Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 175. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Lebadeia. 2nd century BC. Æ 14mm (2.50 g, 7h). Head of Athena left, wearing crested Corinthian helmet / L-E in olive wreath tying below; all in concave circle. Imhoof-Blumer, Münzkunde, p. 358; cf. BMC 1/2 (obverse/reverse); A. Rhousopoulos Collection (J. Hirsch XIII, 15 May 1905), lot 1715 (this coin?). VF, dark brown patina. Extremely rare. ($300)

This coin is a variant of both pieces in the BMC, combining the obverse of BMC 1 and the reverse of BMC 2. The old collection provenance of our specimen suggests that it comes from the Rhousopoulos Collection although, of course, there is no proof of this as the Hirsch piece in the sale catalogue has no weight nor is it illustrated. One more reason to believe in this provenance is that Jakob Hirsch, who was a very accurate cataloguer, described his lot 1715 as "B. M. C. 2. Var." which fits perfectly with the description of our piece.