The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal ... - IndianCoins.org

230 J. MAVROGORDATO.immediately followed the exile in Pontus must remainlargely a matter of conjecture. Still, it would comenearer to being decided if we could find a certainnumber of issues distinguished by some characteristiccommon to them all, and later than, or at least as lateas, any of those ascribed to Period IX. In searchingfor such a characteristic I have been guided by thefollowingbeing so brief,considerations. The duration of the exileit seems almost certain that the oldtypes would have been revived after it, as alreadysuggested, at any rate for a time. Bearing that inview it would then seem that we must look for somedifference of technique rather than for a more or lessimportant change in detail as our distinguishing mark.Now a considerable number of the late Chian coins arestruck in much lower relief than anyof those recordedhitherto, and it is this low relief, I think, that suppliesthe means of discriminating between the two groupsof coins in question.The prow on the obverse of some of the issuesascribed to the present periodisa detail that cannotfail to attract attention because of its far greaterprevalence later on. But a few coins bearing thisaddition to the main design have already been attributedto types Nos. 66-7 on account of theirstyle, and itsinauguration may therefore be said to belong tothelast period. It is seen much more frequently now,however, and we appear to have reached a momentwhen the prow and the bunch of grapes were competingfor the post of honour asthe Sphinx, with the result still left uncertain. Thedistinctive emblem ofdrachms of type No. 69 nearly all have a prow on theobverse, sometimes accompanied by, and sometimes