Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 270. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $120. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOIOTIA, Tanagra. Early-mid 4th century BC. Lot of two AR Obols. Both coins: Boiotian shield / Forepart of horse left; all within incuse concave circle. Varieties: (a) 0.89 g. T before horse, A above. Head, Boeotia p. 52; L. Hamburger 92 (11 June 1930), lot 154 (same rev. die); Münz-Zentrum XXIV (12 May 1976), lot 121 (same rev. die) // (b) 1.23 g. T-A-(N retrograde) clockwise around horse from 9 o'clock, T oriented inward, T outward. Head, Boeotia p. 52. Coins Fine and VF, respectively. ($200)

(a) Ex Münzen und Medaillen FPL 449 (October 1982), no. 152. (b) Dr. J.S. Wilkinson Collection (Malter 49, 15 November 1992), lot 414.

(a) The reverse die-break grows and on the majority of other known specimens obliterates most of the T and extends past the horse's neck. (b) The unusually high weight of this coin as well as the retrograde N suggest an earlier rather than a later issue (see above, lot 256 for another retrograde N in the early classical stater series). However, both shields on the coins of this lot, although not resembling, incorporate elements of later dates, a reminder to be cautious when attempting to date by style alone.