Nomos 15

ELIS. Olympia. 90th Olympiad, 420 BC. Stater (Silver, 24 mm, 12.07 g, 2 h), Signed by the engraver L..... ΗΡ Α Head of Hera to right, wearing a stephane with peaks at the front, back and center, and ornamented with three palmettes connected by tendrils; below chin, Λ. Rev. F A Flaming thunderbolt; all within olive wreath. BCD Olympia 62. BCD Peloponnesos 625. Jameson 1233 (this coin). Seltman, Temple 242 c (EA/ηα, this coin). Rare. Nicely toned and struck on a curiously attractive oval flan. Good very fine.

Ex Nomos 6, 8 May 2012, 70 and Hess-Leu (1), 14 April 1954, 120 and from the Jameson and Woodward collections.

This is a fine example of the first issue of Hera staters struck at Olympia in the new mint established in the Temple of Hera. These staters all bore a head of Hera on their obverses and a thunderbolt (later an eagle) on their reverses. The thunderbolts on the Hera coins are actually totally different from those found on those struck by the “Zeus mint”, which had long struck coins bearing eagles on the obverse and thunderbolts on the reverse. The differences between the two are so great that they make it certain that two separate mints must have operated in Olympia. The very small lambda on the obverse must be an engraver’s signature; surely a rival of the delta alpha who signed dies made for the Zeus mint (as in the following lot 120).