Nomos AG
Auction 26 21 May 2023
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ISLANDS OFF ELIS, Kephallenia. Kranion. Circa 400 BC. Trihemiobol (Silver, 11.5 mm, 0.81 g, 5 h). Ram's head to right. Rev. Κ - ΡΑ (partially retrograde) Ram's hoof to right. BMC 35. HGC 6, 132. SNG Copenhagen 455. Very rare. Well-centered and toned. Some deposits, otherwise, good very fine.
From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, ex Vinchon 11 April 1988, 457 (part of) and from the duplicates of the British Museum, Naville V, 18 June 1923, 2221 and originally from the Ross Collection.
This is clearly an old coin, which has been in collections for a long time. The surfaces, the toning and the general feel make that quite clear. But when was it first acquired? In the British Museum Catalogue of the coins of the Peloponnesus, which was published in 1887, there are no fewer than five of these hemiobols - a rather surprising number. One reason for this ought to be the history of the Ionian Islands: wholly Venetian since the late 15th century; they became French in 1797; became the Septinsular Republic under Russo-Ottoman protection (1800-1807); French again (1807-1814); and finally a British protectorate (defacto from 1809/1810, de sure from 1815: the islands were ceded to Greece in 1864. Given what avid collectors the British were (not to mention the Venetians), it is more than likely that many coins entered Western collections during the decades of British control; that is certainly the time when this coin must have left the islands.
From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, ex Vinchon 11 April 1988, 457 (part of) and from the duplicates of the British Museum, Naville V, 18 June 1923, 2221 and originally from the Ross Collection.
This is clearly an old coin, which has been in collections for a long time. The surfaces, the toning and the general feel make that quite clear. But when was it first acquired? In the British Museum Catalogue of the coins of the Peloponnesus, which was published in 1887, there are no fewer than five of these hemiobols - a rather surprising number. One reason for this ought to be the history of the Ionian Islands: wholly Venetian since the late 15th century; they became French in 1797; became the Septinsular Republic under Russo-Ottoman protection (1800-1807); French again (1807-1814); and finally a British protectorate (defacto from 1809/1810, de sure from 1815: the islands were ceded to Greece in 1864. Given what avid collectors the British were (not to mention the Venetians), it is more than likely that many coins entered Western collections during the decades of British control; that is certainly the time when this coin must have left the islands.