Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 608. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $325. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Thespiai. Early-mid 4th century BC. AR Obol (0.92 g). Boiotian shield decorated with a vertical crescent / Head of Aphrodite Melainis right; SE-Q (retrograde) flanking neck. Traité III 367, pl. CCIV, 29 = BMC 12, pl. XVI, 10 corr. (ethnic); SNG Cop. 405 corr. (ethnic). VF, dark grey collection tone, minor deposits on obverse. Scarce. ($500)

Ex Virgil M. Brand Collection (Sotheby's London 25 October 1984), lot 71; A. Rousopoulos Collection (J. Hirsch XIII, 15 May 1905), lot 1839.

The obols of Thespiai with the head of Aphrodite, although not particularly rare, are very difficult to obtain well centered and in nice condition. This specimen shows all three letters on the reverse whereas other reference works (BMC, SNG Cop., etc.) only mention the first letter of the ethnic as the remaining are off flan.