Nomos AG
Auction 18 5 May 2019
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IONIA. Phokaia. Circa 387-326 BC. Hekte (Electrum, 10 mm, 2.55 g), c. 360s. Youthful male head (Hermes?) to left, with short, curly hair; behind head, petasos. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. Bodenstedt 83. A very rare type with a very attractive head. Struck on a short flan and with a few scratches, otherwise, good very fine.
Whether this is actually a separate type, with an anonymous male head, or whether it is a variant of Bodenstedt 82, with a head of Hermes, is uncertain. Bodenstedt only knew of a single example (SNG Munich 803), and it might be that within an issue with the head of Hermes, a variant portrait was used for administrative or other reasons; it could be that a head wearing a petasos was from the first semester of the year, and the head with the petasos hanging down the back of the neck was struck in the second.
Whether this is actually a separate type, with an anonymous male head, or whether it is a variant of Bodenstedt 82, with a head of Hermes, is uncertain. Bodenstedt only knew of a single example (SNG Munich 803), and it might be that within an issue with the head of Hermes, a variant portrait was used for administrative or other reasons; it could be that a head wearing a petasos was from the first semester of the year, and the head with the petasos hanging down the back of the neck was struck in the second.