Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 224. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Orchomenos. Circa 385-375 BC. AR Stater (11.07 g). Boiotian shield, wheat ear with wavy stalk to right across top end / Amphora; EY above, EP to left, remnant of X to right (erased on the die); all in incuse circle. This variety unpublished in the standard references. VF, traces of corrosion and light scratches on reverse. ($500)

One explanation for this "change of mind" after engraving the third letter of the ethnic would be that the mintmaster decided to keep this batch of staters separate for some reason and this was a convenient way of doing so. It has not been possible to trace the same reverse die without the erasure in published literature and this supports the suggestion that the erasure took place during the initial engraving of the die and not after it had been used to strike a quantity of coins.