Greek (Post-Hellenistic, Roman Era). Olympia, Elis AE Diassarion-Dupondius (25-27mm, 12.56 g, 1h), temp. Marc Antony & Cleopatra, c. 30s BCE (?).
Obv: Head of Hera right, wearing stephane & necklace.
Rev: Eagle standing right on thunderbolt; F-A across field, monogram (K or Y Retrograde Γ = Ꞁ) to lower right.
Ref (BCD): BCD Olympia 307 (same monogram, different dies); see also BCD Olympia 308-313 (mgm. vars.); BCD Peloponnesos 695-696 (mgm. vars.); BCD Peloponnesos II 2303-2307 (mgm. vars.).
Ref (other): HGC 5, 544; Franke (1984 p. 19: Abb. 21, and p. 21); Weber 4082; Strauss-Laffaille (1990) 368; SNG Copenhagen 429-30 var. (monogram); Cahn 71 [1931], 365 (same rev., obv. facing left); Wroth (NC) 1905: p. 335; Earle-Fox (NC) 1898: pp. 292-3; Wojan 2011 (Obolos 10): pp. 289-295.
See also: Coinproject ID 76000562 (this coin).
Provenance: Sammlung P.R. Franke (1926-2018) [Solidus Auktion 108 (8 November 2022), Lot 137];
Christopher Morcom (1939-) Collection [CNG MBS 76 (12 September 2007), Lot 562];
Col. R.K. Morcom Collection (1877-1961);
Edward Perry Warren (1860-1928) Collection [Naville Ars Classica XV (2 Jul 1930), Lot 809, ill. on Pl. 28, “amateur étranger récemment décédé”];
Sammlung Gustav Philipsen (Copenhagen, 1853-1925) [Jacob Hirsch XXV (25 Nov 1909), 1300 (Pl. XVI)];
Ex IGCH 216 (unknown findspot hoard, c. 1887-1894); possibly dispersed by Canon [Rev.] William Greenwell (1820-1918).
Notes: Variously described as Double-Unit, Diassarion, Dupondius, Obol, and/or “Denomination A” (Hoover, HGC 5); and dated c. 4th BCE (Franke), 3rd (Wroth, Strauss), 2nd (Moustaka), or 30s BCE, temp. Antony/Cleopatra (J. Warren, Nicolet, BCD). (For a summary, see BCD Olympia 307.) In the past 25 years it has become more common to interpret these coins as part of Antony & Cleopatra’s Romanization of currency in the Greek Provinces, struck during their final years in the lead up to Actium. From this perspective, we can interpret them as a Diassarion equivalent to a Dupondius.
Despite reasons of style (the Ptolemaic [?] eagle w/ thunderbolt), and compatible with the pre-Actian Greek and Roman currency, there remains room for doubt. Wojan (Obolos 10, 2018: 289-295) places them in 250 years earlier based on several common monograms and metallurgical analysis that reportedly showed a similar composition to early 3rd cent. Elean bronzes. (Could the metal have been sourced from older Elean coins? How much variability was there in alloys over the following centuries? I haven’t found the full report published yet.)