Nomos 31

GREECE. Otho, 1832-1862. 1/2 Drachmi 1842 (Silver, 19 mm, 2.27 g, 6 h), Heyer Pattern, Athens, struck from dies prepared in Athens by the engraver Heyer, reeded edge. ΟΘΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ Mature head of Otho to right; below truncation in tiny letters, X. Rev. 1/2 ΔΡΑΧΜΗ / (owl) 1842 Crowned coat of arms of Greece with the Wittelsbach arms at the center; all within an olive wreath. Divo P36. Karamitsos 96a. KM Pn14. A. Walker, Num. Chron. 4 (1976), p. 63 fig. 10. Graded by NGC "VF 35". Cert number: 2908887-009.

From the El-Greco Collection of Modern Greek Rarities.

During the excavation of a 19th century level in the vicinity of the Church of The Holy Apostles in the Athenian Agora, a hoard of 118 small silver coins (115 Greek, all of King Otho - 5 1 drachmi, 109 1/2 drachmi and 1 1/4 drachmi - 2 French 1/2 francs, and 1 Spanish Reale minted in Mexico) were unearthed "among the stones of an 19th century house wall". Given the fact that the two latest coins of the hoard were two extremely rare 1/2 drachmi of 1842 (the first the regular issue by Voigt and the second the pattern/essai by Heyer), the hoard could be dated to 1843 and its deposit was related by Walker to the Revolution of 1843. The surprising appearance in this hoard of the 1842 Heyer 1/2 drachmi Pattern/Essai, is proof that a few examples of this coin actually entered circulation, despite the fact that the design was eventually rejected, and the coins withdrawn. This is clear because the majority of the examples that have survived until today, despite their official withdrawal, are worn to a greater or lesser extent, thus proving that people used them.