Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 499 1 Sep 2021
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ARGOLIS, Hermione. Circa 360 BC(?). PB (20mm, 7.76 g, 2h). Head of Demeter Chthonia left, wearing wreath of two grain ears / Wreath of four grain ears. Cf. Grandjean, Monnayage group I, series 1A, D1/R1 = BCD Peleponnesos 1286 (for a silver triobol of similar types and style). Tan patina with small chip in spot. Near VF. Fine style.
The extremely fine style and detail of this lead piece sets it apart from much cruder cast Roman tesserae, or even the understudied lead tesserae of Asia Minor. A close parallel, however, can be found among the 4th century BC coinage of Hermione in Argolis, where a series of triobols were struck depicting a head of Demeter Chthonia wearing a wreath of grain ears, with a reverse type of the civic monogram within a wreath of two grain ears. Stylistically, this lead piece appears most closely related to the very first obverse dies of the series, where the spikelets on the grain ears each have long, fine awn.
Other Greek lead pieces have in the past been suggested as test strikes (see F. de Callataÿ, "Les plombs à types monétaires en Grèce ancienne" in RN 166), but many of these have been determined to be modern in origin. Privately, the great collector BCD has suggested that certain extremely rare, unpublished lead pieces were limited productions made by itinerant engravers in an effort to sell their services to coin-producing cities. In this context, they would be most comparable to modern pattern coins, struck by artists and mints to help officials visualize a coinage before it is approved for production. As the present piece bears four grain ears in the wreath on the reverse – double the number as seen on the chalkoi of the city –, and as it is roughly twice the size of those bronzes, it may be considered as a trial design for an unissued dichalkon.
The extremely fine style and detail of this lead piece sets it apart from much cruder cast Roman tesserae, or even the understudied lead tesserae of Asia Minor. A close parallel, however, can be found among the 4th century BC coinage of Hermione in Argolis, where a series of triobols were struck depicting a head of Demeter Chthonia wearing a wreath of grain ears, with a reverse type of the civic monogram within a wreath of two grain ears. Stylistically, this lead piece appears most closely related to the very first obverse dies of the series, where the spikelets on the grain ears each have long, fine awn.
Other Greek lead pieces have in the past been suggested as test strikes (see F. de Callataÿ, "Les plombs à types monétaires en Grèce ancienne" in RN 166), but many of these have been determined to be modern in origin. Privately, the great collector BCD has suggested that certain extremely rare, unpublished lead pieces were limited productions made by itinerant engravers in an effort to sell their services to coin-producing cities. In this context, they would be most comparable to modern pattern coins, struck by artists and mints to help officials visualize a coinage before it is approved for production. As the present piece bears four grain ears in the wreath on the reverse – double the number as seen on the chalkoi of the city –, and as it is roughly twice the size of those bronzes, it may be considered as a trial design for an unissued dichalkon.