A silver stater from Boeotia, Thebes

[robinjojo]

There's always a seemingly good supply of these coins on the market at any given time.  The Thebans produced an veritable ocean of silver staters, and while the production of these coins was not on the same scale as that of rival Athens, these staters continue to be available in relatively large quantities, albeit in a wide array of reverse type inscriptions and grade.

I've owned this coin for over a year now, having cracked it out of the NGC holder and putting it on a counter to tone somewhat.  It is a replacement for a coin that I purchased eons ago from Harlan Berk, subsequently selling it with many other cons from the collection in one of my past fundraising efforts.

The replacement coin has a decent obverse with good centering considering the oblong flan.  The obverse does have some pits, likely flan flaws, and apparent die rust, quite typical for this period.  The reverse is very nice, and the primary reason for acquiring the coin.  The amphora is well detailed, with just a hint of weakness/wear in the center, but nothing distracting in my opinion.

These coins were struck in the same manner as Athenian and other city/state/kingdom coins.  The hammer die was the amphora (reverse), while the anvil die was the Boeotian shield (obverse).  The impact of the strike created the sunken or incuse reverse, and the high, exposed relief of the obverse, which was quite often badly aligned with the hammer die, creating significantly off-center obverse strikes.

It is also interesting to note that flan shapes seem to change over time, with fairly round ones giving way to oblong flans.  The same development also occurred at the Athens mint in the 4th century BC, with roundish flans evolving into frequently oblong often folded flans called "logs". I guess this development could have been due to the relative ease to create longish somewhat irregular flans compared to rounder flans, which would make the minting process easier and faster.  That's just a theory on my part.

This coin was minted during the rise of Macedonian power in Greece, a prelude to the ascent of Alexander III and the conquest of much of the East.  Indeed the former rivals, Athens and Thebes formed an alliance against Macedonia, which culminated in the defeat of the allies by the Macedonians at the  battle of Chaeronea in August 338 BC, in Boeotia.

Boeotia, Thebes, AR stater, circa 395-338 BC.

12.15 grams 

Damokl-, magistrate. Struck circa 363-338 BC.

Boeotian shield / Amphora; club above; DA-MO/K-L in two lines across field; all 
within incuse concave circle. 

Rare

Hepworth 26; Head, Boeotia p. 64; BMC p. 82, 131; SNG Cop. 327.

 

So, please post your Theban coins or any other related coins from this pivotal point in history.  

Thanks! 

Edited August 27, 2024 by robinjojo

[Phil Anthos]

That's a wonderful reverse!

~ Peter 

[Phil Anthos]

Thebes, Boeotia

426-395 BC AR Hemidrachm (13mm, 2.51g) O: Boeotian shield. R: 0E - BH on either side of kantharos, club above, all within incuse square. SNG Cop 296; SNG Delepierre 1359; Sear 2385; BMC 8,78 ex Vaughn Rare Coin Gallery "The god commands us to expel from the land of Thebes An old defilement we are sheltering. It is a deathly thing, beyond cure; We must not let it feed upon us longer." ~ Kreon (Aeschylus, Oedipus Rex)

[Curtisimo]

Wonderful new addition @robinjojo. Here is my Thebes example.

BOEOTIA, Thebes
AR Stater, struck ca. 425-400 BC
(22 mm, 3h, 11.84 g)
Obv.: Boeotian shield. 
Rev.: Θ-Ε Bearded head of Dionysos to right, wearing ivy wreath. 
Ref.: BCD Boiotia 438. An attractive, toned example.
Ex Collection of Kommerzienrat Heinrich Otto Jr. (H Otto), Stuttgart (1856-1931†), Adolph Hess Nachf. (Luzern) Auktion 207, Lot 422 (Dec. 1, 1931); Ex W. F. Stoecklin Collection, Amriswil (1888-1975†), acquired from Münzen und Medaillen in Basel prior to 1975, Obolos 8, lot 224 (Dec. 2, 2017)

[robinjojo]

Lovely coin!  The reverse is wonderful! What a great portrait!

As with other mints, it seems that the earlier coinage was better in quality and style, compared to the later issues.

[robinjojo]

13 minutes ago, Phil Anthos said:

Thebes, Boeotia

426-395 BC AR Hemidrachm (13mm, 2.51g) O: Boeotian shield. R: 0E - BH on either side of kantharos, club above, all within incuse square. SNG Cop 296; SNG Delepierre 1359; Sear 2385; BMC 8,78 ex Vaughn Rare Coin Gallery "The god commands us to expel from the land of Thebes An old defilement we are sheltering. It is a deathly thing, beyond cure; We must not let it feed upon us longer." ~ Kreon (Aeschylus, Oedipus Rex)

Excellent coin!  The reverse is particularly interesting.  I like the quote as  well from Oedipus Rex.

[CPK]

Beautiful coin @robinjojo!

[Ryro]

Very nice stater with a great reverse. 

Here's my latest much smaller Boeotian shield:

BOEOTIA. Thespiai. Obol (4th century BC).

Obv: Boeotian shield.

