Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 671. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $375. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOEOTIA, Thespiai. Early-mid 4th century BC. AR Hemiobol (0.37 g). Half Boeotian shield / Horizontal crescent facing downward; star of eight rays within; QES below; all within incuse circle. BCD Boiotia 603. VF, toned, porous. Extremely rare, the third known.

From the BCD Collection.

At Thespiai, as is the case with Tanagra, anything silver below the value of an obol seems to have been a rather scarce commodity. Apparently the plentiful shield/trident bronzes, valued one chalkous each (see Picard, "L'Antre Corycien," BCH IX [1984], p. 288, 43-46), served the needs of the locals better than the minuscule silver fractions which could easily be lost or broken. But these bronzes, which were struck in the name of the Boeotians, were issued after 338 BC. This means that, earlier in the 4th century, Tanagra, Thespiai, and the other Boeotian cities, with the exception perhaps of Orchomenos which had its own bronze (see lot 225 above), must have used mostly Theban silver and bronze for their small change.