Ancient Greek Coins

Lot 1436    SESSION 6 (9.30am Wednesday)    Ancient Greek Coins

Estimate $600
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $900

BOIOTIA, Thebes, (378-338 B.C.), silver stater, (12.03 grams), obv. Boiotian shield, rev. amphora with letter **KL IWN*, (cf.S.2398, Hepworth Series C No.71, SNG Delepierre 1311, McClean 5606-7, Weber 3281). Good very fine/very fine, a rare Magistrate.

The staters of the Boiotian Confederacy of the 4th Century are well known to numismatists. These staters, struck on the Aiginetic standard, bear on the obverse the usual Boeotian shield and on the reverse an amphora, with the addition of magistrate names and, on occasion, vines hanging from the handles or extra symbols above the amphora. Although the coins do not bear the mark of an issuing city, Thebes, as hegemon of the Boeoetian Confederacy, was the most likely responsible authority. In his study of the series, "The 4th Century BC Magistrate Coinage of the Boiotian Confederacy," in Numismatica Khronika (1998), Robert Hepworth identified 45 (two are uncertain) different magistrates and 97 separate varieties. The series begins in the early years of the fourth century and ends in 335 B.C., when the city was razed by Alexander the Great. Through an intensive die study, Hepworth has been able to identify the internal order of this series although an absolute chronology still remains to be determined. The actual identities of most of the magistrates remain obscure. However, the magistrate abbreviated as EPPA or EPAM has been identified as the historical Epaminondas (see "Epaminondas' Coinage," in Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Numismatics, [London 1986, pg. 35-40]), who, at the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, successfully led the Boiotians against the invading Spartan army, thus ending nearly 300 years of Spartan military supremacy. Epaminondas met his death in 362 at the battle of Mantinea. Hepworth in describing the series noted 1700 examples recorded from all the sources found over a period of 25 years of researching. The series is divided into four major groups with sub-divisions within. It is established by die-links and hoard evidence of the approximate order of issue. The series appears to have an annual change of magistrates.