431, Lot: 97. Estimate $75. Sold for $330. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Larissa. Circa 479-460 BC. AR Obol (10mm, 0.83 g, 1h). Head of the nymph Larissa right, wearing earring / ΛΑR[I], sandal of Jason left; above, labrys left; all within incuse square. Cf. BCD Thessaly II 137; cf. HGC 4, 404; CNG E-387, lot 67 (same dies). Near VF, toned, typical roughness. Rare.

From the BCD Collection.

The Sandal of Jason series is the earliest coinage at Larissa, consisting of all denominations from drachms to tetartemoria. The series is characterized by the depiction of a sandal in incuse on the reverse of the drachms, hemidrachms, and obols, while the hemiobols and tetartemoria only have the city ethnic. For a recent survey of this coinage, and its connection to the mythological Jason, son of Aison, king of Thessaly, see J. Kagan, “The so-called Persian weight coins of Larissa” in Obolos 7.