Lot 1795

Description

Macedon, Acanthus, (480-470 B.C.), silver tetradrachm, (16.52 grams), obv. bull kneeling to left, looking back, attacked by lion to right on his back, above **Q, in exergue bellow exergual line of dots a bull's horn, rev. quadripartite incuse square, (S.1362 [£1000], cf.BMC 3, Desneux [Les tetradrachmes d'Akanthos] cf.No.50, [same rev. die 46], type not published for obverse, Babelon Traite 1676 and McLean 3119 [both same reverse die]). Gash at top through coin into lion, otherwise very fine and rare.

Ex. Collection de Monnaies Anciennes, of Comte Max de Zogheb; sold in M.G. Lee, Cairo in Egypt, Sale 7-9th May 1954 (lot 33, illustrated) and possibly from an unpublished archaic hoard found in Egypt early this century. The gash in the coin is indicative of a testing of its metal quality. This test was applied generally in the East and probably in Egypt. The Asyut hoard which includes these coin types were almost all subject to this test of metal quality. Acanthus was one of those cities that produced a very prolific coinage serving an international need in the archaic and classical period. They were minted on the Attic weight standard [17.2 grams for the tetradrachm], and formed an issue that could circulate with contemporary Athenian coins on equal terms.