Nomos 38

AKARNANIA. Palairos. After 210 BC. Hemidrachm (Silver, 14 mm, 1.67 g, 9 h), victoriatus standard. Pegasos with straight wings, flying to right; below, trident to right. Rev. Head of Apollo (?) to left; behind his neck, monogram of ΠΑΛΕΡ. BCD Akarnania 42 (this coin, as a reduced weight drachm of an uncertain Akarnanian mint) = HGC 4, 900 (this coin). Imhoof-Blumer, A. 153, 1. SNG Copenhagen 160. Extremely rare, and seemingly not only the only silver coin to have been minted by Palairos, but also the finest example known. Flan crack, otherwise, good very fine.

From the Collection of John Aiello, and from the BCD Collection, Münzen & Medaillen (DE) 23, 18 October 2007, 420, ex Birkler & Waddell FPL 3, May-June 1982, 75.

The dating of this coin according to the cataloguer of the BCD Akarnania had to be 330-280 BC, and its reduced weight was explained as that of a reduced drachm. In HGC, this coin was published as a hemidrachm struck on the victoriatus standard, during the 3rd century BC. A more suitable date for this issue should be considered to be the period after 210 BC, when the Victoriatus was adopted.