Ancient Gold Coins - Greek

Lot 4699    SESSION 18 (2.30PM THURSDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER)    Ancient Gold Coins - Greek

Estimate $400
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $1,900

LESBOS. Mytilene, (521-478 B.C.), fourree hekte, 10 mm, (2.30 g), obv. forepart of winged lion to left, rev. incuse head of cock to left, rectangular punch to right, (cf.S.4237, Bodenstedt Em. 9.1; BMC 4 [p.156], HGC 6, 933). Very fine, rare.

Ex Numismatik Lanz, Munich, Sale 138, November 26, 2007 (lot 364) with their illustrated card of this coin.
A detailed thesis on the problems of fourees was produced in 2007 at Florida State University by Robert Conn IV "Prevalence and Profitability: The Counterfeit Coins of Archaic and Classical Greece".(available on Internet).
Electrum coinage also experienced counterfeiting from its inception and Ionian cities had laws established against such practices. An inscription from Mytilene, IG XII.2, typically dated to the early fourth century B.C.E., states that Phocaea and Mytilene will take turns striking electrum coins. The inscription are recorded and translated by J.M. Jones in his books. The counterfeiting of electrum coins commenced early in the issue of hektes, beginning in the late 6th to early 5th century B.C. and continued, but with a drop in production during parts of the last half of the fifth century; probably due to a shift in counterfeiting the more readily accepted Athenian coinage. The majority of plated pieces could have come from private sources or areas outside of administrative control as many of the plated pieces do not bear an exact resemblance to official dies. But Conn also notes however that even more telling is the traces of electrum plating left on the plated pieces are of the same percentages as the official mixture, this would indicate that the counterfeiters either had an intricate knowledge of the mixing process or someone connected with the mint and they were still involved in counterfeiting.