Help Needed on a Pixodaros Didrachm

[wyoning]

Hi all,

I've just ventured into the wonderful world of ancient Greek coinage, and would like your help and expertise on this Pixodaros Didrachm.

I've compared it to pictures of dozens other Pixodaros, and still find it a bit unusual.

The reverse legend is much shorter than what's normally seen.

Also, I haven't found an exact die-match for the obverse.


-----My questions are:

Is it a genuine piece from the period?

Has anyone seen a die-match for the obverse?

And why the shortened reverse legend?

I'm just not sure about this one.

Many thanks for your help!!

Sincerely,
wyoning

[Altamura]

In my eyes the coin looks genuin, I don't see anything suspicious .

If you look through acsearch you find some coins where the legend is mutilated, not many, but it is not unusual:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=pixodar*+didra*+labraun*&category=1&lot=&thesaurus=1&images=1&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&currency=usd&order=1

One of the standard papers about these coins is R.H.J. Ashton, N. Hardwick, P. Kinns, K. Konuk, A.R. Meadows, "The Pixodarus Hoard (CH 9. 421)", in A. Meadows / U. Wartenberg (ed.), Coin Hoards, volume IX, Greek Hoards (London, 2002), pp. 159-243: https://www.academia.edu/39498050/The_Pixodarus_Hoard_CH_9_421_
Perhaps you find a die match there .

Regards

Altamura

[Joe Sermarini]

Beautiful coin.

Asking online for authenticity opinions based on photos, for a coin that NGC has already certified, is not likely to benefit you. If you do it here, you will likely never get anyone to condemn it because we know NGC in hand is better than a photo online. If you ask somewhere else, you will undoubtedly get someone who knows nothing at all tell you it is fake. If it is certified by NGC, you can be confident it is genuine. Nobody is perfect, but they are excellent.   

[Anaximander]

Beautiful portrait.

I recommend searching the members' gallery for their examples of a Pixodaros Didrachm.

You would have to be fortunate indeed to find a die match; it's the kind of thing that might happen over time.  It would help for you to peruse auctions from auction houses as they come up, or to look at the closed auctions through a search engine.  I use acsearch.info, which has 554 records as of today for a simple search on "Pixodaros Didrachm."  That's a lot of records to sift. It would be better to have a reference to hone in on; sadly, I don't see one on your coin slab.

As for the reverse legend: it's not shortened, it is just faint.  Under magnification, you can pretty much make out ΠΙΞΩΔΑΡΟΥ. I list the legend on mine "ΠΙΞΩΔΑΡΟ[Υ]" with a bracket on the Y because it is off-flan.  Your legend may merit similar brackets around 'missing' letters. 

[n.igma]

And why the shortened reverse legend?

If you look closely at the lower reverse you will see that the the reverse is multiply struck accompanied by reverse die slippage during the strike. The latter has occurred in the vertical direction (6h to 12h) relative to the flan leaving a multiple impression of the feet and garment hem line. In this process the lower part of the legend has been partially obliterated on the final strike as the blank component of the lower right field of the die over rode the lowermost letters and lower letters in the legend on the die over struck the impression from those higher on the die, resulting in the legend mash-up.

Clearly NGC's assessment of Strike 5/5 is a bit overstated in the context of the reverse!

Nevertheless, a beautiful coin.

[Joe Sermarini]

Clearly NGC's assessment of Strike 5/5 is a bit overstated in the context of the reverse!

I'd probably still give it a 5/5. Is there a better one?