The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

4:24: J. MAVKOGORDATO.
hardly affords a basis for argument as to the relative
ages of the two types.
A greater uniformity in the obverse types than in
the coins of class /3 or even of class a is also to be
observed. The hair of the Sphinx's head is more
elaborately dressed than on any of the preceding coins,
the knot or chignon at the back being only seen here,
and on the bronze issues summarized under type
No. 54. The ground of the reverse is almost invariably
ruled with vertical or horizontal lines carefully drawn
and spaced, and easily distinguished from the broken
striations or closely packed straight lines of the a and
/3 classes. The only two exceptions to this, that I
have noticed, are the tetradrachm with 'Hpidavos,
already mentioned, showing a granulated ground of
extra-conventional type (see Miss Baldwin's fig. 13,
p. 32),
and the same denomination from Berlin with
KrityiaoKpLTos, on which the irregular striations of the
older style are to be seen. This coin also has a ringborder
round the obverse, and is very likely one of
the earliest of its class.
None of the names encountered calls for any special
remark, though it is interesting to note 2Kvfj,vos, a
well-known Chian name in later days, appearing thus
early. The lettering, although somewhat roughly
executed, shows a tendency to archaism that has
encouraged me to attribute the granulated reverse of
the tetradrachm just mentioned to the same cause.
Considering that these coins are undoubtedly later
than the drachms of type No. 50, it is strange that we
never meet with the forms M or Z upon them that
have already been noted on the latter, while even the
obsolescent M is occasionally seen. There is also the