109, Lot: 21. Estimate $300. Sold for $585. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOEOTIA, Thebes. Federal Coinage. Circa 379-338 BC. AR Stater (20mm, 11.98 gm). EP-PA, magistrate. Boeotian shield / Amphora; EP-PA across field. Hepworth 34; SNG Copenhagen 329 var. (shield above amphora). VF, light "AB" graffito below PA. Very rare.

Ex Ponterio 128 (11 November 3 2003), lot 1103. 

While the actual identities of most of the magistrates remain obscure, the magistrate abbreviated as EPPA or EPAM has been identified with the historical Boeotian general, Epaminondas (R. Hepworth, “Epaminondas’ Coinage,” in Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Numismatics, p. 35-40) At the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, he successfully led the Boeotians against the invading Spartan army and ended nearly 300 years of Spartan military supremacy. Under his generalship, the city of Megalopolis was founded as the capital of the Arkadian League, which provided a buffer in the Peloponnesos. Epaminondas would meet his death in 362 BC at the Mantineia.