / ΛΑΡΙ above, the P reversed, ΣΑΙΩ[Ν] below, horse l., crouching and preparing to roll. No reference has been found with the obverse 3/4 to left and the reverse featuring the letter P written backwards. Good Fine, nicely toned but with a disfiguring die flaw on the nymph’s nose.

The rarity of this type is easily explained by the obv. die break on the nose; because of it, this 3/4 l. obverse die was put out of use very early in its life and replaced by an obverse 3/4 r. die (see lot 384.2). This new obverse was coupled with at least two reverses, both of them featuring the retrograde P; soon these anomalous reverse types were replaced by other reverses, not so much to correct the lettering but to feature a smaller horse that would fit nicely in the flans.