CNG 96, Lot: 299. Estimate $200. Sold for $170. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Trikka. Circa 440-400 BC. AR Hemidrachm (16mm, 2.83 g, 11h). Thessalos, nude but for petasos and cloak tied at neck, standing right, holding band across horns of forepart of bull leaping right / Forepart of bridled horse right within incuse square. BCD Thessaly II 775.3 var. (same obv. die; different form of legend). VF, toned, some die wear, banker’s mark on obverse. Rare transitional type.

From the BCD Collection.

It is interesting to note that this coin’s “early” obverse type, where the heads of Thessalos and the bull facing right that are typically paired with the ethnic ending in the form -ON, is here paired with a reverse die with the ethnic ending in the form -ΩN, which typically is found on issues with the “later” obverse type with facing heads on the obverse (as with the following lot). In fact, this obverse die is known to have been used on coins with the former legend (BCD II 775.3), though here it is in a later die state, which suggests its transitional position within the relative chronology of this entire series of hemidrachms at Trikka.