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

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16 NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE.<strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> dies in use at Kos at this period, <strong>and</strong> presumably<strong>the</strong>refore <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> coins issued, must havebeen comparatively small. 1More important, however, is <strong>the</strong> clue given by <strong>the</strong> diesto <strong>the</strong> sequence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> magistrates.A close examination<strong>of</strong> 1 <strong>and</strong> 17 shows that <strong>the</strong> obverse die was more wornwhen used for 1 than when used for 17. Similarly, 4was struck when <strong>the</strong> obverse die was more worn than in<strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> 10, 11, <strong>and</strong> 12. Hence it appears that bothHieron <strong>and</strong> Kallippidas used <strong>the</strong> old obverse dies <strong>of</strong>Philinos. <strong>The</strong> sequence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> coins <strong>of</strong> Nikagoras <strong>and</strong>Philinos is even clearer. Not only does 5 show a fresherstate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> obverse die than 13 <strong>and</strong> 14, but it appearsfrom comparison <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> reverses <strong>of</strong> 5, 6, <strong>and</strong> 7, that 5 was<strong>the</strong> latest struck <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> three :6 is <strong>the</strong> earliest, <strong>and</strong> on 7 aflaw in <strong>the</strong> reverse die begins to show, which is still moremarked on 5.<strong>The</strong> conclusion is that 6 <strong>and</strong> 7 were struckfrom <strong>the</strong> same dies, after which <strong>the</strong> obverse die failed(<strong>the</strong>re is a slight suggestion <strong>of</strong> a split developing in <strong>the</strong>die on <strong>the</strong> obverse <strong>of</strong> 7),<strong>and</strong> a new obverse die was usedfor 5 which lasted out '<strong>the</strong> term <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fice <strong>of</strong> Nikagoras<strong>and</strong> was h<strong>and</strong>ed over to Philinos.Itmay be considered that <strong>the</strong> latter part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> aboveargument is ra<strong>the</strong>r hypo<strong>the</strong>tical, <strong>and</strong> might be weakenedif it were assumed that <strong>the</strong> dies were not used in regularsuccession. But in any case <strong>the</strong>re seems to be sufficientevidence from <strong>the</strong> dies that Nikagoras preceded Philinos,I have not invited any ma<strong>the</strong>matician to undertake <strong>the</strong> intricate1work <strong>of</strong> calculating <strong>the</strong> probable number <strong>of</strong> dies used ;but I wouldrefer for comparison to my paper on " Alex<strong>and</strong>rian Tetradrachms <strong>of</strong>Tiberius " in <strong>the</strong> Numismatic Chronicle for 1910, p. 333. In <strong>the</strong> hoarddiscussed <strong>the</strong>re I found two pairs from <strong>the</strong> same obverse <strong>and</strong> reversedies out <strong>of</strong> 136 coins ;in <strong>the</strong> present hoard <strong>the</strong>re are three pairs out <strong>of</strong>21 coins ; i.e.nearly ten times as many pairs in proportion to <strong>the</strong> totalnumber <strong>of</strong> coins.

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