Sale: Nomos 10, Lot: 16. Estimate CHF250.  Closing Date: Sunday, 17 May 2015.  Sold For CHF340. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Chersonesos. c. 386-338 BC. Hemidrachm (Silver, 13mm, 2.39 g). Forepart of a lion to right, his head turned back to left. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square with two raised and two sunken squares; in one of the sunken squares, pellet, in the other, garlanded pilos. McClean 4078. Bold, attractive and with an interesting symbol. Extremely fine.

Chersonesos is actually the name for the general area that is now known as the Gallipoli Peninsula (the name Gallilpoli comes from the Greek Kallipolis = �beautiful city�) and is used for the regional coinage that was probably struck in Kardia. The hemidrachms of the 4th century were issued in vast numbers for trade and military purposes and are characterized by an elaborate series of control symbols that appear in the sunken quarters of their reverses. This one shows a pilos (Latin pileus), a conical cap (the most famous wearers of piloi were the Dioskouroi). Some scholars have thought this symbol was an omphalos but that is not possible: the engraver showed that the bottom of the �hat� is hollow and also included a ring at the top.