From the Jameson Collection

Triton XVII, Lot: 234. Estimate $25000. Sold for $35000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ELIS, Olympia. 107th Olympiad. 352 BC. AR Stater (21mm, 12.04 g, 12h). Head of Hera right, wearing stephanos decorated with a palmette and lily; F-A flanking neck / Eagle with open wings standing right within olive wreath. Seltman, Temple 314a (dies EX/ιβ) = Jameson 1241 (this coin); BCD 134 (same dies); HGC 5, 375 (this coin illustrated); BMC 95. Near EF, attractive old collection toning.

Ex Nomos 6 (8 May 2012), lot 70; Triton VIII (11 January 2005), lot 344; R. Jameson Collection, 1241; J. Hirsch XVI (6 December 1906), lot 579.

Elis was a district located in the western Peloponnese, bordered by Achaea to the northeast, Arkadia to the east, and Messenia to the south. The local form of its name, Fάλις, in all likelihood means “the lowland,” since much of the distict’s mountains and riverheads begin in Arkadia. Though the city of Elis itself was one of the largest classical cities in the Peloponnese, Olympia was its most important site. The home of the Olympic festival, traditionally dated to 776 BC, Elis was also the home of the judges of these games, the Hellanodikai. In order to support the volume of visitors which the games attracted, mints were established specifically for the striking of a uniform coinage which could serve as the medium of exchange throughout the ceremonies. The first of these two mints was located at the Temple of Zeus, and began striking coins for the 78th Olympiad of 468 BC. This was followed by the addition of a second mint at the Temple of Hera circa 421/0 BC. As with many other Greek mints, the production of coinage gradually decreased after Roman rule began in the mid-second century BC. Minting did resume periodically, however, during the reigns of Hadrian and the Severans.