Lot 1438

Description

Boiotia, Tanagra, silver stater, 457-448 B.C., (12.11 grams), Obv. Boiotian shield, Rev. forepart of bridled? horse to right, [T] AN clockwise around from upper left, all within incuse square, (cf.S.2447 [£550], BCD 256 [Triton IX, p.56 this coin illustrated], Traite III, 333 [Pl.CCIII, 32 = BMC 22 corrected], Naville -Ars Classica XIII June 27, 1928, [lot 728 same dies]). Off centred reverse, grey tone, light pitting and scratch on reverse field, otherwise very fine and very rare.

Ex BCD Collection and sold Triton IX Sale (lot 256), previously from Sotheby's London Auction Sale May 12, 1983 and L. Hamburger Sale 98, April 3 1933 [Lot 572]. BCD notes in describing this lot that this coin was also part of the hoard mentioned by Hepworth (Nom. Khron. 17 (1998), p. 64, note 24) who notes an "unpublished hoard" sold in whole or part by Hamburger in 1933 (98th Auction). That this coin was part of it is fairly certain. The coin has been cleaned since and does look as if it had been circulating for some short time before its concealment. We may therefore be dealing with, at least in part, an "accumulation" type hoard, which introduces many uncertainties when it comes to dating its contents.