Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 193. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $325. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Orchomenos. Circa 500-480 BC. Lot of two AR Obols. Both coins: wheat grain, sprouting end upward / Aeginetan-style skew pattern incuse. Varieties: (a) 0.86 g. Carefully applied countermark on centre of grain: A / Skew pattern with thick lines. Unpublished with countermark // (b) 0.84 g. Carefully applied countermark on top of grain: A(K retrograde) / Skew pattern with thin lines. Unpublished with countermark. Both coins Near VF to VF condition. Two (2) coins in lot. ($300)

The most logical explanation for these unrecorded and highly interesting countermarks is that they were applied at Akraiphion, a short boat ride from Orchomenos across lake Kopais. It may be that the city of Akraiphion needed to make a payment where the identity of the paying authority had to be officially indicated and this method was chosen because the city's own currency - which we know to be very rare - was not readily available.