Agora Auctions, LLC
Numismatic Auction 61 27 September 2016
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Islands off Thrace, Thasos. ca. 500-480 B.C. AR tetartemorion(?) (6.59 mm, .13 g). Dolphin swimming right; pellet above and pellet below / Quadripartite incuse square. Unpublished; cf. Le Rider, Thasiennes 10 (hemiobol); cf. HGC 6, 338 (same). VF. Unpublished and possibly unique.
The coins of Thasos sometimes use pellets in the fields to denote denomination during this time period. However, the number of pellets is not consistent within denominations; for instance, sometimes there are three pellets and sometimes there are just two for a hemiobol. This coin has two pellets which would suggest that it is a hemiobol. However it is both half the diameter and half the weight of a hemiobol which indicates that it is a tetartemorion, a previously unknown denomination for Thasos, although a few other early tetartemorion's have appeared on the market in recent years.
The coins of Thasos sometimes use pellets in the fields to denote denomination during this time period. However, the number of pellets is not consistent within denominations; for instance, sometimes there are three pellets and sometimes there are just two for a hemiobol. This coin has two pellets which would suggest that it is a hemiobol. However it is both half the diameter and half the weight of a hemiobol which indicates that it is a tetartemorion, a previously unknown denomination for Thasos, although a few other early tetartemorion's have appeared on the market in recent years.