| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVIII | Auction date: 14 January 2025 |
| Lot number: 152 Price realized: 3,000 USD (Approx. 2,942 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: MACEDON, Akanthos. Circa 430-390 BC. AR Tetradrachm (22mm, 14.07 g, 8h). Thraco-Macedonian standard. Lion attacking right, biting into the hindquarter of a bull kneeling left, head raised / AKA-N-ΘIO-N in shallow incuse around quadripartite square, the quarters raised and granulated. Desneux 117 (D113/R105); AMNG III/2, –; HGC 3, 391; Boston MFA 529 (same dies). Lightly toned. Good VF. Very rare early Thraco-Macedonian standard issue. From the Michael Rogal Collection. Ex Triton XVIII (6 January 2015), lot 435; RAJ Collection (Triton XVII, 7 January 2014), lot 118. Akanthos was founded on the easternmost "finger" of the Chalcidice in the seventh century BC. Huge silver deposits were discovered in close proximity during the sixth century BC, leading to Akanthos becoming a prolific mint, with its coinage circulating widely in northern and mainland Greece. Of the Archaic Greek coinages, the imagery of Akanthos is one of the most influential, depicting a lion attacking a bull. Lions still prowled the hinterlands of Thrace and Macedon in this era. Herodotus recounts an episode in The Histories when the baggage camels of the army of the Persian King Xerxes was set upon by lions during its march from Asia Minor into Greece proper (Herodotus 7.125-126). Estimate: 3000 USD |  |
