Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 180. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Mykalessos. Circa 400-375 BC. Lot of two AR Obols. Both coins: Boiotian shield / Vertical thunderbolt between M-Y; all within concave circle. Both struck from the same reverse die. Varieties: (a) 0.90 g. On reverse: flower-like(?) object in left field // (b) 0.86 g. On reverse: object in left field erased from die, leaving only traces. Münzen und Medaillen FPL 231 (April 1963), no. 31 (same rev. die, before erasure). Both coins VF. Two (2) coins in lot. ($300)

(a) Ex Classical Numismatic Auctions XVIII (3 December 1991), lot 108.

The field marking on coin (a) could be anything from an open flower seen from the top, to a lion's head to the left. Whatever it was, the mintmaster probably thought that it was not successful and ordered it erased. Coin (b) is struck after its erasure from the die. Together this pair of coins has an unusual and interesting story to tell.