100
nomos . . . . . . auction 4, zürich 10 may 2011
1255.1
1255.2
1255.4
1255.3
1255 Phalanna. First half of the 4th century BC. Lot of four bronze dichalkoi. 1255.1 18 mm, 4.81 g, 12. Youthful male head to right, perhaps Peloros (?). Rev. ΦΑΛΑΝΝΑΙΩΝ Head of nymph to right. Papaevangelou-Genakos 6. Rogers 452. 1255.2 17 mm, 4.97 g 7. Male head as last. Rev. ΦΑ]ΛΑΝΝΑΙΩΝ Head of nymph as last. Papaevangelou-Genakos 6. Rogers 452. 1255.3 17 mm, 4.68 g 12. Male head as last. Rev. ΦΑΛΑΝΝΑΙΩΝ Head of nymph as last, but with A behind head. Papaevangelou-Genakos 21 (this coin). 1255.4 16 mm, 5.69g 12. Male head as last. Rev. ΦΑΛΑΝΝΑΙΩΝ Head of nymph as last, but with Α behind head. Papaevangelou-Genakos 21 var. A very attractive group, all with fine patinas. Extremely fine (4). 200 A note from BCD: Rogers, p. 146, calls the type of Phalanna bronze offered in this lot "...the commonest of all Thessalian AE". Things have not changed much since the early 1930s except that now some Krannon bronze types (see Rogers figs. 76, 77, 80 and 83) are also claiming this distinction. Once again, observations like this have to make us think about what rarity means in respect to the coinage of the ancient world. Why did some cities produce relatively small issues of bronze, perhaps struck by only a few die pairs, while others, as here, minted massive numbers, produced by very considerable numbers of dies? Coins may have been issued just for prestige, so that all citizens could use ‘their own’ money to buy things, while others must have been struck not only for local use, but also as the money of a whole region. The enormous coinage of Phalanna was probably used all over northern Thessaly, if not beyond.
1256
1,5:1
1256
1256 Phalanna. First half of the 4th century BC. Chalkous (Bronze, 12mm, 2.12 g 1). Youthful male head to right, perhaps Peloros (?). Rev. ΦΑΛΑΝΝΑΙ - ΩΝ Head of nymph to right, wearing simple earring, necklace, and with her hair bound in a sakkos. Papaevangelou-Genakos 7 var. Rare. Struck in high relief and with a dark green patina. Nearly extremely fine. 125 A note from BCD: This smaller denomination, quite distinct from Rogers fig. 246, is definitely rarer than the large coins, especially in this condition.
1257
1257 1,5:1
1257 Phalanna. First half of the 4th century BC. Dichalkon (Bronze, 16mm, 3.36 g 12). Head of Athena in crested Attic helmet to left. Rev. ΦΑΛΑΝΝ[ΑΙΩΝ] Horse prancing right. Papaevangelou-Genakos 10. Very rare. Dark green patina. About extremely fine. 150 A note from BCD: It may be that the obverse is Ares, as on the next coin, and not Athena.