Islands off Attica, Aegina AR Hemidrachm. Circa 480-457 BC. Sea turtle, head in profile, with 'T-back' design on shell / Large square incuse with skew pattern. Meadows, Aegina, Group IIIa; Milbank Period III; HGC 6, 448; SNG Copenhagen 510; SNG Delepierre 1528-9; Boston MFA -; Dewing 1679; Rosen 221. 2.98g, 13mm.

Very Fine. Rare.

From a private English collection;
Ex Major Thomas Hart (1760-1840) Collection.

Major Thomas Hart was a distinguished officer in the forces of the East India Company and a distinguished collector of coins and other items. Indeed, these facts are related, for significant parts of his collection had been picked up as loot during campaigns he took part in, including items taken from Tipu Sultan’s palace after the successful Siege of Seringapatam in 1799 by British forces and their allies. This battle ended the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and resulted in the death of Tipu, who fell fighting within the already breached walls of the city. The spoils taken from his palace and body were distributed and auctioned off among the soldiers. The most famous piece of this loot is the so-called ‘Tipu’s Tiger’ which now resides in the V&A, but Major Hart also carried home some significant items, such as a 21-shot repeating flintlock which Tipu, known as the ‘Tiger of Mysore’, had used during the siege, and a gold-encrusted firangi sword which bears the mark of Tipu’s father, Haider Ali Khan, the previous ruler of Mysore. These were found only in 2016, alongside other parts of his collection such as this coin, in the attic of a house belonging to his family members, having stayed in the family since then, and were auctioned off amid much excitement and interest.