Rev: ΘΕΖΠΙ.

Two horizontal crescents back to back.

BCD Boeotia 591; HGC 4, 1401.

Condition: Very fine.

Weight: 0,70 g.

Diameter: 9 mm.

[AETHER]

Beautiful, but why are they so expensive 😞

[Herodotus]

Very Nice!

BOEOTIA, Thebes. (Circa 368-364 BC). AR Stater. (22mm, 12.00g)

O: Boeotian shield

R: Amphora; KΛ-IΩ across field, KLIO(N) magistrate; all within a round concave incuse.

HGC 4, 1332 

[robinjojo]

6 hours ago, AETHER said:

Beautiful, but why are they so expensive 😞

I think what's driving the prices for these coins is similar to the increase in prices for other ancients, such as the ubiquitous Athenian owls.  Basically there's a lot of money chasing ancient coins, especially slabbed examples, but raw coins as well.  I've been around long enough to remember the big run up of coin prices in 1979-80, essentially paralleling the speculation going on at the time with bullion, silver bullion in particular.  Another spike occurred just before the financial bubble of 2008 burst.  Newly minted billionaires targeting coins and other "investments" to park their money.

Having said this, I still think, with time and patience, as well as knowledge, that it is still possible to purchase nice coins at reasonable prices, if one keeps in mind the "reasonable" is a constantly changing relative term.  To be sure these Theban staters have gone up, even for significantly off center examples.  I don't exactly remember who much I paid for the Harlan Berk coin back in the 1980s, but it was pretty expensive, coming from Harlan Berk of course, but as I recall it was around $450 for a nicely centered good VF.  I'm really terrible when it comes to keeping records.

For the thread, here's an Athenian owl produced in the period, more or less, of the alliance with Thebes, which formed in 339 BC..

Attica, Athens, tetradrachm, Pi Style V, 350-297 BC.

 

And the other major actor in the drama, Philip II of Macedonia.  This coin is a later issued under Cassander as regent.

Macedonia, Philip II, tetradrachm, 323/2 - 316/5 BC, Amphipolis Mint.  Purchased from Harlan Berk in May 1983.

Le Rider plate 46. 

14.4 grams

[AncientNumis]

Great example! 

Here’s my Theban stater, which I only bought quite recently: 

Boeotia, Thebes AR Stater. Circa 395-338 BC. Boiotian shield / Amphora, ivy leaf hanging from left handle; above, club right; TI-MI across field; all within incuse concave circle. Hepworth 88, BCD Boeotia 477. 11.84g. From a collection completed in 2006

[Anaximander]

Some lovely coins here. One dividing line in the Theban Shield/Amphora series is the reverse legend, with a change from the ⨀-E city ethnic to magistrates (HGC 4 p. 389) after the Corinthian War (395-397 BC).  

This was my first such stater of Thebes, purchased in 1998, with the same obverse die rust mentioned by @robinjojo (see also BCD Boiotia lot 578 and part of lot 624), and far from the smooth surfaces shown by @Herodotus, whose coin (also BCD Boiotia I lots 531-533) dates from the same period. 

  

Here's two of the earlier city ethnic reverses. One with a round-ish flan, the other sporting the oblong flan pointed out by @robinjojo and shown also by @AncientNumis.

  

   

My newer references are Oliver Hoover's 2014 Handbook of Greek Coinage Vol 4 (Coins of Northern and Central Greece), BCD Boiotia I (Triton IX, 2006) and a rather notional BCD Boiotia II (further selections of BCD as CNG 72, CNG 73, Triton X, and CNG 75).  Older references include SNG Cop 3 (Aetolia-Euboea), SNG France 1 (Delepierre), SNG Lockett, and the venerable Babelon Traité vol. III.  One that I don't have is R. Hepworth, “The 4th Century BC Magistrate Coinage of the Boiotian Confederacy” in NK 17 (Hungarian Numismatic Society, Numismatic Gazette (Budapest), 1998), available by subscription.

[Edessa]

Greek. Central & Southern Greece. Boeotian Federal Coinage. Circa 395-340 BC. AR Hemidrachm (16mm, 2.63g). Obv: Boiotian shield. Rev: Kantharos; club above; BO-I crescent flanking. Ref: BCD Boiotia 40; HGC 4, 1166. Toned Very Fine. From the BCD Collection. Ex CNG e177 (28 Nov 2007), Lot 248 (part of 10-piece lot).

[Deinomenid]

On 8/27/2024 at 6:36 PM, AETHER said:

Beautiful, but why are they so expensive

You can get them for a lot less than they used to go for if patient, though that doesn't mean they are inexpensive. Just a  lot less expensive.

For example I fairly recently purchased this early one for the same nominal U$ price it went for in 2004 at a Triton sale, which itself was 25% less than estimate. So with the inflation that's a more than 50% decrease in real price vs last, and 75% off the 2004 estimate.

Thebes, (Circa 480-460 B.C.), silver stater (12.04 g), obv. Boiotian shield, rev. square incuse with clockwise mill-sail pattern, aspirate  in centre.