One thing that was very interesting is my discovery that there was early experimentation with reducing the base under the throne during the transition from Group 2 to Group 3; Group 4 eliminated the base completely, but in Group 2, there seems to be two
types of coins. One
type has a raised base under the throne and elaborate chair legs with two concave half-circles facing each other on each leg--this is the canonical Group 2 (see my first example, below.) Other Group 2 coins, though, experiment with elaborate chair legs with two convex half-circles facing each other on each
leg. Coins of this later
type experiment with
reduced bases under the throne sometimes. Group 3 experimented with a
restored high base.
Why do I associate the examples of what I call "2.5" below with the period between 2 and 3? Because the legs of Group 2.5, while different from most of Group 2, are
still elaborate. Group 3's legs are the late
style, which remained invariable until the end once it appeared. Then again, the discovery of this transitional group is a
bit problematic, because it complicates the clean narrative of "New legs introduced in Group 3, Base Eliminated in Group 4" by showing that the base under the chair was in fact something variable much earlier on, though it was never completely dismissed until Group 4, sometimes manifesting itself in earlier cases as a thick line over the
exergue.
