Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 452. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Thebes. Circa 425-395 BC. AR Trihemitetartemorion (0.24 g). Boiotian shield, half-shield to right / Club right; Q (or QE?), above; below, caduceus horizontally right; all within incuse concave circle. Unpublished in the standard references. Near VF, even tone, metal porosity, small chip. Unique (?). ($200)

This is a clever way to depict a tetartemorion and a half, which is this coin. If the three half-shields (see above, lots 446 and 447) represented a tritetartemorion, it would be confusing to have three half shields as well for the trihemitetartemoria, even if a special effort was made to strike these lighter and smaller in size. The solution of the "shield-and-a-half" was therefore chosen but the production of these coins must have been small, as this is apparently the only one which has survived. This is also a reminder that the smaller the fraction the more difficult it was for the mint to control the weight and keep it distinct from the weights of the other small fractions of immediately higher and lower values.