The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

26 J- MAVROGORDATO.
This type, which is clearly a direct descendant of
No. 2, was first published by Canon Greenwell in
Num. Chron., 1890, p. 4.
The Berlin specimen and Sir H. Weber's
didrachm are from the same obverse die,
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while
Sir H. Weber's Graeco-Asiatic didrachm is from the
same reverse die as the Berlin coin.
These didrachms must be considered earlier on the
whole than the electrum stater No. 3, though the
differences to be observed maybe partly due to careless
execution. It is worthy of note that the dies for
electrum coins seem, as a rule, to have been more
elaborately prepared than those for silver ones. Another
small point, illustrating this time the conscientiousness
of archaic art, is that, throughout the sixth century, the
forelegs of the Sphinx are almost invariably drawn so
that both should be seen. And it may be broadly
stated that, after the period when one foreleg is
represented raised, the earlier coins have the legs
further apart than those which succeed them.
The paucity of dies, to which attention has been
drawn, in all the coins hitherto described, shows that
they cannot have been struck in large quantities.
This is only what one would expect from such early
issues, and helps to confirm their attribution to the
dates suggested.
PERIOD II. 575(?)-545 B.C.
The early portion of this period is more remarkable
in the history of Chios for the aesthetic and commercial
progress made by her people than for any important
political event. In 550 B. c., however, Croesus overthrew
the Ionian League, though he refrained from subju-