Greek Silver & Bronze Coins

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Lot 4331    SESSION 16 (9.30AM FRIDAY 2ND AUGUST)    Greek Silver & Bronze Coins

Estimate $7,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $5,000

THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES, The Derrones, (c.475-450 B.C.), silver dodecadrachm (40.33 g), obv. male driver seated in ox cart moving to left, holding goad in raised right hand and reins in left, a crested Corinthian helmet in field above ox to left, plain under ox, ground line with dotted exergue line below, another line lower still, rev. triskeles of human legs with central dot, uncertain between legs, reverse weakly struck as typical for this series, (S.1315, Svoronos 16 (p.9, Pl.II,4 [same dies], AMNG III/2 [p.56, 5] and pl. xxv, 18 [same dies]), Babelon Traite 1450 Pl.XLIV, 7 [same dies]. Svoronos reports one example from these dies [same weight]). Nearly very fine/fair and very rare.

Ex Freeman & Sear in Los Angeles, privately November 5, 2007, marked up at $4850 with Freeman & sear ticket. A similar example from the same dies was in the NAC Auction Sale May 20, 2015 (slightly less weight), (lot 605), realised $7992 US + 20%).

The Derrones were a Thraco-Macedonian tribe that lived in the mountain Pangei (Pernar), on the river Strymon in Macedon. Types exist with the ox cart going to left and others to the right. Recent hoards and other earlier finds suggest less than 100 of these large silver coins survive today. The context and meaning of the types of the Derrones' dodekadrachms are still being debated. Little is known of this tribe other than what can be gleaned from their surviving coinage. Hoard find-spots suggest that they inhabited inland Paeonia, and the absence of their coins from the Asyut hoard suggests that the coinage postdates the burial of that hoard. The obverse type depicts a male figure who is most likely the tribal king and hereditary high priest while the helmet suggests a military reference.

Estimate / sale price does not include buyer's premium (currently 22% including GST) which is added to hammer price. All bids are executed on the understanding that the Terms & Conditions of sale have been read and accepted. For information on grading and estimates please refer to the Buying at Auction advice.

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  • Lot 4331   This lot

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    Estimate $7,000

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