Sale: Nomos 6, Lot: 68. Estimate CHF4000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 May 2012.  Sold For CHF3200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHLIASIA, Phlious. Late 6th-early 5th century BC. Obol or 1/12th Stater (Silver, 1.18 g). Human leg bent to right, with prominent kneecap. Rev. Incuse square divided into six irregular compartments. BCD Peloponnesos 79 (this coin). Gr. Mü 803 and pl. XIII, 24. Seltman pl. XIV a. Extremely rare. Nicely toned, and probably the finest example known. Good very fine.

Ex BCD Peloponnesos, LHS 96, 8 May 2006, 79, and said to have been found in northern Arcadia.

The archaic coinage of Phlious is extremely unusual; as a result there was a good deal of controversy over its origins among scholars of the 19th century. Find spots in the north east Peloponnesos and the fact that the largest denomination, a half stater (as BCD 77), bears the initial letter phi make the attribution to Phlious quite certain.