Sale: Triton X, Lot: 242. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 168/5-50 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.81 g, 11h). New style coinage. Polyxarmo-, Nikoge-, and Phanokle-, magistrates. Struck 132/1 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing triple-crested Attic helmet decorated with a palmette and griffin on the bowl / A-QE, owl standing right, head facing, on amphora; winged caduceus to left, A on amphora, SF below, magistrates POLU-CARMO, NIKOGE, FANO-KLE; all within wreath. Thompson - (obv. die 367); CNG 42, lot 341 var. (month DI). EF. Apparently unpublished, and numismatically important.

Phanokle- was one of the last 3rd-magistrates to strike in the anchor-star series of the prior year (see Thompson 368g-h). He apparently continued into this winged caduceus series, and is known on both drachms (Thompson 373a) and tetradrachms (Thompson pp. 150-151 - unconfirmed piece cited in RN 1885, p. 15). The present piece confirms the contiguity of these two series, as not only is this magistrate present on both, but this coin was struck with Thompson’s obverse die 367, which was previously only known with the anchor-star series. Another novelty is the name of the second magistrate, whose name here is given as NIKOGE rather than the usual NIKOG. None of the published specimens of this series give this longer variety. As the ‘E’ overlaps the wreath, it is possible that the name was shortened in subsequent issues to fit within the given space. In sum, all of this suggests that this coin was among the earliest issues of the winged caduceus series.