Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 240. Estimate $4000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $2600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Plataiai. 387-372 BC. AR Hemidrachm (2.76 g). Boiotian shield / [PLA], head of Hera right, wearing stephanos. Head, Boeotia p. 50, pl. IV, 14 = BMC 1, pl. IX, 3; Traité III 330, pl. CCIII, 28-29; Pozzi 1389 = Pozzi (Boutin) 3212; Weber 3222 (same rev. die); Locker Lampson 197 (same dies). EF, bright, a couple of light scratches on the shield, the reverse field slightly porous around 1h to 2h. A superbly artistic coin; possibly the finest known. Very rare. ($4000)

Ex Bourgey 4 May 1987, lot 40bis; Münzen und Medaillen FPL 373 (November / December 1975), no. 51 (for CHF 5200).

Since its appearance in the above Bourgey auction this coin has been expertly cleaned, hence the slight porosity in the reverse field.