Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 261. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $1600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Tanagra. 457-448 BC. AR Obol (0.97 g). Boiotian shield / Horse's head right, neck decorated with laurel wreath; T-A across upper field; all within incuse square. Head, Boeotia p. 28; Traité III 337, pl. CCIV, 2 = BMC 27, pl. X, 3 (same dies); Pozzi 1394 = Pozzi (Boutin) 3220 (this coin). Good VF, attractive dark collection tone. Very rare denomination for this period. Possibly the finest known of its type. ($750)

Ex Prof. S. Pozzi Collection (Naville-Ars Classica I, 14 March 1921), lot 1394.

The Pozzi auction catalogue lists the weight of this piece as 1.02 g whereas the correct weight is 0.97 g. In contrast to the later obols from Tanagra which were minted in considerable quantities, the early classical obols with the well defined incuse square on the reverse are very rare, much more so than the hemidrachms of the same period.