Triton XV, Lot: 514. Estimate $150. Sold for $1400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Pelinna. Last quarter of 5th century BC. AR Trihemiobol (15mm, 1.34 g, 2h). Thessalian cavalryman on horse prancing l., wearing short tunic, his petasos hanging on his back, holding two spears, one pointing backwards; border of dots / ΠE below, ΛINN r. up, warrior l. in fighting attitude, wearing petasos and short chiton, holding spear in raised r. and another spear and shield decorated with crescent in his l., all in shallow incuse square with rounded edges and corners. SNG Cop. 185. Near VF, dark old toning and old deposits over crystallized surfaces.

Ex Gitta Kästner 12 (30 November 1976) 52, hammer DM 600; M+M FPL 182 (August 1958) 15; J. Schulman [225] 14 February 1955, 1238.

Christodoulos copied these dies, and quite successfully too. A number of his copies have been offered in the past as genuine from various dealers who did not bother to check them; the latest appeared in Tom Cederlind’s BBS 157 (14 December 2010) 56. This writer bought his first one from Mario Ratto in the early 70’s and another one from Serge Boutin soon after. When a genuine coin came along and was compared to the two forgeries it immediately became apparent that they should be transferred to the collector’s Black Cabinet.