New Plain Type Denomination

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 316. Estimate $4000.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $5000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Uncertain. Circa 650-600 BC. EL Trite – 1/3 Stater (5.78 g). Samian-Euboic standard. Plain type. Plain flattened surface / Incuse punch. Unpublished. Good VF.

Struck from the same punch as the following lot. The appearance of this coin, a previously unknown denomination, has clarified the picture of the EL coinage with a plain flattened surface. The plain type fractions of weight 4.32-4.34g (as the following lot) have heretofore been described as trites–1/3 staters. However, based on comparison to the present coin (5.78 g) it is now clear that the lighter denomination is actually a tetarte–1/4 stater, and this new heavier denomination is a trite–1/3 stater, both based on a Samian-Euboic standard stater of 17.4-17.5 g.