Nomos 4

THESSALY, Pharkadon. First half of the 4th century BC. Dichalkon (Bronze, 16mm, 2.99 g 2). Horse grazing to right. Rev. ΦΑΡΚ / ΔΟΝΟ Crescent over star of six rays. BMC 9 var. Rogers 462-3 var. Very rare. A most unusual type. Fine, glossy, olive-green patina. Nearly extremely fine.

A note from BCD: The bonze coins of Pharkadon, although featuring carefully executed and artistic dies, are almost always plagued by disfiguring die breaks and quite often are mis-struck or have other flan problems. It may be that the artist who engraved the dies for this coinage went away after handing them over to the mint officials, and was, thus, not available during the actual minting process to carry out any die repairs or even to engrave new dies if this would be necessary. The mint then had to make do with what was on hand. Also, the available labour was obviously neither experienced nor meticulous enough in their job.