I haven't bought a 'good' coin in a few years, aside from my tesserae, but I just couldn't allow this one to go cheap. And while I never actively collected Greek coins, I see too many of them at work to not gain an appreciation of their art. What first caught my eye was the toning; even at arm's length I could tell this was an old coin. And I was right - the coin sold twice in the 1920's, once in the 30's, and once in the late 50's, from whence it went underground until 2005, when it sold in a German auction to BCD - undoubtedly the greatest Greek collector of our age. BCD's collection of central Greek coins has been selling at auction since 2001 and the catalogs now serve as the standard reference for the region. For those wondering, the Oitaioi were a Thessalian mountain tribe. THESSALY, The Oitaioi. Circa 167-146 BC. AR Hemidrachm (15mm, 2.30 g, 1h) Lion’s head left, spear in its jaws OITAI downward to right, ΩN downward to left, Herakles standing facing, holding club in both hands Valassiadis 9; BCD Thessaly II 494 (same obverse die) Ex BCD Collection (Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 290), lot 57; Peus 384 (2 November 2005), lot 199; Vinchon (20 May 1959), lot 483; M. Ratto 11 (16 May 1935), lot 239; R. Ratto (4 April 1927), lot 1023; Naville-Ars Classica V (18 June 1923), lot 1764
I am finding more and more appreciation with coins that have a past of which collectors had them. Shame so many dont have any records. Also nice to see some silver added to your collection. A very nice coin at that.
Pretty cool coin, and great condition. if you don't mind me asking how much would something like that go for. I don't need to know the exact price you bought it for just a ball park.
One from the same obverse die, in similar grade, went for $700 at auction in January. Lower grade, porous specimens seem to average $100-200, very high grade ones as much as $3,000. The auction records are public, so I don't mind sharing the price - $280. Not cheap, but I really feel it's worth more than that, considering the pedigree.
