Nomos 26

WESTERN GREECE AND THE IONIAN ISLANDS, Uncertain, Akarnania. Stratos (?). Circa 450-425 BC. Trihemiobol (Silver, 10 mm, 0.98 g, 2 h). A hydria, a vessel for water, especially at symposia, in the shape termed a kalpis. Rev. A tall-handled kantharos or drinking cup. BCD Boiotia-. Unpublished, but for another piece, from the same dies and once in the BCD Collection, see Numismatica Ars Classica 133, 2022, 80. Of great rarity, the second known example. Lightly toned. Reverse struck from a worn die, otherwise, about extremely fine.

From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, acquired as being from Korkyra.

In 2011 BCD apparently gave another specimen of this coin to the late Sheikh; at the time he suggested that it might have come from Thebes. Alas, while the weight is right for a Boeotian obol, the basic type is not: having a kantharos on the reverse is fine, but having a kalpis rather than a Boeotian shield on the obverse is extremely unlikely. In fact, impossible. While the vessel may look like a pitcher, or oenochoe, the shape is slightly wrong and there is no lip: while hydriai and kalpai have a single vertical handle as well as two horizontal ones on the sides, and we only see the vertical handle here, it would be virtually impossible for the ancient engraver to show a side handle. In addition, the shape is closer to that of a kalpis than it is to an oenochoe. One Greek savant suggested that this coin looked vaguely Korkyrean, but the weight is wrong. So, where is it from? Recently, BCD explained that it simply had to come from somewhere in northwestern Greece and made the suggestion that it was the earliest issue of Stratos. While that is not entirely convincing, we have placed it here for want of a better attribution! After all it is surely from the Greek mainland...somewhere.