Gemini III, January 9th, 2007



                  Lot # 84Estimate: US$8500
                  THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES. Derrones. Silver dodecadrachm 



             



            THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES. Derrones. Ca. 475–450 BC. Silver 
            dodecadrachm (36.90 gm). Ox cart driven right by bearded man wearing 
            kausia and holding whip, crested Corinthian helmet above oxen, Đ 
            (retrograde) under bellies, E (retrograde) before helmet, I before 
            oxen / Triskeles of human legs within shallow circular incuse. This 
            variety unpublished. Cf. Svoronos pl. i, 14. Extremely rare. 
            Well-centered on an immense flan. Of fine style and struck in high 
            relief for issue. Slight double-striking. Small minor scrape on 
            Corinthian helmet. Extremely fine. 

            This unpublished dodecadrachm variety adds the abbreviated personal 
            name Pei… to the short list of names that appear on dodecadrachms of 
            the Derrones. The others are Euergetes (Svoronos p. 10, 18, pl. ii, 
            5), Xe… (Svoronos p. 11, 19, pl. ii, 6), and Ekco… (Svoronos p. 13, 
            20, pl. ii, 7). Not unreasonably, Svoronos interpreted these to be 
            the names of tribal kings. Our coin appears later in style than the 
            other signed dodecadrachms: most notably, the tripartite division of 
            the ox’s neck, an archaic mannerism, has almost entirely 
            disappeared. Our coin is also lighter than the other signed issues, 
            and lighter than lot 83 above, another clue that it may fall 
            relatively late in the Derronian series. Lot 85 below seems to be an 
            imitation inspired by the Pei… type. 






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  ... Lot 84 sold for high bid of $6750 [ $7762.5, or approx 6000.4125 EUR, 3958.875 GBP including the 15% buyers fee.] 


Re-used by permission of Harlan J Berk (www.harlanjberk.com) and
                         Freeman & Sear (www.freemanandsear.com)