Greek coins - AR hemidrachm Boeotian shield (D2562)

Boeotia, Federal Coinage. AR Hemidrachm, 2.3 g 13 mm. Circa 395-340 BC. Thebes

Obv: Boeotian shield.

Rev: BOI. Kantharos; above, club right; ivy leaf to right.

Ref: BCD Boiotia 30; HGC 4, 1165.

Fine

Thecoins of the Boiotian Confederacy of the 4th century are well known to numismatists. These coins, struck on the Aiginetan standard, bear on the obverse the usual Boiotian shield and on the reverse an amphora, with the addition of magistrate names and, on occasion, vines hanging from the handles or extra symbols around the amphora. Although the coins do not bear the mark of an issuing city, Thebes, as hegemon of the Boiotian Confederacy, was most likely responsible for their issuance. In his study of the series, “The 4th Century BC Magistrate Coinage of the Boiotian Confederacy,” Numismatica Khronika (1998), R. Hepworth has identified 44 different magistrates and 97 separate varieties. The series begins in the early years of the 4th century and ends at the Battle of Khaironeia in 338 BC.