Arcadia, Heraia. Hemidrachm circa 500-495, AR 2.99 g. Veiled head of Hera to l., wearing stephane and beaded necklace. Rev. ΕΡ all within a shallow incuse square. Weber 4279 (this coin). Jameson 2109 (this coin). BMC 1 (these dies). BCD Acarnania 1350. Williams Period I, 2 (O2/R2).
Extremely rare. A fascinating issue with a portrait of excellent Archaic style and a light
old cabinet tone. Minor area of porosity on reverse, otherwise extremely fine

Ex Sotheby's Wilkinson and Hodge 1879, Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, 18; Triton XIII, 2010, 163; Nomos 5, 2011, 169 and Roma 7, 2014, 229 sales. From the Weber, Jameson, BCD and Gutekunst collections.

Heraia was founded at some point in the eighth or seventh century BC by nine smaller Arcadian towns. In the early fifth century BC the city seems to have belonged to an alliance, sometimes described as the first Arcadian League, led by Cleitor. Heraia fell under the influence of Sparta and joined the Peloponnesian League in 425 BC. As a league-member, Heraia was staunchly loyal. During the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) the Heraians fought against fellow Arcadians, most of whom had sided with Athens in order to gain independence from Sparta. Even after Spartan hegemony was ended by Boiotian Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, Heraia still remained loyal to Sparta and finally paid a heavy price for it. The other Arcadian cities, which had been reorganized as a Theban-led Arcadian League, together devastated the territory of Heraia and forced the city to give up its support of Sparta and join the new league. This extremely rare early hemidrachm belongs to the period of Heraia’s history when the city was in the political orbit of Cleitor and the difficulties of the Spartan alliance still remained in the future. The obverse features a wonderfully archaic head of Hera, the city’s patron deity, that almost borders on the grotesque, while the reverse gives the first two letters of the city’s name. The coin would be desirable enough on its own to the collector of archaic Greek coins, but it is rendered even more attractive by its storied past as part of notable collections. Not only has it belonged to BCD in recent times, but previously this piece has been part of collections formed by Robert Jameson and Sir Hermann Weber. Before them it belonged to Stratford Canning, the first British ambassador to the new state of Greece (1828-1833). That Canning possessed the coin gives it a special place in numismatics, bridging the long divide between the greatness of ancient Greece and the creation of the modern Greek state.