Nomos AG
Auction 26 21 May 2023
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AEOLIS. Elaia. Circa 450-400 BC. Tetartemorion (Silver, 6.5 mm, 0.26 g, 6 h). Head of Athena to left, wearing Attic helmet with crest. Rev. Large T within a shallow incuse square. For this coin type attributed to Tegea in Arcadia, see BCD Peloponnesos 1721 and Traité II, 3, 976. For the correct attribution, see SNG Arıkantürk 3, 1180 ff. Very well-centered, toned and with a lovely head of Athena in high relief. Minor roughness, otherwise, about extremely fine.
From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, and from the collection of L. Mildenberg.
This coin, which must have entered Dr. Mildenberg's collection in the 1970s, is, overall, in lovely condition. As such it is in stark contrast to the astonishing number of these coins that have turned up in Munich since 2009 (is it the beer?), and have since gone everywhere; most of those are fairly nasty. This is, however, very nice! When LM acquired this coin it was attributed to Tegea in Arcadia, and that is the way it tends to be described today; unfortunately that is completely wrong! We know this thanks to the fact that coins of this type are NOT found in Arkadia, but, rather, in northwestern Asia Minor!!! For example, in Özkan Arıkantürk's collection, all of which was sourced locally, primarily in the area of ancient Adramyteum, there are no fewer than 13 of these pieces. Since the head of Athena on the best of them is quite similar to the head of Athena on Elaia's diobols (as in the preceding lot), we can confidently attribute them to that mint.
From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, and from the collection of L. Mildenberg.
This coin, which must have entered Dr. Mildenberg's collection in the 1970s, is, overall, in lovely condition. As such it is in stark contrast to the astonishing number of these coins that have turned up in Munich since 2009 (is it the beer?), and have since gone everywhere; most of those are fairly nasty. This is, however, very nice! When LM acquired this coin it was attributed to Tegea in Arcadia, and that is the way it tends to be described today; unfortunately that is completely wrong! We know this thanks to the fact that coins of this type are NOT found in Arkadia, but, rather, in northwestern Asia Minor!!! For example, in Özkan Arıkantürk's collection, all of which was sourced locally, primarily in the area of ancient Adramyteum, there are no fewer than 13 of these pieces. Since the head of Athena on the best of them is quite similar to the head of Athena on Elaia's diobols (as in the preceding lot), we can confidently attribute them to that mint.