Nomos 38

ISLANDS OFF ELIS, Kephallenia. Kranion. Circa 400 BC. Hemiobol (Silver, 7 mm, 0.25 g, 1 h). Large Κ in the field. Rev. Large Η (denomination) within a circular incuse. Cf. BMC 47 (same types but in bronze) and CsP I, 363 (seemingly this obverse die but lacking the dot on the reverse). An unpublished variant -in silver- of an extremely rare transitional type, known in just two examples. Good very fine.

From a German collection.

This unique piece, while it looks rather early in date due to its simplicity, probably was struck either in the late 5th century or, even, early in the 4th. One reason for this is that in the British Museum there is a bronze coin from Kranion bearing the same types: it is 15 mm in diameter and is generally dated to the 4th century. This almost certainly means that soon after our silver piece was issued, it was decided to replace Kranion's small silver coin denominations with bronzes. To make their relationship clear, the new bronze hemiobol bore the same types as the silver hemiobol it replaced.