ARGOLIS. Argos. Circa 420-410 BC. Diobol (Silver, 13 mm, 2.00 g, 1 h), alliance issue with Corinth (?). Corinthian helmet to right.
Rev. Corinthian helmet facing; in lower field to right, A; all within incuse square. BCD Peloponnesos 1035 (
this coin). BMC 29 = Traité III, 613 and pl. CCXV, 9 (
same dies). SNG Copenhagen 20 var. (round incuse). Extremely rare. Beautifull iridescent toning. Minor edge cracks and with a die break on the reverse
, otherwise, about extremely fine.
From the BCD Collection, LHS 96, 8-9 May 2006, 1035 and the collection of A. D. Moretti, Leu 30, 28 April 1982, 139, ex Münzen & Medaillen AG FPL 330, January 1972, 17.
The unusual choice of types led Babelon, in his Traité, to interpret this very rare issue as representing a coinage struck for an alliance between Argos and Corinth. We know that Argos, previously neutral in the Peloponnesian War, formed an alliance with Mantinea, Corinth, Elis, and Thebes in 421 BC, which Athens would later join. The goal was to defeat the hated Sparta, but the Argives' hopes were dashed at the Battle of Mantinea in 418 BC, when the army of the Alliance was defeated by a Peloponnesian force
