Artemide Aste s.r.l.
Auction 46E 23-24 Feb 2019
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Continental Greece. Thessaly, Pharkadon. Fourrée Hemidrachm, c. 440 BC. D/ Thessalos, striding right and with his cloak and petasos over his shoulders, using both hands to hold a band around the head of the forepart of a bull rushing right. R/ Φ-AP-[K]AΔ-O. Forepart of bridled horse to left, the reins trailing; below horse to left, sandal (the Jason's lost sandal). BCD-. BMC-. SNG Greece 6,232. AR/AE. g. 2.45 RRR. A very rare and interesting unofficial issue. Test cut on reverse and plating broken in a few places, otherwise good VF.
This fourrée is a sample of the fakes that were circulating in Thessaly during the second half of the 5th century. Pharkadon and Trikka were the main fake producing taurokathapsia cities and not so much Larissa, although the quantities of genuine coins produced there were vast. The explanation to this discrepancy is simple: the mint of Larissa was obviously much better organized and as a result better supervised too. There must have been controls there that made it very difficult to take dies away so that they could be used to strike fakes in a unofficial workshop; also, striking fakes within the official mint premises must again have been very difficult due to constant supervision of the workers. This does not mean that there were no Larissa fakes produced but the poor style of most of them indicates that they were struck using dies made especially for the production of forgeries in small, privately set up workshops (TRITON XV, 617 note).
This fourrée is a sample of the fakes that were circulating in Thessaly during the second half of the 5th century. Pharkadon and Trikka were the main fake producing taurokathapsia cities and not so much Larissa, although the quantities of genuine coins produced there were vast. The explanation to this discrepancy is simple: the mint of Larissa was obviously much better organized and as a result better supervised too. There must have been controls there that made it very difficult to take dies away so that they could be used to strike fakes in a unofficial workshop; also, striking fakes within the official mint premises must again have been very difficult due to constant supervision of the workers. This does not mean that there were no Larissa fakes produced but the poor style of most of them indicates that they were struck using dies made especially for the production of forgeries in small, privately set up workshops (TRITON XV, 617 note).