Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 600. Estimate $150.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $90. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Thespiai. Early-mid 4th century BC. Lot of two AR Obols. Both coins: Boiotian shield / Horizontal crescent composed of three lines, facing upward; QE(three-barred sigma) above; all within shallow concave circle. Head, Boeotia p. 55, pl. IV, 19 = BMC 5, pl. XVI, 7; SNG Cop. 401-402. Very rare with test cuts. Varieties: (a) 0.65 g // (b) 0.52 g. Coins VF and Fine, respectively; (a) darkly toned, test cut across half of obverse; (b) three shallow chisel cuts on shield and one in the field next to it. Two (2) coins in lot. ($150)

It was highly unusual for the ancients to guess wrongly and test-cut a coin that was not plated, but this is exactly what happened here. On the other hand, if a coin was tested and found good, it would continue circulating as genuine and would not be thrown away to be found more than two thousand years later. Finally, small denominations were forged much more rarely; it was not worth the time and the effort of the forger. All the above make these two coins quite rare and desirable, especially for the collector who is looking for something really out of the ordinary.